What is your point to a successful picture?

I'm a little bored today so i thought to open this new thread. I think there is no other similiar thread.

So tell us what is your main point with which you shoot your best pictures?

Or what is the most important thing in photography for you and for your style of shooting?

Lets feed that boredom.

In the weekends I mainly shoot soccer.
I first select on two things;
1: Is there a ball in the picture?
2: Can I see the eyes of the player who is making the action?

Then I select on these two things;
3: Is the composition right? (that includes funny faces and weird placement of bodyparts)
4: Can I crop tight enough and maintain IQ?

And finaly I ask myself;
5: Does this picture please the persons that are inside of it?

Then it is time to PP the picture.

Need more ?

To me, the most important part of photography is not IQ, although I chase it relentlessly. It is not lighting or composition, which when I do nail, does make me happy. My favorite part of photography is still the same thing it was when I started doing this almost 50 years ago: time. Time?, you ask. Yes, really.

I am 56 years old and just love the time-freezing and time-traveling aspects of photography. My three favorite photos are of, in no particular order, myself at my first communion, my grandmother at her 75th birthday party, and my great-grandmother on her wedding day. That was about about 1905, and no, I did not take it. I also have tons of photos of my daughter and grandson around the house. All of those pictures freeze the moment. In that photo, my daughter will always be five years old, or my grandson will always be 1, 2, 3 or whatever. My great-grandmother has been dead for almost 80 years. In that photograph, she will always be about 20 years old.

I do try to work on the technical aspects of my photography, but the importance of that pales next to the memories they preserve and induce. If I want to be 20 years old again, even if only in my mind,and only for a few seconds, I pull out some of the shots I took in the 1970s. When my grandson is acting like the three-year-old he is, and his mother is getting frustrated, I show her a shot of herself at about the same age. It is a miracle worker. Everyone wants to see it, and everyone feels a bit better for having done so.

I may never be a 'good' photographer. I don't care. That is not my goal. My photographs are personal and meaningful. A sentimental favorite that I did not take is an blurry, OOF, poorly composed, poorly lit self-portrait my grandson made when he was two years old and messing around with my 5D. THAT is photography, to me anyway.

davidfarina wrote in post #16145525
Or what is the most important thing in photography for you and for your style of shooting?

My hobby is shooting bugs. So, precise focus due to shallow DoF, a high level of detail, and good light diffusion. Composition is also important to a pleasing image, as in most types of photography.

Tommy1957 wrote in post #16146096
To me, the most important part of photography is not IQ, although I chase it relentlessly. It is not lighting or composition, which when I do nail, does make me happy. My favorite part of photography is still the same thing it was when I started doing this almost 50 years ago: time. Time?, you ask. Yes, really.

I am 56 years old and just love the time-freezing and time-traveling aspects of photography. My three favorite photos are of, in no particular order, myself at my first communion, my grandmother at her 75th birthday party, and my great-grandmother on her wedding day. That was about about 1905, and no, I did not take it. I also have tons of photos of my daughter and grandson around the house. All of those pictures freeze the moment. In that photo, my daughter will always be five years old, or my grandson will always be 1, 2, 3 or whatever. My great-grandmother has been dead for almost 80 years. In that photograph, she will always be about 20 years old.

I do try to work on the technical aspects of my photography, but the importance of that pales next to the memories they preserve and induce. If I want to be 20 years old again, even if only in my mind,and only for a few seconds, I pull out some of the shots I took in the 1970s. When my grandson is acting like the three-year-old he is, and his mother is getting frustrated, I show her a shot of herself at about the same age. It is a miracle worker. Everyone wants to see it, and everyone feels a bit better for having done so.

I may never be a 'good' photographer. I don't care. That is not my goal. My photographs are personal and meaningful. A sentimental favorite that I did not take is an blurry, OOF, poorly composed, poorly lit self-portrait my grandson made when he was two years old and messing around with my 5D. THAT is photography, to me anyway.

I think this was by far the best thing i've ever read on the internet. Thank you very much for sharing!

davidfarina wrote in post #16146154
I think this was by far the best thing i've ever read on the internet. Thank you very much for sharing!

Thank you. I still remember how I felt when I got my first roll of 12 shots developed from my Kodak Brownie Hawkeye Flash. It was complete and utter awe that I could stop time like that. It is still amazing.

That was absolutely spine tingling Tommy. I think sometimes we forget why we do photography.

I worked in the PJ end for almost 40 years, trying to please editors. Before work and after work and almost every day in my latter years I say:

What Tommy1957 said!

Sometimes, we need a perspective adjustment.....thanks.​.

I look for opportunities while doing coverage of an assignment or just doing a walk around. There are often chances for interesting images if you can stop, look and recognize them. I look for something that I like and will hold the viewer’s interest and curiosity. I would prefer the image to have rich blacks and detailed highlights although not always necessary.

There have been times when I have noticed an interesting image while doing processing that I had missed while shooting. Don’t be afraid to experiment. If you have doubts shoot it anyway and see what you can do with it in PP.

Here is an example of a simple image that was enhanced in post processing and used as the title shot of a construction project presentation.

http://www.pbase.com/e​osnead/image/151471358​/large

To me, photography has always been a two part endeavor, part one to capture memories to last forever and part two is to create or capture art. After fifty years of working at shooting both types of photography, I'm still learning and have the same feeling of wonder each time the shutter is pushed on a camera. Or to make a long story short, what Tommy1957 said.

Tommy1957 wrote in post #16146096
To me, the most important part of photography is not IQ, although I chase it relentlessly. It is not lighting or composition, which when I do nail, does make me happy. My favorite part of photography is still the same thing it was when I started doing this almost 50 years ago: time. Time?, you ask. Yes, really.

I am 56 years old and just love the time-freezing and time-traveling aspects of photography. My three favorite photos are of, in no particular order, myself at my first communion, my grandmother at her 75th birthday party, and my great-grandmother on her wedding day. That was about about 1905, and no, I did not take it. I also have tons of photos of my daughter and grandson around the house. All of those pictures freeze the moment. In that photo, my daughter will always be five years old, or my grandson will always be 1, 2, 3 or whatever. My great-grandmother has been dead for almost 80 years. In that photograph, she will always be about 20 years old.

I do try to work on the technical aspects of my photography, but the importance of that pales next to the memories they preserve and induce. If I want to be 20 years old again, even if only in my mind,and only for a few seconds, I pull out some of the shots I took in the 1970s. When my grandson is acting like the three-year-old he is, and his mother is getting frustrated, I show her a shot of herself at about the same age. It is a miracle worker. Everyone wants to see it, and everyone feels a bit better for having done so.

I may never be a 'good' photographer. I don't care. That is not my goal. My photographs are personal and meaningful. A sentimental favorite that I did not take is an blurry, OOF, poorly composed, poorly lit self-portrait my grandson made when he was two years old and messing around with my 5D. THAT is photography, to me anyway.

I completed a two year project scanning thousands of very old negatives and photos of my family from prior to 1900 right up to the 70's. I made photo books for all my relatives ( 25 or so books ) and gave them out as Christmas presents. The emotional impact when they opened the book and thumbed through the pages brought tears to many of their eyes.

I so much agree with what you wrote. The image quality, lighting, posing etc... Really sucked in these photos...but their impact was huge. That to me is what makes a great photo.

Today we worry so much about the technical aspects that we forget the emotional aspects of photography.

I always try and do something different than everyone else. I do the cliche stuff also just to be on the safe side but if I'm somewhere and everyone is shooting with a telephoto I'll toss in a wide angle to get a different perceptive. So my shots don't end up looking like everybody else who was there.

davidfarina wrote in post #16145525
I'm a little bored today so i thought to open this new thread. I think there is no other similiar thread.

So tell us what is your main point with which you shoot your best pictures?

Or what is the most important thing in photography for you and for your style of shooting?

No mystery here. The answer is "whether the picture looks good." Any other answer is over-thinking a basic matter. Now, if you want to know what makes a picture look good, that depends.

After 40 years of catching planes, meeting deadlines, re-shoots to please a magazine editor, dealing with spoiled models. My greatest pleasure was at home, picking up a camera and shooting candid pictures of my family, and now of my grand children, no pressure from outside or any created by myself. Just back to the real reason I enjoyed stopping time on film, and unravel the secret of the perfect shot, that I have not yet captured, as there are still to many memories to be made in my viewfinder.