Not being able to look at your photo the way other people do

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koven

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When I take a picture and post it the way I look at is pretty much the same way others look at it. I try to look at things through the general public's eye. Im sure most people are like this.


However have you ever experienced a time where you took a photo but you cant look at it the way everyone else does. Maybe you did something in post processing that nobody notices but to you but it completely ruins the picture or changes the picture even though the picture is still good or there was a random detail in the picture that sticks out to you. Its impossible for me to look at the picture as a whole......i look at the spot where I made a mistake...then I look at the rest of the pic.

Has anyone ever experienced this?
 
Of course! Everyone is their own worst critic. I have the same thing happen with photography, but also music. Sometimes it is difficult to view the whole when you are aware of all the parts.

Andy
 
Can anyone look at anything the way someone else does? If we're talking about maybe you apply some PP, which you like, but a viewer does not, is that not simply a matter of taste?
 
I know where you are coming from. I try to process my film so that a minimum of post processing is needed. Sometimes it is nescessary but not always desirable. I accidentally posted a straight scan on another forum the other day and it was very well received. The post processed version was true to my vision of the shot but I let the straight version stand. People liked it nonetheless.
 
Actually, I suspect that some people never criticize their own pictures at all. They just assume that EVERYONE is interested in their dull, badly-exposed and worse-composed picture.

Cheers,

R.
 
Time cures it.

In the past I could be so engaged with a photograph that I was too close to it to judge it objectively.

Putting it away for any span of time that works for you, can help re-valuating the image so you can judge it more unbiased.

Now, why can't the social media crowd do this too...? :p
 
I think everyone has that experience from time to time. Both those that I think are good and others don't, and those that I think aren't good and others rave about.
 
I spent some days with an old timer, who had the good fortune to have created a few popular images over his career. His personal favorites were not widely popular.

I suppose the photographer has a unique view.
 
oftheherd said:
I think everyone has that experience from time to time. Both those that I think are good and others don't, and those that I think aren't good and others rave about.
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Yes. This reminds me of one of my pictures -- of the Dikteion cave, the birthplace of Zeus -- that has twice been run full page. Once in Shutterbug; once somewhere else (I forget now). I still don't know why it grabbed the editors' eyes. I quite like it, and I've reassessed it somewhat in the light of others' admiration, but I still can't see why it was full page, twice.

For those who are interested it was taken (as far as I recall) with an old 21 Biogon adapted for Leica M on Fujichrome 50 (the predecessor to Velvia, and a vastly better film) with either an M2 or an M4-P.

Cheers,

R.
 
Wouldn't you just know it,having just returned from a southern vacation with a dozen rolls of medium format film,my absolute favorite picture was with Velvia 50!!!!
ps: maybe it's because I've been accused of colour blindness.
Regards,Peter
 
koven said:
When I take a picture and post it the way I look at is pretty much the same way others look at it. I try to look at things through the general public's eye. Im sure most people are like this.

However have you ever experienced a time where you took a photo but you cant look at it the way everyone else does.
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The real question is, why do you care ? :)

Over the last couple of years my "keepers" turn out more and more to be photos that I like looking at, and of which I know most others ('the general public') couldn't care less. Family, friends, places I've been too that I shoot as I see them, but that must have been photographed many times by others, etc.
 
ferider said:
The real question is, why do you care ? :)
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Thanks for saying that.

ferider said:
but that must have been photographed many times by others, etc.
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An interesting theme that deserves a separate thread, Roland.

I see two contradictory phenomenon: on the one hand, there is the "exhaustion of the image". Too many images of too many of the same places....; on the other hand, there is a something like a self-valorization of production and spectatorship.

The illusion of sameness is part of the "McDonald's Promise": the burger should taste the same ordered anywhere, anytime. Not bad, if/when you need that reassurance, but used injudiciously, it could easily prevent one from embracing one's own experience.
 
Roger Hicks said:
Actually, I suspect that some people never criticize their own pictures at all. They just assume that EVERYONE is interested in their dull, badly-exposed and worse-composed picture.

Cheers,

R.
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That is very true. Perhaps we should campaign for the return of the viewing board or its electronic equivalent ?
 
koven said:
When I take a picture and post it the way I look at is pretty much the same way others look at it. I try to look at things through the general public's eye. Im sure most people are like this.
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I disagree. I think looking at it without the experience of having taken the picture is impossible. Time helps, and is probably the best way to get closest to that "never seen this picture before" feeling, but to say that one can do it fully, short of having amnesia, is a bold statement indeed.
 
Sure. I think the difference is when I look at one of my own photos I see one result of a situation that had many possible outcomes so I judge the photo against what I think was its potential. When other people look at the photos they just see the photo that is in front of them.
 
You can't worry about this type of stuff. Not everyone has the same influences, experiences, and/or visual literacy. You also cannot control the interpretation of your photos because not everyone has the same influences, experiences, and/or visual literacy. What does it for some, will not do it for others. Even the best photographers have their critics. No photographer is loved 100% by the public and never will be.

The problem with photography is that it is so ubiquitous that the average joe thinks they know what constitutes a great photo i.e. "Hey check out the sunset I took with my cellphone when I was on vacation. I don't see the difference between it and what is in calendars. Do you think I can blow it up and sell it?"

If you are not doing this for a living where you have to please someone before yourself, please yourself first and you'll be ok.
 
noimmunity said:
An interesting theme that deserves a separate thread, Roland.

I see two contradictory phenomenon: on the one hand, there is the "exhaustion of the image". Too many images of too many of the same places....; on the other hand, there is a something like a self-valorization of production and spectatorship.

The illusion of sameness is part of the "McDonald's Promise": the burger should taste the same ordered anywhere, anytime. Not bad, if/when you need that reassurance, but used injudiciously, it could easily prevent one from embracing one's own experience.
Click to expand...

The interesting thing about photography is that what is a photographic cliche in NYC might be an interesting photograph when viewed in another part of the world. What is common in your backyard, is not common elsewhere. Also, time tends to make a photograph change into something different.

Another misconception is that some tend to think a great photograph can only be one that takes hard work to make. The whole "I could've done that" mentality that people use to write off good work. Sometimes simplicity works to photograhy's advantage.
 
I have given up on second-guessing how other people view / interpret my
pictures. My personal favorite pictures of mine are generally the ones that
people don't appreciate; and vice versa.

Ironically at the moment, I am submitting two prints to a local museum for a short exhibition.
I really would love to have ANY of my prints hanging; but I am torn between
submitting what I think will be accepted by the judges versus what I really would like
people to look at. It's kind of an unsolvable problem :(
 
I like my photos I post here and on other sites. I can only hope others value them also - that's why I post them - although I don't care if they don't.
 
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