What makes a photo GREAT?

Tim, I dont think so. All the qulities that would make the photo great are still there. But I think that opens up a whole other pandoras box of questions.

Nice question! My immediate response is that "greatness" is almost completely subjective. Some of the descriptions of "greatness" above are more like descriptions of "impressiveness" or "momentousness". I like what Ellis says above. Hugo

To me a great image is one that I continue to see in my minds eye, long after actually viewing the image.

There really is only one answer to this. CAPTIVATION. The photo of the marines at Iwo Jima-

Captivating. The Afgan girl on the cover of National Geo, Captivating. Ali V Fraser-

Captivating. All of these are for different reasons, but we don't have to have one or two or

even three "reasons" for our intrigue. All reasons are valid, and all point back to captivation.

We can pick apart any art on any level: i.e. composition, color, depth of field, emotional

response, personal experience, etc. When all is said and done, a great photo captivates...

 

Take care

I think that the beauty of a picture is in the eyes of who sees it, not that much in the picture itself. When we see a picture, we are seeing it not only by our physical eyes, but also with our emotional eyes. What makes a picture GREAT is a combination of the two. The emotional eyes gives little to "technical" aspects like exposure and focus, but is greatly affected by what the picture evokes from our past experiences. And as we live a life, time passes and WE change. So, a picture that might not have meant anything to us a few years ago, the very same picture may look GREAT today. This is also true for the few cases mentioned above like the WWII Flag, the horse, the flower. I give you another example, a personal one. I really did not like the taste of polaroid photos, but after seeing it many times in magazines, now I like them. Is this "media manipulation"? Maybe, but since we live in this society, we cannot get rid of it, it's like pollution in a city: you either breathe it or you move to the mountains. But it does not matter; manipulated or not, we do change from day to day, and that changes whether or not a picture appears to us as GREAT or not.

<p>It is the one that either takes my breath away, makes me gasp, sigh, etc., etc.</p>