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What Are The Most Clichéd Photos In All Of Photography

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It seems that there are way too many long exposure silky waterfall photos for my tastes. Now people are doing the same thing with ocean waves.
 
SoCalAngler said:
The worst ones have the angler holding the fish in front of them at arms length to make the fish look bigger. I prefer a more natural pose and getting close with a wide angle lens.
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That is indeed a cliche.
 
Here is the thing that really gets me ..... people who buy expensive equipment and then go out and take the photos they think they are "supposed to take " because they have seen them on the cover photography magazines

or they proclaim that they are going on a photographic expedition of Iceland - because they heard its the hot place to go ( pun intended )

I went there when NOBODY was talking about the place - decades ago

don't copy .... come up with your own subjects and ideas

Don't go to Iceland and take photos ,,,,,, live with a Pigmy tribe for a month or seek out something unique
 
pentax mono said:
Don't go to Iceland and take photos ,,,,,, live with a Pigmy tribe for a month or seek out something unique
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But I've always wanted to go to Iceland. and when I do I will be taking pictures, it's what I do. BUT, I will be going on vacation and taking "memory" images, not going on a photo expedition.
 
cutterpup said:
pentax mono said:
Don't go to Iceland and take photos ,,,,,, live with a Pigmy tribe for a month or seek out something unique
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But I've always wanted to go to Iceland. and when I do I will be taking pictures, it's what I do. BUT, I will be going on vacation and taking "memory" images, not going on a photo expedition.
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if you have never been to the south coast of southern Chile ,,, I would highly recommend it before iceland ,,,,
 
cutterpup said:
pentax mono said:
Don't go to Iceland and take photos ,,,,,, live with a Pigmy tribe for a month or seek out something unique
Click to expand...
But I've always wanted to go to Iceland. and when I do I will be taking pictures, it's what I do. BUT, I will be going on vacation and taking "memory" images, not going on a photo expedition.
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Don't worry, you'll find scenes that are not cliché in Iceland.

Additionally they have Pigmy horses up there 🤓
 
pentax mono said:
1) insanely over processed hdr images

2) cat images

3) dog images

4) lone tree in a field

5) rusted tractors

6) sunsets from tropical locations

7) Iceland images

8) street people

9) women in bikinis with tattoos

10) anything from the cover of Phtography magazines or instructional guides

11) Africa animal images from tour guide truck

12) running water images of waterfalls showing movement
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One usually kills two birds with the same stone, combining 7) and 12)
 
JohnSil said:
I'll start. I shoot pretty much every genre so I have a lot of them. When I thought of this topic a shot just popped into my mind. I'll just name one so everybody gets a chance.

In baseball it has to be the "bat on ball" shot. Sure in the old film days of single shot cameras it was a real challenge. But with the advent of faster and faster fps cameras it's pretty much a beginner shot any more. It seems to be the baseball Holly Grail for some shooters.

Anyways, "ball on bat" is super cliché!

What is your overly clichéd shot and why do people keep shooting them?

Just name ONE so everybody gets a chance to sound off! LoL

John
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I hope you didn't expect people to stick to this....LOL.
 
Cherry_F said:
softmarmotte said:
The winner of this week's challenge on Landscape Photography...say no more
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One of my favs finished 39. Originality doesn't pay.
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Exactly, my two points :

Originality interests very few

Cliched subject and 'interpretation' are what the majority want

Is this the photography arrogance of 'if it's not original it's no good' ?
 
tbcass said:
SoCalAngler said:
The worst ones have the angler holding the fish in front of them at arms length to make the fish look bigger. I prefer a more natural pose and getting close with a wide angle lens.
Click to expand...
That is indeed a cliche.
Click to expand...
I think that trick was invented at camp when kids go for the summer! Of course if the kid is small the fish looks even bigger!!! lol

John
 
pentax mono said:
Here is the thing that really gets me ..... people who buy expensive equipment and then go out and take the photos they think they are "supposed to take " because they have seen them on the cover photography magazines

or they proclaim that they are going on a photographic expedition of Iceland - because they heard its the hot place to go ( pun intended )

I went there when NOBODY was talking about the place - decades ago

don't copy .... come up with your own subjects and ideas

Don't go to Iceland and take photos ,,,,,, live with a Pigmy tribe for a month or seek out something unique
Click to expand...
I agree with you. I've never been to Iceland but based on the photos I've seen there are a lot more interesting places to go.
 
pentax mono said:
Here is the thing that really gets me ..... people who buy expensive equipment and then go out and take the photos they think they are "supposed to take " because they have seen them on the cover photography magazines

or they proclaim that they are going on a photographic expedition of Iceland - because they heard its the hot place to go ( pun intended )

I went there when NOBODY was talking about the place - decades ago

don't copy .... come up with your own subjects and ideas

Don't go to Iceland and take photos ,,,,,, live with a Pigmy tribe for a month or seek out something unique
Click to expand...
I didn't even know there were still pigmys?

You have to let each generation seek it's own level. I started my first travels when I was 19, I'll be 72 in a couple of weeks. I go to places like Tulum or Machu Picchu, places that I had first gone to almost 50 years ago, Yes they've changed a lot! You walk around those places and the young backpackers are walking next to you saying to their friend, "Man I'm so glad we got to be here before this place gets overrun by tourist"!

And so it goes....., Marco Polo took 25 years to travel to China and back!!! What an adventure!!!

John
 
tbcass said:
pentax mono said:
Here is the thing that really gets me ..... people who buy expensive equipment and then go out and take the photos they think they are "supposed to take " because they have seen them on the cover photography magazines

or they proclaim that they are going on a photographic expedition of Iceland - because they heard its the hot place to go ( pun intended )

I went there when NOBODY was talking about the place - decades ago

don't copy .... come up with your own subjects and ideas

Don't go to Iceland and take photos ,,,,,, live with a Pigmy tribe for a month or seek out something unique
Click to expand...
I agree with you. I've never been to Iceland but based on the photos I've seen there are a lot more interesting places to go.
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I've seen some STUNNING photographs from Iceland which means there are STUNNING places to see! I get it, there are lots of amazing things to see all over he world but Iceland is certainly one of them!!! At least it seems to me!?

John
 
JohnSil said:
DesertDrifter said:
JohnSil said:
I'll start. I shoot pretty much every genre so I have a lot of them. When I thought of this topic a shot just popped into my mind. I'll just name one so everybody gets a chance.

In baseball it has to be the "bat on ball" shot. Sure in the old film days of single shot cameras it was a real challenge. But with the advent of faster and faster fps cameras it's pretty much a beginner shot any more. It seems to be the baseball Holly Grail for some shooters.

Anyways, "ball on bat" is super cliché!

What is your overly clichéd shot and why do people keep shooting them?

Just name ONE so everybody gets a chance to sound off! LoL

John
Click to expand...
I might say a shot of the Golden Gate Bridge is a cliche. But what about the GG Bridge at sunset.

Good topic.
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Drifter, you mean something like this?!? :-D

John

Golden Gate Bridge at Sunset
Golden Gate Bridge at Sunset
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Yep. Two clichés - like the double negative, they cancel out the cliché. Nice.

This is probably my favorite shot of the Golden Gate. Cliché avoided!





1c5b81019b1e43b8a7d289e0eebcda29.jpg
 
Selfies became old as soon as the second one was shot. Now, I can't think of a more cliched idea....however, they are all unique.
 
softmarmotte said:
Cherry_F said:
softmarmotte said:
The winner of this week's challenge on Landscape Photography...say no more
Click to expand...
One of my favs finished 39. Originality doesn't pay.
Click to expand...
Exactly, my two points :

Originality interests very few

Cliched subject and 'interpretation' are what the majority want
Click to expand...
Well, regarding interpretation, I'm not sure. The good thing about clichés is that one don't have to think about what it might mean, what the photographer had in mind.
softmarmotte said:
Is this the photography arrogance of 'if it's not original it's no good' ?
Click to expand...
People are exposed to millions of images and as a famous singer once said, "the public don't like what they know, they like what they recognise". He was referring to songs, but I believe it works perfectly for images, for food, ...

Sometimes taste evolves due to the effort and power of a few individuals. Think about the image of the "ideal" woman until the 19th century (plump and pale) and nowadays (tanned and skinny).
 
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