What to avoid

[fstops]

In the spirit of criticism and feedback, lets discuss what are some of the pitfalls that people should avoid in order to make more interesting work.

I'll start of by saying that high contrast and deceive moment are the two most cliched and gimmicky aspect of photography today that people should avoid.

If you shoot a high contrast scene that is fine, but don't make every picture high contrast because its easy to do with software, everyone is doing it, and therefore it cheapens your photos.

Decisive moment is so overused that even good ones come across as cliched. Try to photograph indecisive moments with skill.

 

[Roger Hicks]

In the spirit of criticism and feedback, lets discuss what are some of the pitfalls that people should avoid in order to make more interesting work.

I'll start of by saying that high contrast and decisive moment are the two most cliched and gimmicky aspect of photography today that people should avoid.

If you shoot a high contrast scene that is fine, but don't make every picture high contrast because its easy to do with software, everyone is doing it, and therefore it cheapens your photos.

Decisive moment is so overused that even good ones come across as cliched. Try to photograph indecisive moments with skill.

Eh? If it's a bad pic, it wasn't the decisive moment. Insofar, of course, as the phrase means anything. What do you take it to mean? I take it to mean the time that the picture (content and composition) comes together.

Cheers,

R.

 

[david.elliott]

I'll echo Roger's comment.

I also don't think that high contrast is necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt. Depends upon the content of the photo.

One thing to always avoid is that horrible overdone HDR processing. 🙂

 

[Mcary]

What's the difference between a bad picture and a bad picture after a few hours of Photoshop?
A few wasted hours of your life that you can't get back 🙂

 

[FrankS]

There are no rules.

 

[back alley]

i tend to avoid people that tell me what to avoid.

if that's a mistake at least it's my mistake.

 

[timor]

There are no rules.

Agree with that.

 

[Mcary]

There are no rules.

Doesn't the fact that there are no rules make that a rule 🙂

As in Rule #1 There are no rules.

 

[gns]

Avoid what you know.

 

[gb hill]

I like high contrast photo's that come together for that decisive moment. What about noir? I love noir too.

 

[Sparrow]

I agree with Joe, avoid avoiding things ...

 

[fotomeow]

I can agree with high contrast overuse. The other point, not so much ...

 

[back alley]

you don't master things by ignoring them.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Avoid what you know.

Avoid what you don't know even more assiduously.

Cheers,

R.

 

[ottluuk]

The greatest pitfall is to base the core of your work on the suggestions of others, instead of developing a vision of your own. This is not to say that critique isn't important, but that it is secondary to having a clue of what you are doing and why. Blindly following a set of no-nos is simply the negative form of imitation.

As to developing one's vision, I believe the following to be important:

1) Immersion. Strive to understand your subject, what it means to you and what your photographs might mean to others.
2) Cultural awareness. This doesn't begin and end with the work of famous photographers. It might mean studying poetry, literature, folklore, sociology, history or whatever else has a meaningful connection to your photography.
3) Experimentation. Try different things. The results may not be worth showing but you can only gain experience by doing things.
4) Perseverance. Building and refining a critical mass of work takes time and patience.

So, disregard for points 1, 2, 3 or 4 are some of the big mistakes that photographers make, IMHO.

 

[froyd]

Sure everybody's free to shoot what they wish, but I'm growing tired of some the visual and thematic clichés that many people take for "street photography". Thay are OK only in as much as they are a rite of passage, and once they are out of one's system hopefully they'll lead to more creative efforts.

One example that springs to mind: bent over old man/woman walking by billboard of glamorous young model. Everyone's welcome to try their hand at it, but unless they are superb photographers, the result is likely to be a shadow of what better artists have recorded in infinite incarnations ad nauseam.

 

[Roger Hicks]

The greatest pitfall is to base the core of your work on the suggestions of others, instead of developing a vision of your own. This is not to say that critique isn't important, but that it is secondary to having a clue of what you are doing and why. Blindly following a set of no-nos is simply the negative form of imitation.

As to developing one's vision, I believe the following to be important:

1) Immersion. Strive to understand your subject, what it means to you and what your photographs might mean to others.
2) Cultural awareness. This doesn't begin and end with the work of famous photographers. It might mean studying poetry, literature, folklore, sociology, history or whatever else has a meaningful connection to your photography.
3) Experimentation. Try different things. The results may not be worth showing but you can only gain experience by doing things.
4) Perseverance. Building and refining a critical mass of work takes time and patience.

So, disregard for points 1, 2, 3 or 4 are some of the big mistakes that photographers make, IMHO.

Beautifully put!

So... couched as negatives... avoid superficiality, ignorance/arrogance, narrow-mindedness and dilettantism.

Rather like life, really.

Cheers,

R.

 

[daveleo]

There are no rules.

Ever so true.

People who strive to make "good" pictures per someone else's guidelines are killing their own creativity.

There are no rules and there shouldn't be any.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Sure everybody's free to shoot what they wish, but I'm growing tired of some the visual and thematic clichés that many people take for "street photography". Thay are OK only in as much as they are a rite of passage, and once they are out of one's system hopefully they'll lead to more creative efforts.

One example that springs to mind: bent over old man/woman walking by billboard of glamorous young model. Everyone's welcome to try their hand at it, but unless they are superb photographers, the result is likely to be a shadow of what better artists have recorded in infinite incarnations ad nauseam.

Quite. From http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/ps critique.html

It's somewhat in the style of Martin Parr, though perhaps more formal. But be brutal: ask yourself why anyone is going to be interested in your version of Martin Parr when they could do a book by the real Martin Parr?

Cheers,

R.

 

[gns]

Avoid what you don't know even more assiduously.

Cheers,

R.

That would be the other way to go.