Make or take a photograph?

[Carmen-Zarena]

Please explain what is wrong with the sentance 'I'd like to make a photograph'.

 

[blacknomi]

Hi, I don't think it wrong. It still depends on which situation you are referring to. For example, if you are traveling in Paris, you can take a picture of Eiffel Tower.Then you came back home sweet home, turning on PC and uploading all photos through a USB devise. Oaky, you found yourself quite Monet in that photo( I mean if you have a chance to take a look at Monet's work, you will see the beauty of it if you stand at a distacne. Well, it's unpleasant for eyes if you insist on standing in front of it, say 50 centimeters from it.) So you probably wants to use Photoshop or PhotoImpact to make yourself look better. In this case, you can make a photograph.


http://www.abcgallery.com/M/monet/monet53.html
:-D

 

[Carmen-Zarena]

I don't agree. By using Photoshop, etc. you are 'editing' nor making a photograph. I would like to know the grammatical difference between 'make' and 'take'.

 

[Casiopea]

Please explain what is wrong with the sentence 'I'd like to make a photograph'.

to take (i.e., a picture) means, to capture the image on film.

 

[Casiopea]

That would have been my answer, too. Tough crowd tonight!

 

[Lynne Hand]

Many native people of indigenous cultures were afraid of early pioneering photographers capturing their soul on the photographic plates they made–at least to these people photography was an act of taking something even as precious as one’s soul! The photographer takes an image that already exists, thereby preserving it, he/she does not make it as it is already there.

Learn English

 

[Carmen-Zarena]

Thank you all for your interesting replies, however I'm trying to establish the grammatical error. 'I want to make a photo' is grammatically incorrect and shoudl be said 'I want to take a photo'. I need to be able to explain why it is incorrect.

 

[Tdol]

It's not grammatically incorrect; the problem is meaning. ;-)

 

[Casiopea]

Thank you all for your interesting replies, however I'm trying to establish the grammatical error. 'I want to make a photo' is grammatically incorrect and shoudl be said 'I want to take a photo'. I need to be able to explain why it is incorrect.

Interlingual error, semantics. For example, if in the learner's first language the word meaning to make/create is used to express take a photo, and the learner borrows that meaning and applies it to English, thereby giving: *make a photo, the error is one based in semantics, or meaning as tdol notes.

1. I want to make a photo. (OK, if the meaning is to create a picture that looks like a photo but doesn't involve the use of a camera)

2. I want to make a photo. (Not OK if the meaning is to capture an image by taking a picture).

 

[Carmen-Zarena]

Casiopia - thanks very much for the explanation, which helps a great deal. Do you have any advice on how one could explain this to a class of ESL students?

 

[Casiopea]

Casiopia - thanks very much for the explanation, which helps a great deal. Do you have any advice on how one could explain this to a class of ESL students?

You could discuss the words 'capture' (i.e., take with one's hand: take a bus) and 'create' ('make' with one's hand: make a cake).;-)

 

[Carmen-Zarena]

Casiopia - thanks for the info - very useful indeed. :-D

 

[Casiopea]

You're welcome.