What makes a picture?

A hedge on some moorland.

That's nice, though perhaps a bit more contrast would help it too?

xx

i like it.

Sorry Fogey I meant to get back to this post earlier but I've had to go to work today

It's a nice pic but I think the levels and contrast need bringing up a little bit, such a great sky too.

The question was " What makes a picture?" not "What do you think about this picture?"

Small question- huge answers. Briefly below and I may have missed some things

1 A focal point
2 Subject matter
3 Composition
4 How its taken
6 Quality
7 Lighting

And finally and most important if the photographer /client likes it.

Each one can be sub sectioned yet again, but that would be far to much to put on here and still wouldn't cover everything.

Bazza

And that, Bazza, is exactly my point. The photograph above is no more than an image of a ditch with a fence, but somehow it works for me.

I just can't put my finger on what it is, whether it is lead-in lines, texture, lighting or a combination of all three, I just can't make my mind up.

Fogey
The answer your looking for is impact. Nothing to say this or that makes the picture its the overall effect.

Bazza

That’s a bit of a loose ended question, Bazza.
More specifically, were you asking : ‘what is a photograph?’ or were you asking us to identify the basic elements of a photograph?
Essentially, a photograph is a 2 dimensional chemical or digital representation or recording of light, both incident and reflected. In my day it was an uneven spread of silver on a piece of paper, to put it crudely.
Now, if you want to make something meaningful out of it (and I don’t think ‘like it’ is an essential component – if it was there would be a lot of photographs that would not meet the criteria yet they are still photographs) we might need to look elsewhere.

Szarkowski suggests a number of aspects of the process which go to make a photograph. His point of view is very concrete and based on simple and easy to follow criteria. He includes ‘the thing’ being photographed as essential as we would all expect.


_DSC9392 by tom.dinning, on Flickr


But ‘the thing’ photographed is not that which appears on the photo. It is the detail the photographer has chosen from the reality that makes the photograph unique.


_DSC0046 by tom.dinning, on Flickr

Next comes the framing. Some may call this composition but it does differ slightly in as much as the frame and the way we use it determines the subjects and their relationship to one another.


_DSC3295 by tom.dinning, on Flickr

Once we have decided on these three we then decide (coincidentally) the vantage point or point of view from which we take the photo. As we know, this can have a considerable impact on the way in which a viewer will interpret what they see.


_D305231-1 by tom.dinning, on Flickr

Then we need to focus, not only in a physical sense as in clarity and depth of field but in the compositional sense where we might draw attention to different parts of the photo.


_D301067 by tom.dinning, on Flickr

And finally we decide on when to press the shutter; the time the image is recorded, which makes the photo unique in its own way because even if we set up our camera in the same spot again the image could never be the same because we cannot repeat that time again. We can also develop a sense of time by utilizing the duration of the photo (shutter speed).


_D301114 by tom.dinning, on Flickr

Shore adds to Szarkowski’s descriptors by imposing a physical and depictive level on photos. The physical level is the flat surface itself and what it contains. The depictive level is the dimension the photographer gives to the image so that we may interpret reality in a different way. This then leads into the mental level; the one in which we interpret and ponder about the photo and its connection to our own experiences.


_D301112 by tom.dinning, on Flickr

Now if you were asking what makes a ‘good’ photo you may need to go somewhere else for that. That is muddy and dangerous territory and I'd prefer to go shopping with my wife than swim there.
Cheers
Tom

Now that is a train of thought I had not followed, Tom. Taking all that you have said on board, the question is, "What makes a picture"?

I have seen similar images to yours, posted on the web, that have left me feeling flat, yet I can see what is aesthetically pleasing in all the images you have posted here, but what is it that makes them pleasing to the eye?

Going back to the PDF of the book you have written about your photography, is it we just appreciate what the author 'sees', or is it more than that?

Here is a shot of some common stinging nettles. Appealing to some, not to others; to me there is something about the image I like.

Tom

I didn't ask the question Fogey did in post 1 "what makes a picture?"

bazza