The Decisive Moment

cameraman

10

28 Feb 2012 - 10:02 PM

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Most photographers have heard the phrase ’the decisive moment, forever linked to Henri Cartier-Bresson. We probably have our own idea as to what the ‘decisive moment’ means. The best definition I know is the moment HCB points to a frame on his contact sheet and says ”PRINT THAT ONE”. Has anyone else a favourite definition?

Camairish

7

28 Feb 2012 - 10:47 PM

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Usually the moment immediately before I get round to pressing the shutter button.

JackAllTog (e2 Member)

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29 Feb 2012 - 9:43 AM

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‘decisive moment’ - a moving subject that gets to the 'right' position/angle etc.

lemmy

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29 Feb 2012 - 11:03 AM

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I think Cartier-Bresson meant that whenever you were taking a picture, there would be one moment that would sum up all the elements, when the composition would come together and the picture would seem to light up in the viewfinder - that was the decisive moment.

User_Removed

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29 Feb 2012 - 11:36 AM

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Quote: Usually the moment immediately before I get round to pressing the shutter button.

..or, in my case, more often the moment immediately afterwards!

keith selmes

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1 Mar 2012 - 1:19 PM

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what Lemmy said - expresses the vague idea swilling around in my noggin

ade_mcfade

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1 Mar 2012 - 8:39 PM

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isn't the decisive moment when you press "process" on your Nik Colour EFEX 4 recipe?

cameraman

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2 Mar 2012 - 10:06 PM

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I am sure that HCB took more than one shot of his subjects, printed a contact sheet and then chose from there the frame that showed 'the decisive moment'. I cannot believe that he only ever took one frame of his subjects, waiting for the one and only moment to do so. This takes nothing away from his skill in capturing a great scene.


Quote: Maybe it's because he just used one Leica with a 50mm lens and that like, boring, dude?

This, of course, has nothing to do with anything said so far.