So i'm going to throw in my limited knowledge rookie 2 cents worth.....
A snap shot,to me is one poorly composed and very flat or very harsh lighting....
Erik,
I don't know how we got to a girl lying on the bed, I'll leave that world to you, for now, LOL!
The subject is the use of the word snap in photography. You take it to cover dingy images that are poorly conceived and executed. That is not what we'd even consider as a snap!
A snap has to be at least presentable and nice to see or interesting. Generally, when we refer to a "snap" it's to a memento at a family gathering or perhaps a parade going past. One takes a picture to record happy events or perhaps family at a graveside. These do not need to be artfully designed with some overarching concept that rises above what is recorded: a personal experience for the book of memories.
So that is one snap that is
wonderful as a part of our lives for the last 100 years! Those very same snapshots might be assembled for new works of art. Again, a positive aspect of the snap. Historians and social anthropologists might look to family snapshots to peer into the family and societal values at the time.
So where does "snap" become negative?
It's that rare time when one presents work, (even one's best perhaps), and someone dismisses it as "just a snap", in other words, it's limited in value to the personal album of the shooters, that's all. Well, I don't find that to be such a bad thing. Nigel's pictures
here and
here are perfect, treasurable snaps and I love them. They brought all his family joy. I showed them to my own folk and they loved them too. .. and they are merely "snaps! If I said, They're just snaps", there would be no offense given or I believe taken.
What happens is when one puts forth work that one has designed with some care and it's referred to as a "snap" in a context that's dismissive, it can shake one's confidence! That's different, bad and to be avoided if at all possible. So I guess we should be considerate in how we describe our reactions.
Let's get rid of the idea that a snap is not a good thing. I like to take snapshots. Nicolas has laughed at me taking pictures as I walked with him in Bordeaux, literally shooting from the hip as I walk. "What's the point?" he'd ask by his look! Well, I was simply sampling the world with my camera. Of course, Nicolas who earns his living every day by framing carefully the best considered compositions, frowns on the idea of such frivolity, but he accepts this as part of me being who I am. Is any of that of value? Well, I'd not exclude that possibility altogether.
Still there's another side of me where I plan every detail of a shot. It's sketched, all the angles are known and options are listed. At the shoot, there is snapping within a fine set of boundaries, but I'm still just taking snaps to build what I want devoid of what I want to exclude. So for me, even at the best of times, I'm a lost soul, cannot escape being a snapper!
Asher