What is a good photo?

I love good photos.

I love good authentic photos.

But what is a good photo ?

I googled to check.

The top answers were:

1. If you always consider these three variables, light, subject, and composition. You will have mastered perhaps the most critical part of photography, and learned how to actually convey an emotional message with your shots.

2. What Are The Qualities Of A Good Photograph?

• Timelessness.
• It doesn't need to be explained.
• Tell us a story.
• Be selective about just what you allow into the picture.
• Attention To Detail.
• Unusual Point of View.
• They create emotion.

3. What is the definition of a good photo?

“A good photograph is one that communicates a fact, touches the heart and leaves the viewer a changed person for having seen it. It is, in a word, effective.” – Irving Penn.

So here is my view of what is a great photo.

Photos consists only of a few things like the game we used to play as a kid: People, Places, Animals & Things.

To understand what a photo is, we have to understand that it is a slice of time. Everything is so unique about it because it is that unique slice of time we have captured. 

But, any photo is not a good photo.

If it is a person or people, it has to capture an emotion. It has to be candid so that the emotion can be captured in all its honesty and reality, in the moment and unconsciously by the subject. An emotion that when looked at later brings nostalgia to the person and brings back the feelings in them what they experienced at that point in time. It should be like a time travel. If any other person sees it, it must convey the story and the emotion of the person and what they were going through.

If the photo is of a place, it should take you back to that place mentally (good or bad depends on that place) and give you the highs or the shivers.

If it is an animal, it is must be about it doing something unique or focussed and about to do something.

It is a thing, the contrast of it vis-a-vis other things should define the traditions, culture and context of the human civilisation.

If a photo captures more than one of these 4 elements together, it would be an outstanding photo.