Avoiding Cliches

Cunobelin

Cunobelin

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I'm sure like most of you, I am always looking for a new way to view a subject, but as I am relatively new to 'proper' photography, I am not always aware of what is 'new' and what is not. A couple of photos that I have received critique on, have been criticised as a bit 'cliche' (One was a medieval gateway in black and white, with a vapor trail shooting off at angle - apparently vapor trails are 'so last year'). I am happy to receive constructive criticism, but it would be nice to have an idea of subjects or styles to avoid. I know one person's cliche may be another person's 'unique', but I would be interested to hear what the great readership of TP have to say.
 
In all honesty, take the photos that you want to take and screw everyone else.

Just because other people have seen lots of photos of gateways and vapour trails, doesn't mean you can't do your own take on it. If we all only took truly original photos then I'd only take about four photos a year! :D

There are definitely trends on what's "uncool" though, selective colouring was pretty grim a few years ago, and over the top HDR more recently.
 
As said. Just shoot what you feel is 'right' & looks good to you at the time. With some more famous subjects, it's difficult to actually get something wildly different.

I was in Dorset the other week. Corfe Castle, Lulworth Cove, Durdle Door, Portland Bill Lighthouse...... All done a million times beforehand. Some even by myself last year! But so what....? I took some photos, I enjoyed taking them, I enjoyed being in the great outdoors, I enjoyed editing them.... To me, that's a winning situation to experience :)
 
The truth? It's all been done before one way or another! In fact some subjects have been done to death and then pursued beyond the grave! Others have fallen from popularity and await rediscovery.

It's up to you to investigate the photographic world and find what you like, then decide out of that lot what you can realistically achieve yourself, then maybe think how to add your own twist or style to the subject/s you've decided to explore. Hope this is useful... and if you do hit on something great and make the big time then remember to tell people you were inspired by a badger! :LOL:
 
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Cunobelin said:
... it would be nice to have an idea of subjects or styles to avoid.
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As said above, it's up to you. Developing your own sense of what you're at is an organic process, takes time, and is hopefully never-ending. To keep the show on the road, look at and appraise as much photography by others as you can. You might find out by that what comes to bore you, or seems unsatisfying, or what's incompetent.

There are no rules as such, you have to become able to make your own judgements. Ultimately, your criteria are yours alone. A lot of photographs are untutored and inept in some way in craft terms, but nevertheless convey some emotional, intellectual or cultural meaning. Reflect on that.

The greater number of photos taken / made, though, are in effect clones of other photos, this is partly inescapable and also true of many other practices in different media. But work to satisfy yourself, and subject what you do to constant review.
 
No harm in shooting clichés - just don't feel you need to share them!
 
Stay on the bus.

tl;dr - Keep doing your work. You will find a path through that's original to you eventually. But you have to keep at it.

Seriously. Just stay on the bus.
 
Harlequin565 said:
Stay on the bus.

tl;dr - Keep doing your work. You will find a path through that's original to you eventually. But you have to keep at it.

Seriously. Just stay on the bus.
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Reading through this thread I was just about to look for the link to that article - you saved me a job :)
 
I have days when I can't see a photo to save my life and days when everything I look at is a photo. It's what I love most about photography.
 
Carl's opening line was pretty much exactly what I was about to say :D

I'm a YPU Judge to camera clubs and I hate the idea that a photo is downgraded because its a cliche or not 'unique' (they are ALL unique by definition)

The thing with what pillocks call cliches is that they are usually great shots, given the usual light/processing etc.) so why the Hell wouldn't you want to shoot them!

Crack on and enjoy

Dave
 
DG Phototraining said:
Carl's opening line was pretty much exactly what I was about to say :D

I'm a YPU Judge to camera clubs and I hate the idea that a photo is downgraded because its a cliche or not 'unique' (they are ALL unique by definition)

The thing with what pillocks call cliches is that they are usually great shots, given the usual light/processing etc.) so why the Hell wouldn't you want to shoot them!

Crack on and enjoy

Dave
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And if you did shoot something novel, particularly a subtle parody or pastiche, then what's the betting that many of the same crowd that call "cliché" wouldn't get it and it would go straight over their heads? Does anyone else remember the song 'Flowers are red, and green leaves are green'?

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoTw4lJln70
 
jamesev said:
Have you done the cliche autumn hay bales?
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Or the lone tree in a field, or the lavender field at sunset/rise, or the lighthouse in a sea of milk against a purple sky, or the heather moorland with a stormy sky and big rocks in the foreground, or any waterfall, or the small group of oblivious tourists all taking selfies, or the huge image of a person on a poster in a shop window staring down at a passer-by in the street, or the.....

As I said, it's all been done before, particularly with landscapes; but conversely, I sometimes think that avoiding clichés is in danger of become a cliché in itself!
 
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Like others have said, take whatever photos you want to take and forget what anyone else says. Who cares if it's cliche? And it might not be an original view but can be an original photo because you can't get the weather conditions the same. Next time someone says a photo is cliche, take a look at their photos and look for one where they've applied the rule of thirds and tell them it's cliche to use the rule of thirds. The only thing not photographed these days are self-created abstracts or portraits of people who've never had a photo taken of themselves. Enjoy yourself.
 
Ignore what anybody else says, its all about what you want to shoot at end of day. If it makes you happy then that's all that matters.

If you are on Instagram then there is a page called insta_repeat which basically compiles photos that are the same.
 
Mr Badger said:
Or the lone tree in a field, or the lavender field at sunset/rise, or the lighthouse in a sea of milk against a purple sky, or the heather moorland with a stormy sky and big rocks in the foreground, or any waterfall, or the small group of oblivious tourists all taking selfies, or the huge image of a person on a poster in a shop window staring down at a passer-by in the street, or the.....

As I said, it's all been done before, particularly with landscapes; but conversely, I sometimes think that avoiding clichés is in danger of become a cliché in itself!
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I suspect its a good one to notch off like any technique such as HDR, Brenizer Method, Orton Method so that you know how when the situation is required.
 
Mag1cp2x said:
Avoid cliches like the plague
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:D

jamesev said:
Have you done the cliche autumn hay bales?
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:D I drive past a couple of 'picture perfect' fields like that on my way home from work and every day think "I must get a photo", but then think "how can I make it different?" Thanks to all your (very philosophical) comments, I can now take that picture, without fear of being apprehended by the cliche police! Perhaps I'll attach it to the first message on a new "Show us your cliche images" thread :D
 
170+ years of photography - there is nothing new under the sun!

Some clichés need to be taken - that lone tree on a hill? Who has NOT taken at least one of those - you cannot consider yourself a photographer until you have. Same with the straw bales.

The thing is, you need to produce the best picture you can of your subject. At the very least, you will learn something. At best, your take will become the new paradigm.

I take a lot of photographs of mediaeval churches. My problem there is not just what has become generally a cliché but how I interpreted the last twenty churches I photographed. How do I produce a new interpretation of another building built to the same general design? That is very difficult, but what I can do is show my viewers is how beautiful this particular building is. If that picture is a breathtaking success - does it matter if my last twenty pictures were also?

(Note: I do not bother with false modesty. I like my photographs.)
 
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Before the internet, many of us worked in a more isolated fashion - one didn't see as many images taken by others, that might act as a reference for what might be clichéd or not. Now, with both the proliferation of image-taking and its dissemination via the internet, there seems less excuse.
 
As others have said just do what you like and try and improve. Shots are generally cliche for a good reason, ie they make nice shots.

It’s nice to get positive feedback for sure, but I don’t worry about bad comments either. Over time I’ve come to realise that some folk don’t appreciate what I like and vice versa.
 
john.margetts said:
170+ years of photography - there is nothing new under the sun!
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Well NASA is off to the Sun itself with their new fancy probe. I am sure they will get something new! As for the rest of us - commiserations. :)
 
Cunobelin said:
:D



:D I drive past a couple of 'picture perfect' fields like that on my way home from work and every day think "I must get a photo", but then think "how can I make it different?"
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Buy a 6mm fisheye to take it with, make your own nasty instafilter to turn the sky green, the bales purple and other things into inappropriate colours, then run it through photoshop to give it that Monet look.may a little liquify in there too
 
Sometimes doing something novel (as far as it's possible) is the right thing and sometimes shooting a cliche will hit the spot. Remeber that photography is both a craft and an art, but it's not an olympic sport for which you get more marks for a more extreme performance.
 
Think of the amount of words there are in the world, every language, yet there are only seven plot lines in literature. Pretty sure there are a helluva lot more than seven books out there.......that's a lot of cliches. :) Photography (or any other artistic endeavour) doesn't seem that different to me, every thing will have been done before, all anybody can do is try and put their own spin on it.

I remember reading something a songwriter said about writing; it kinda goes 'if you like what you have written, someone, somewhere, will like it too'. Doesn't matter what you are doing, if you aint hurting anybody, it makes you happy and gives you pleasure then keep doing it. That's what I'm going to be doing. :)
 
Cliches cliches everywhere. As said before there is hardly any image that hasnt been done many times so just do what pleases you. The only time you really need to please anyone else is if you want to sell them something,
If you want to see a real cliched image just look at the number of photo forum avatars featuring the owner shooting into a mirror!
 
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I learned a lot from deliberately shooting cliches. From postcard racks I identified the most popular local cliche views which were nearby and easily accessible. I searched the web to find the best photographs of those views. I then went there to try to emulate them. I compared my poor effort with my favourite shots of that view, worked out what to improve, went back and tried again. I got better.

What's this with avoiding cliches? The books of the best photographs by the best photographers are full of cliches. The photographers selling prints in local galleries are selling cliches. The reason they're cliches is that they're popular. People like them. People buy them. It's an important skill to be able to photograph a good cliche. If you can't photograph a good cliche you're not a good photographer.

Of course you can become a talking point and a well known photographer by photographing things so unusual and startling that the originality trumps the lack of artistic virtue and technical skill. I once had a meal in a cafe which liked to run exhibitions of the work of local photographers around the walls. While chatting to my friends I kept trying to work out what these weird photographs on the walls were. Were they whirlpools? Mud vortices? Were they perhaps not representative images, but "painted" images using bits of real photographs? Eventually I worked out what they were. They were all real but rather severely processed photographs of arseholes. You can push this originality thing a bit too far.
 
chris malcolm said:
.......... They were all real but rather severely processed photographs of arseholes. You can push this originality thing a bit too far.
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I reckon the photographer (and cafe owner assuming they knew) may have enjoyed watching people study and critique that particular exhibition!

It would make an interesting 'beginners' question; 'Hi, I'm new to photography and was wondering how I go about capturing an a******e? Should I use a zoom lens, or wide angle lens?'. lol
 
cj4now said:
I reckon the photographer (and cafe owner assuming they knew) may have enjoyed watching people study and critique that particular exhibition!

It would make an interesting 'beginners' question; 'Hi, I'm new to photography and was wondering how I go about capturing an a******e? Should I use a zoom lens, or wide angle lens?'. lol
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Neither,use a macro like I do :LOL::ROFLMAO:
 
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