Do you "take pictures" or "make images"?

Question

some "take pictures" others "make images"

i think cameras "take" pictures,

are great images taken or made?

made includes

preproduction - idea/image conception,

the set/shot/shoot,

then post production - editing, photoshopping et cetera..........

do you take or make?

which do you find produces better results?

Answer 1

Ah, all is now right with the world. You have me scared in the wedding section!!!

Can I just say, "What Ace" said and be happy with that?

Actually, I have never given it much thought. I ALWAYS call them portraits around anyone with a credit card. If I'm going to ask them to pay a thousand bucks for one then I want them to perceive value.

However I tend to think of my paid work as images until they are on paper. When I grab a point and shoot from my purse and quickly snap the daughter and a friend running and playing with the dog, then I tend to think of that as 'taking a picture' as in snapshot. In the studio or anything else (that pays or I want to publish or display) I believe is 'made'. We conceive it, plan it, pose it, light it.... I believe that qualifies as more than 'taking'.

Everything I do is digital so everything must have some post production. The labs don't do anything these days. You do all the work even retouch and they charge you the same. And if they have to do any additional work then they over charge so I do it all. But I want the image to be as close to perfect before it comes out of the camera so hopefully the only thing I have to do it save to jpg and upload to lab.

HOWEVER my take on the picture, if you'll pardon the pun is that the best image possible should be composed and made before it is 'taken' by the camera.

There! Do I have you completely confused? Clear as mud?

B.

Answer 2

If someone doesn't touch it, the camera doesn't do anything.

As a photographer, I don't know how much difference there is between making and image and taking one.

If, because of training and experience, I see something that someone else doesn't and just position my self to get that image, have I made or taken a picture?

I really don't know and I'm not concerned about it. Like Mason, everything starts inside. Taking (straight capture) or making (more than minimium post processing) a picture is the act of trying to get it out for sharing.

I suppose I can divide things into two classes; something external to me that triggers a desire to produce a picture of it (or some aspect of it) and those pictures that are strictly the result of something in me that says 'I want to create this!', or 'What if ...' or something else. I have no idea where that comes from and don't feel like asking.

In the end, I only have one interest: Is the picture an effective expression of my intention. Well, that's almost true. For the paid stuff, I am very interested in whether the customer likes it.

I am such a whore.

Vance

EDWIN: One of the reasons I like digital is doing things like the RGB filtering you use. I can take multiple exposures (as many as I like) and select the channels from the different images. As you know, the non motion parts render naturally.

I used to do the same thing with film 30 years ago and I would have loved the control digital gives me over the effect by picking the channels.

If you scan in your negs (or trannies, if you like) you can do the same.

Just a thought.

Vance

Answer 3

What a thought provoking question. I feel I do both at various times. Sometimes I "take" a picture...I take that memory home with me. Other times I "make" a picture because I set everything up, sometimes taking months of planning and post production. Then there are those times when I "take" a picture and later "make" it into something more thanks to post production techniques. Hmmmm...a third category now...

Honestly, I have had some results I liked in each category, but I have to admit that the planning out and seeing through a concept has been the most rewarding.

Answer 4

I do both. When its family and friends I take pictures since spontaneity is more important. When I'm out at Bernheim or Spring Mill I pay more attention to composition and look for design elements to use. I also try to visualize how I want the finished image to look and then figure out how to get that image.

I also do in-camera double and multiple exposures which are "created" images since they don't exist in reality. I also use red, green, yellow and blue filters with color film to really mix things up. Clouds taken with 3 exposures using red, green and blue filters are... different. Or a sunset with a red filter. Or yellow filter.

My version of "post production" is to look at my prints and discard the ones I don't like. Of course I still use film lol!

Answer 5

cameras "capture an image"
photoshop "edits an image" (or can "make an image", having nothing to do with a camera)
you "take pictures" to the family reunion.
I suppose you could also say that the photographer produces an image, using a camera and photoshop.

Most professional photographs are edited.

Answer 6

I take pictures i am training myself on doing it on camera more in what i see everyday. Still life and studio are not on my list yet since im a newbie or an amateur. I don't do photoshop yet, i have plans of learning photoshop or other photo enhancing thing
so in the future i can do almost every aspect a costumer might want. Pictures that are made are cool and nice to your eye. But shots that are not made and natural are awesome.

Answer 7

I don't take or make my images. I create them. Set aside the arguement of HOW i achieve them, the truth is, using a combination of photography and digital imaging, I create images - like a painter creates paintings and they all use different techniques.

Answer 8

Touche would be an excellent response. In fencing there is thrust and parry and the point is scored with a legal touch. That doesn't mean you won the match but recognition that your excellent response resulted in a point. Touched love would be love returned or an excellent response to being loved.

Answer 9

pictures images

Answer 10

Why don't you make some images and I'll take them from you?