feeling from a photo...

[dannyday5821]

ive been into photography for afew years now and ive got loads of time of work so ive been lookin through all my photos... and its wierd...

i have some crystal clear pictures perfectly straight and sharp... which look very cool but in some way lack any sort of "feeling or emotion" and then...

i have some random photos that make me stop and think... but their rubbish. One my parents took of a guy on the end of a pier with a kid - its blurred and at a wrong angle... but theres somethin about it, something that would be so hard if not impossible to replicate...

theres others which are just pictures of "nothing" - a pilon or a bush but again its wierd... its like the images make me feel something... but i dont know what...

does anyone know what i mean? Is this what qualia is? i guess i understand art galleries now... why people stand and look at somethin, searching for some kind of experience... we dont all feel it but they stand a search... i guess its the same with these random photos - someone else would throw or delete them - but they make me stop, for whatever reason, and think... about what... i dont even know myself... but their kept in a folder called "..."

[jno]

maybe they mean something to you because they're of (or by) people you know or they show things you know or recall experiences you had. Or maybe experiences you'd like to have.

Or maybe the appeal is purely aesthetic; there's something in the dynamic diagonals or the rule of threes or the golden ratio - these seem to say something to people regardless of the subject matter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio

[daffy654]

I saw a photo in the Daily Mail yesterday that made me feel very peaceful and relaxed. It was just a photo of some ice covered trees but it seemed to have a 'special something'.

http://i.dailymail.co...005DC-410_964x608.jpg

[milly143]

Maybe it's because the photos that give you that feeling are 'natural' photos. The photo of the guy with his child on the pier - he probably didn't know someone was taking a picture of him so you are seeing him and the child at their natural, unposed state and pictures which catch the natural life of someone or something are always so much more interesting.

[Old Salt]

Hello dannyday5821

I have been active in photography since 1957, 35mm film until a couple of years ago.

I was in lucky when I joined the Navy, I often found myself working with trained, professional photographers.

I think what you are experiencing is, "Capturing the moment." The photogs could take a few pictures based on my descriptions of what I was going to write about. Occassionaly the photog didn't show so, I 'took some pics'. Well, no matter how many rolls of 36 exposure film I used, mostly all the pics lacked feeling. As a result the writing also suffered.

So, be thankful that you seem to have 'an eye for a good picture'. Some of us try and try and only 'get lucky ever so often.'

Good luck and here's a bit of advice from a real oldie, "Keep striving to improve your talent and feelings, your senses will guide you."

If you genuinely like what you see, so will other people

Old Salt

[yinyang]

I've just had a look at Daffy's link and i got a spooky, almost threatening feel off these trees. Everybody will react differently to an image, one of the very few things that my husband and I disagree on is what to hang on our walls - it's mostly family photos now as we can find very little middle ground on art.

I love looking at photos my children have taken. Their perspective on a place or event can be totally different from an adults and often they will capture a small detail that i didn't spot. They probably break most of the 'rules' of photography but can still produce some lovely images.

[pa___ul3]

I find there's a real beauty in imperfection, it almost makes it more real

[Ankou]

i think recollection of a moment or a personal experience is one thing, but we can all experience image emotion from those pictures (through history) that stir some human emotion within us even though we are far detached from the subject matter and the image. pictures like the burning monk and the nguyen execution spring to mind.

http://achievementgap...8/11/monk-burning.jpg

http://upload.wikimed...ia/en/f/f9/Nguyen.jpg

as does the one that made loads of cash for athena....

http://news.bbc.co.uk..._1169145934/img/1.jpg

i suppose these have become iconic. studies have shown that a photo needs a ratio of 2 things. high impact and high information, the balance 70/30, 80/20 will effectthe outcome. but as with jnos post above, emotions can't/shouldn't be about maths, so we come back to the old adage: that to each and every one of us, a picture is worth a thousand words.

[dannyday5821]

thanks for all your responses people nice to hear everyone else opinion :)

and thanks for your response Old Salt - i love photography its still just a hobby and probably always will be but i love everything about it from the technical stuff to the just wonderin around in the middle of nowhere taking pictures of anything and everything on a nice sunny day! :P

[society]

It's like having an ear for music, Danny.