what makes a good picture?

pingu

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Yes
...to you?

obviously everyone will have their own idea as to what constitutes a decent shot.

I shoot pictures of dogs mainly - because thats what I like to take pictures of.

for me a good shot is one that cpatures the dogs character or one that allows you to "see" the dog. I see some technichally superb pictures but to me they are not good... they are souless. One of the reasons I think I dont get that many great shots is that I am looking for that "something" that says .. "yes this is ...".

this is also one of the reasons why I cant get a good shot of a person, I cant "see" the real person. Some are very good however at capturing the moment and I have seen some really good shots on here that I would love to be able to do.

so anyhow what makes a great shot for you? is it technical excellence or is it the subject and capturing what the image is actually about?
 
>>so anyhow what makes a great shot for you?

One which leaves questions unanswered; those questions can be How did they do that? or what happened 2s before/after the camera captured the scene, or why is the subject framed as it is (or not).

>>is it technical excellence

Not necessarily - some really good pictures are not technically excellent. Some technically excellent pictures leave me cold.

>>is it the subject

The subject helps - see another thread here somewhere for discussion about subject matter ;)

>>capturing what the image is actually about?

That is the hard one. I think if a picture doesn't convey enough about what it is about in the first place, you won't be interested enough to look deeper. If however the answers are all there on a plate, then why bother to look?

B.
 
I'm more of a portrait photographer and a good shot to me is one that shows who that person is... not just what they look like. So, like you and your dogs, I like capturing the character...
 
not sure if it will help you, but take a look at the thread I started called - style - do you have one, or something like that (I can't do links..)
Might raise more questions than it answers, but amazing what people put into it !
 
There is no such thing. As long as you are always looking for the perfect picture you will never find it. They happen but not through planning - thats the point.
 
Actually let me condradict myself. I don't mean there is no perfect picture - of course they happen. What I meant was you can't necessarily come up with a formula for a perfect picture. There are so many unforseen factors involved so best to enjoy doing what you do and hope to get lucky :-)
 
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