What is a good photo? This question made me hold a dream of creating branded scenic spots in my hometown Tsurumi.

What is a good photo?

Without any strong belief about it, I am under severe pressure from something invisible so I try thinking deeply and thoroughly.

When I thought deeply and thoroughly, I suspected that there are some similar conditions of being a "not-bad photo" while I found some good words embodying a "good photo". Here's what I think.

Conditions of a "not-bad photo"

These are the conditions which photos must at least satisfy as an art. These are the factors which make people feel something's wrong when a photo does not satisfy any of them, rather than the factor which moves people. (however, it can be another art if you make it not satisfy them intentionally.)

• It doesn't have camera shake or blur.
• It is in focus.
• It doesn't have strange tilt.
• It doesn't have dust on lens.
• It doesn't have blown out highlights or blocked up shadows.
• It faithfully reflects the original colors.
• It doesn't have lens flare or ghosting.
• It can be printed in large sizes.

Conditions of a "good photo"

These are the conditions to move people. These are the essence of being an art of how photos influence those who see them, on the premise of satisfying the conditions of a "not-bad conditions".

• It is clear to understand what it tells.
• It makes people take actions.
• It makes people feel positive.
• It captures inexperienced views.
• It makes people feel photographer's belief.

Although each of the conditions of a "not-bad photo" sounds easy to satisfy, it is unexpectedly hard to satisfy all at one time. I started to realize perfect horizontality because some of my past photos tilted strangely. I started to remove ghosting out of the image sensor when shooting the sunrise and the sunset. I started to use slow shutter speed with ISO value of 100 for coming 8K TV screens. I have tried much more others, and I now feel that what I have been pursuing is the "not-bad photo".

However, the conditions of a "good photo" listed above cannot convince me. They do not follow MECE principle. They are too abstract. They cannot be reproduced again. It's like having a discussion over marketing issues without true answers.

Ah, well, marketing sounds interesting. There can be a breakthrough by adopting any theories or methods from marketing communication field.

Canon EOS 6D, Tamron SP 70-200mm F/2.8 Di VC USD (70mm, f/18, 1/100 sec, ISO-100)

I challenged the sun, the very difficult subject of photography with much care so that this photo satisfied the conditions of a "not-bad photo". As I removed most of the ghosting out of the photo, you will not be distracted by, if any, small ghosting.

Since my moving to Tsurumi Town, this is my first time to take photos along Tsurumi River, a symbol of Tsurumi Town. Because Tsurumi River is narrower than Tama River, I thought that Tama River is more suitable for shooting the sunset. But here, Takano Ohashi Bridge was different. The river flows to the northern east, and then winds to the southern east, which allows people to shoot both sunrise and sunset down to the river from here. Great shooting spot, indeed.

I had never been here when I had lived in this town.

Because I decided to be back to my hometown Tsurumi, I would like to create "Three Most Scenic Sunrise Spots of Tsurumi", and "Three Most Scenic Sunset Spots of Tsurumi" as a photographer seeking the sun. I expect that this Takano Ohashi Bridge will be in both of the lists at the end. This photo was taken with my belief as such.

Then, is this a "good photo"?

Can this really move people's hearts?

Photography is all about trial and error.