Modern Photography/Capture

The moment of capture is the moment in which the life of an image begins.

What are we thinking of at that moment? What is it fundamentally about?

• It is opportunity; an option given to use, to take or discard at will;
• It is commitment; that by which we may be criticized and judged, that by which we criticize and judge ourselves, that of which we may be afraid.
• It is sharing, an act of communication; that which is no longer within us, viewed by us alone in time and space, through a viewfinder or otherwise, but will be possible to share with others.
• It is record; something which has been taken, preserved and ascribed value, it is evidence: evidence that something existed at a time and place, and therefore something potentially powerful that prohibits denial of experience, denial of an aspect of reality. In this sense too, it may be political.
• It is judgement; the ascribing of value or worth to a time and place, an object, an aesthetic, a worldview, a perspective, an act, an idea.
• It is unique; in most cases never to be repeated, and certainly never to be repeated in exactly the same way.
• It is performance; perhaps pre-empted by motion: jostling or moving for position, kneeling, reaching, squinting, or concentrating... perhaps emphasized by shutter-sound, bright flashes of light, a murmur, or a subsequent rustling toward a new position for a subsequent image.

It is all of these things, and yet it can happen in a fraction of a second.

Modes of capture

• Classic shutter button.
• Remote triggering, wireless or wired
  • Human-driven
  • Sensor-driven
    • Light-sensors for lightning
    • Motion sensors for wildlife

Technical concerns

Affecting your environment

Announcing your presence with noise, flash and motion ...

Camera-specific considerations

Memory .. for storage and temporary buffering ...