Zen and the Art of Screencapping

[spiritualyouth]

I do get a kick from capping something that others have missed.

Often when a movie comes out starring a big name actress it will have an "Iconic" scene which gets posted everywhere.

However I like to go through the movie step by step and cap parts that have been forgotten and overlooked as well as the lesser actresses in the movie.

I've found so many other great moments by doing that.

I watch and download a lot of shows. Have various memberships to streaming tv and have collected a ton of dvd's over time so I've always been into movies and celebrities and such and just love to capture moments and expressions.

I hopefully will be purchasing a Blu-Ray R/W for my PC in the coming months so I'll be able to cap from my collection of those to.

[amfanmagician]

I have enjoyed doing caps for many years. One of the reasons is that you become a photographer taking "new" shots. It is a labor of love. I have a new computer with Windows 8.1 and have used the snipping tool as well as the alt. print screen features. I was disappointed purchasing the Power DVD 14 because they no longer gave you the option of adjusting the capture size. In that version it is only 640 x 480. I wrote to them expressing my disappointment and they said they would consider restoring that option in future versions. I bought an all region outboard DVD drive and will probably add a Bluray one in the near future. I am having very nice results from Photoshop Elements 13.

[frakacylon]

There is nothing like capturing the perfect screenshot of your favourite celeb. My best, albeit with heavy prejudice lol, is this:


I ken its my sig, but that might change at any time.

Zen is the perfect word. The calmness and focus keeps the mind occupied and even when life is troubling, I find it can help think with a wee bit more clarity.

Thanks for taking the time and effort to share mate

[Mikka41]

I screencap because you often get one incredible picture that you remember the entire scene and move with. Like one breath-taking shot that you suddenly set/freeze while you're watching it. For me it's something from a Dorothy LeMay or Lysa Thatcher blowjob. Where they are just annihilating someone - in such a frenzied way - that you just have to screencap some of it. Unfortunately it cuts into memory - and I have had a problem with screencapping, using and losing a lot of memory.

[Numerous One]

I've been visiting this thread every once in a while over the years. The reason is a sense of meditative calmness radiating from the title and from the action at subject as well. And to assure myself that I'm not completely crazy, or at least "though that be madness, yet there is method in't", and that I'm not alone in it.
I wanted to say something so many times, but for the reasons unknown to me, would always give up. This time I've decided it's a good time for this thread to be revived.

I've met Zen personally, once or twice, and want to share my impressions with bawjaws and anybody interested.

I agree with DTravel as the thread starter on every point, and with so much of what many other posters stated, and have similar approach.

First off:
No software working in an automated mode could do a perfect job. For quick and dirty reference files - yes. But, if you want to do justice to an imagery you cherish, you have to do it yourself, slowly and painstakingly (well, not really a painful exercise; utter pleasure, actually - otherwise, who'd do it).

Capping allows, well, that what is the strictest meaning of the word, capturing some visually pleasing, stimulating moment, that we feel the need to observe, to explore the beauty in the minutae, register it and enjoy, to be immersed totally. And we need a wee bit more time for that, much longer than a frame or two running at real time, which is just a fraction of a second (some 25th or 30th part of it), provides.

Therein is a difference between temporal and spatial arts. By the classical definition, a panting (similar to a still image extracted from a movie) is a spatial art. Literature is a temporal art. The film is a strange beast. Capping extracts an image which would be then perceived spatially, from a medium that has both components. And then, it could be a story re-composed again to a temporal medium. The spatial work of art is experienced only after it is created, when it already is. The temporal work of art is experienced only as it is re-created, as it becomes. One interesting thought I've stumbled upon, states: "Spatial arts achieve freedom from time; temporal arts achieve freedom within time".

I see many of you, regarding the topic, relate to "mainstream" films and TV shows. Since we are on VEF, I'm here specifically talking about porn. Hence, none of my capping actions have anything even remotely resembling an "art", but, really, screencapping is a sort of re-creating a story. Some kind of a personal, customized version and vision of it.

I've never complained about VEF members posting too many screencaps accompanying their vids. Especially if they are tastefully selected.

I like it when I see that those are not just a bunch of images thrown in randomly, but when I am able to recognize an effort invested by the poster to highlight some portions, and can relate to it. Moreover, it provides a window to his/her perception of a given story, so I can compare to my own experience. And it is always interesting to see how we are all the same (in the sense that we are, as human beings, endowed with pretty similar faculties), and yet, our perception of the world is utterly individual and differs slightly from a person to person. And then, even, I am as equally delighted to see that some other individual finds an exactly the same moment pleasing as I do. So both ways work towards amusement.

You know the saying: "The beauty is in the eye of the beholder". And that would mean that beauty is a relative category. Well, it is true, to some degree. But not the whole truth.

There is something objective, something that can be qualified, quantified, measured, defined to some extent regarding beauty. I would be the last one able to do it. I'm just saying I suspect there are not many people in the world that would say that, for an example, Victoria Paris, Nancy Suiter, Bridgette Monet, Anita Rinaldi, Brigitte Lahaie..., among porn actresses, or Terri Welles, Corinne Alphen, Deborah Corrigan, Marina Larsen, Candy Loving, Brande Roderick, Jo Guest, Laura Doone (___________ add the fav of your choice here), among "softcore" models, aren't/weren't beautiful.
There is something objectively, universally beautiful about them.

And, yes, I completely agree with DTravel on the next point. The face is the most erotic, most arousing part of an image. Especially when the model is particularly beautiful. Breasts, legs, feet, ass (especially), those are really attractive, too. But nothing arouses me more than a beautiful face. Full pussy close-up simply doesn't work if the belonging face isn't in a frame.

My all-times favourite porn actress, Kelly Trump, not only had/has a beautiful face. She has a sort of, as some would describe, loving relation with a camera. Camera really did love her. Her sultry, soft and succulent lips, and beautiful eyes would do an inexplicable magic at moments. She had amazingly interesting facial expressions that would, on occasions, last only few frames. Those are the moments I would be after when screencapping.

I apologise for the long-winded post, but these thoughts have been accumulating over the years. After saving them for so long, they came with the interest.

[Numerous One]

Just one more reflection on the topic.

I hope that Bill Clinton's impeachment hasn't been forgotten. I remember watching an interview with a certain lady painter (apologies, the name escapes), who later became involved in investigative work for, if I remember correctly, the FBI, as a photo-robot sketcher, illustrator, whatnot, and primarily - a sort of a "living lie detector". She was introduced to a video record of Clinton's famous speech about him not having a sexual relations "with that woman, Miss Lewinsky", and some later statements. Completely assured, she immediately stated that he was lying. Asked how she could tell, she directed the present persons to watch the very angle of his lips - they were curved downwards - and that is a sign of discomfort; that, and a sort of a cynical grimace. The thing is that no human can lie (given that he/she is not a psychopath) without showing some sign of uneasiness. But, she could tell that just by watching the video once, at regular speed. And that detail was on some 2 or 3 frames, and only on one it was clearly defined. The average person would be able to see it only by using some video editing software and advancing frame by frame. No wonder they hired her later, craving her rare talent.

Why am I bringing all of this? Humans are capable of distinguishing the subtlest of nuances of other humans' emotions expressed by some facial gestures. But most of the time, although we do react according to them, that stays on a subconscious level. We do not, in vast majority of cases, register it consciously. The same thing happens when we, watching the video real time, stumble upon some interesting frame. We then have to rewind, advance one frame at a time, until we find that exact moment. And that is the moment of excitement - some beautiful frame that we have to keep as a still image.

We need time to observe, to soak in all the various details that make some composition beautiful. And as Emerson said, and later it became proverbially known worldwide: "It's not the destination, it's the journey".

Last, but not the least, thank you all for contributing, but primarily thank you DTravel for starting a rarely inspiring thread and sharing your thoughts on an activity that many of us so commonly and intimately share, but who would, without similar reflections coming from someone else, consider seeking a professional help.