Snake oil in photography

[Roland68]

I just thought of this picture from almost 10 years ago.
Do you notice anything?

View attachment 436027

To clarify, the folding chair in the front left is the only 3-dimensional object in the photo. The folding sign on the street behind the folding chair, the trash cans, and everything else, including the lighting, is a gigapixel image approximately 5 x 4 meters high on a canvas.

The photo of this picture/canvas was taken during a bokeh competition in which this picture served as the background.

 

[julian_hughes]

....
And you'll agree with me that a camera can only capture what the photographer sees.
...

I broadly agree with everything you've written, now clarified. But I would say that the camera can only capture what is present before the lens. We can shoot with film or sensors sensitive to very different wavelengths of light than the human eye so can indeed capture things we cannot see, which we never saw! And of course being visible is not the same as being seen, in the same way as in audio making a noise is not the same as being heard, for example someone may be speaking to you even quite loudly and close by but you are concentrating on other matters and do not even notice.

 

[Roland68]

I broadly agree with everything you've written, now clarified. But I would say that the camera can only capture what is present before the lens. We can shoot with film or sensors sensitive to very different wavelengths of light than the human eye so can indeed capture things we cannot see, which we never saw!

This is a bit of a nitpick, but if you're so pedantic, you should also mention that a camera can also capture what the photographer can't see because it's too fast for the human eye .

And of course being visible is not the same as being seen, in the same way as in audio making a noise is not the same as being heard, for example someone may be speaking to you even quite loudly and close by but you are concentrating on other matters and do not even notice.

Just as we don't notice certain things in an image until we're alerted to them, or because they're blurry or obscured by something else.

 

[gwing]

"And you'll agree with me that a camera can only capture what the photographer sees."

Ah, if only that was the case, there is an artistic element but the camera unfortunately captures as best it can what it is pointed at not what you see. What about a wildlife camera taking photographs the photographer doesn't see? What about photos you take where the image is ruined by some distracting background you hadn't seen?

 

[thunderchicken]

Dimensionality in photography is a matter of perspective, both actually and figuratively.

I will get pedantic about a lot of things, especially concerning photography, but the first principles are clear. A photograph is ultimately a 2d representation of 3d space, unless doing copy stand work, which is (or was) an extremely specialized and important part of the craft.

When I say that something needs to draw you in or jump out at you, it is a matter of perspective. The simplest way to explain is that you identify the subject and then find an angle or technique that separates the subject from the background and foreground. You can achieve that look by layering, by shooting at an angle into the action, or by light or lens techniques.

Find angles that are 45 degrees from the action and start there. A “plywood” photo is one that has all of the layers stacked without showing any depth. The lens is perpendicular to the action and scene is flat.