My little cousin asked me why the stars in my photo from Joshua Tree looked 'fuzzy' and I realized I'd been ignoring my tripod's weight limit for months.

He pointed at my shot of the Orion Nebula and said, 'It looks like it's breathing,' which was a way better description of the slight blur than any technical term I'd used before.

4 comments

4 Comments

jennifer8332mo agoMost Upvoted

Kids have a way of cutting right to the heart of things with their descriptions. My nephew once saw a long exposure shot of car taillights on a rainy road and called it "hot lava worms." I spent twenty minutes trying to explain light trails and he just nailed it in three words. It's a good reminder that sometimes the best way to talk about a photo isn't with gear specs.

victor7792mo ago

Reminds me of when I called my first blurry photo "art".

phoenixw112mo ago

So what's the best kid description you've heard for a photo? Like, for something totally normal to us.

-1

michaeltorres5d ago

Honestly, that "hot lava worms" thing is exactly what I mean. I remember reading somewhere that kids describe things based on what they feel, not what they see technically, so they just skip straight to the emotional core. Ngl, that's way more interesting than hearing about aperture or shutter speed. Tbh, adults ruin photos by over-explaining them. Kids just tell you if it looks cool or weird or scary and that's honestly more valuable.