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A question of English and its use

Author	Post

Posted by highlander: Fri Sep 8th, 2017 09:40

1^st Post

Where and why did people start referring to photographs as 'captures' ?
It drives me batty.

We are not capturers, we are photographers, therefore we take photos.
We do not capture anything - you capture fish in a net or animals in a cage.

I don't know where it came from but I really, REALLY, hate it.

What say you?

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Posted by Robert: Fri Sep 8th, 2017 19:21

2^nd Post

I agree entirely.

To capture a moment may be appropriate in context. Unfortunately some people latch onto a term and over use it.

For similar reasons I generally avoid the terms 'shot', 'shoot' and 'shooting' when referring to photography. Unfortunately the Nikon manuals use 'shoot' continuously throughout the pages of directions on how to use their cameras. Making exposures, releasing the shutter and a host of other options are available to describe the act of making a photograph, but they have chosen shoot? That helps to reinforce the misuse of the term. Not only that but I think it adversely affects the attitude of some people who take photographs, because they ARE shooters, not photographers. Composition has no place in their photography.

I sometimes use the informal abbreviation of pic or pix. I try not to use the same word too often especially when there are plenty of alternatives. Perhaps we could try to think of all the words and phrases which mean taking a photograph?

Among my pet hates are 'footage' when referring to a video clip, and 'cut and paste' from a website when that is impossible, copy and paste if you must... Simply to copy would suffice in most instances.

Another pet hate misuse while we are at it, OT of course, sorry Jan! Languish, many people seem to think it means to sit on a beach sipping their favourite tipple without a care in the world. It actually means to rot in jail...

Dictionary entry:

verb (no object)

1 (of a person, animal, or plant) lose or lack vitality; grow weak: plants may appear to be languishing simply because they are dormant.
â€¢ fail to make progress or be successful: Kelso languish near the bottom of the Scottish First Division | (as adjective languishing) : the country's languishing stock market.
â€¢ archaic pine with love or grief: she still languished after Richard.
â€¢ archaic assume a sentimentally tender or melancholy expression or tone: when a visitor comes in, she smiles and languishes.

2 be forced to remain in an unpleasant place or situation: he has been languishing in jail since 1974.

Edited, 07:40 9/9/17: I was tired when first posted and the text needed improving and clarifying.

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Robert.

Posted by jk: Sat Sep 9th, 2017 05:01

3^rd Post

Whoops I use that term sometimes!
I tend to use it as a good capture like in capturing/taking the photograph at the right moment.

I hate the use of the 'tog' word. Either you are a photographer or a camera user or some other descriptor. A tog is a heat retention measurement!

:thumbs:

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Posted by Eric: Sat Sep 9th, 2017 12:05

4^th Post

The word " capture " is perfectly acceptable as a verb...as in "to capture a moment". Where it goes pear shaped, to coin another modern vernacular, is when people start using verbs as nouns etc. The noun derivative of the verb capture ...is a captIVE. So using capture as a noun is grammatically wrong as well as irritating.

But I have lost all hope of people speaking English proper like what I was learnt.

What irritates me is poor annunciation. The modern tendency to slur STR. So Strange becomes Schtrange. Even BBC news announcers report that dishonoured public figures may be Schtripped of their titles.

Or the strange Caribbean pronunciation of ASK ...which has somehow been adopted by modern youth as AKS....or maybe they spell it AXE as well?

The inablity of nearly everyone on TV to know when to use THE (short e) and when to use THE (long eee). It's theeeee accident, not the accident. They do have problems with their vowels.

And don't get me started with pronouncing H ... Haitch instead of Aitch

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Eric

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