Whats been done to death?

  • Thread starter Thread starter RobbieW
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Blasted celebrity shots getting out of a car or at/coming out of a party
 
Sunsets! Please no more sunsets!

Years ago, there was a news item which stated the first words spoken when a person first got a mobile (when mobiles were rare) was 'you'll never gusss where I'm calling from'..........nowadays it seems the first shot taken on someone's first DSLR (first shot shown publicly at least) is always a ruddy sunset!

'Here is a picture of a sunset'....'cool, that's fab'.........er, no it's not..........a sunset has to be one of the easest things to photograph..........now, a sunrise is nice..........no thanks, sunsets are everywhere, they come around once a day (I know they are not always nice but please......)

</grump mode off>
 
Silky waterfalls are truly awful, as someone who spends a lot of time around waterfalls, the silkiness really really robs the image of the feeling of raw power and energy that waterfalls have.
 
Internet forums - done to death ....


should be illegal the lot of them!


oh and people hiding behind cameras in avatars too. :D:D:D


:exit:
 
Distressed doors or shop fronts at the end of the day nothing more than an estate agents shot.:p
 
To be honest a thread like this is really off-putting.. As a new DSLR user I am really looking to photograph anything I can to get used to the camera and learn it before I go taking shots of unique and interesting things. By taking photos of things that are done to death I can compare it against a million other pictures available and get a feel for what those more experienced consider to be good looks like compared to the results I get.

I will probably have a complex about trying anything that's likely to have been done to death.. I will be embarrassed to post a picture of any light trails, water motion or any more sunsets. I won't go back to where I saw a couple of Heron to try and capture a photo of them and I have no doubt the picture I intended to enter into one of the competitions will fall into the done to death category.

What's done to death to those who have been into photography for a good while is simply an opportunity for practice for noobs like myself.

Where would we be without "Hello World"
 
Aside from some 'new' processing style in Photoshop (or whatever) I think you'll find everything has been 'done to death' photographically in someone's opinion

So for all new to photography out there - by all means fire away at anything and everything :thumbs:

The only thing I don't like... is something not done very well; so I have no issue with rose petals, silky waters, and even those damn white backgrounds - just practise a lot and do it well

If I did have a 'pet hate' though, it'd be for Motorsport. Why does it take 500 togs to photograph Mr Hamilton et al going round the same circuits in pretty much the same car all the time? Year after year - boring boring boring

:shake:

DD
 
I think we should have a thread "What hasn't been done to death" and all attempt to do it to death. :D
 
DiddyDave said:
If I did have a 'pet hate' though, it'd be for Motorsport. Why does it take 500 togs to photograph Mr Hamilton et al going round the same circuits in pretty much the same car all the time? Year after year - boring boring boring
Click to expand...

No, that's just F1 itself............boring boring boring........
 
leon1p said:
To be honest a thread like this is really off-putting.. As a new DSLR user I am really looking to photograph anything I can to get used to the camera and learn it before I go taking shots of unique and interesting things. By taking photos of things that are done to death I can compare it against a million other pictures available and get a feel for what those more experienced consider to be good looks like compared to the results I get.

I will probably have a complex about trying anything that's likely to have been done to death.. I will be embarrassed to post a picture of any light trails, water motion or any more sunsets. I won't go back to where I saw a couple of Heron to try and capture a photo of them and I have no doubt the picture I intended to enter into one of the competitions will fall into the done to death category.

What's done to death to those who have been into photography for a good while is simply an opportunity for practice for noobs like myself.

Where would we be without "Hello World"
Click to expand...

As a fellow noob I whole heartedly agree with Leon on this one. It certainly doesn't make me feel confident posting for C & C if I am likely to get told its been done to death or have the post ignored as its been done to death.

I guess it all comes down to taste at the end of the day, what you ike and what you don't. Just spare a though for the noobs who are trying to learn!
 
MisterE said:
Picking up a magazine and finding yet another sunrise/sunset beach shot of that bloody Bamburgh Castle.
Click to expand...

Many (tens) of years ago, in the days of film, a magazine branded sunrise/sunset photos as 'naff' ! Today everyone is doing sunsets !
I think one difference is that if you had a film of 30 exposures, it was so easy to 'waste' them on sunsets etc. Today with unlimited exposures you can get stuck for subjects. So Sunsets, HDR, Selective colour, Obscure angles of your car, Bumble bees, Garden flowers , Wrinkled grannies - the list is endless !

We're in a digital age, we'll have to put up with it and keep snapping !!

Keith.

* What should we be photographing ? What isn't classed as naff in this digital age ? *
 
To all you noobs, and I consider myself one (ignore the post count)....

Just take what you want to take, and ask for crit regardless. You can't have a style yet, and you need to cut your teeth on the same shots that everyone else cut their teeth on. This is one of the friendliest forums available, and no one will give you a hard time for posting sunsets / macro / venture style / any other done to death shot.

Keep at it and before long, you will find a style and area where you can really shine...

At least thats what I keep telling myself!

Gary.
 
Exactly Gary, we all have to cut our teeth.

I didn't mean that you lot would get hostile by posting a so called "done to death" image. I was trying to put accross a point that you did far better! :clap:

I knew there was a reason I became an engineer and not a writer!! :razz:

IMHO plenty of "done to death" images are better than no images at all.
 
leon1p said:
To be honest a thread like this is really off-putting.. As a new DSLR user I am really looking to photograph anything I can to get used to the camera and learn it before I go taking shots of unique and interesting things.
Click to expand...

Don't take these comments too seriously. We all like to talk about unimportant things. I made the comment about Bamburgh castle being in every magazine on a regular basis. The same shot with a different sunset time after time. But I can guarantee if I am ever in that part of the country then I will do exactly the same myself. And somehow I imagine if, after standing in that same spot as countless thousands of other photographers, I turned around, I would see a massive hotel complex where they all stay.

I had a couple of failed attempts at HDR a couple of years ago or more before it took off. I shall do some more sometime regardless. Then I'll do the macro stuff - the bugs eyes. Then I'll give B&W another go, and the occasional decrepit doorway just to keep my hand in. No motorsport though. Or any sport.

I wouldn't be afraid to post any DtD photo here. If people don't have an interest in your subject they'll just ignore it. But you will still find plenty who won't.
 
I probably won't actually let it stop me posting anything but I think it will be in the back of my mind. *drys eyes* :D

That said I might just I might just make it my mission to make "Done to death" a theme for set of images :lol:
 
So what should we be photographing what is new and fresh!.............tumbleweeds!
 
Maybe next months competition should be done to death! I for one haven;t done half of what people have mentioned here. This is why I started the thread, people have said things which have been doen a number of times, but at the end of the day its peoples opinions and its up to you who and what you photograph.
 
Everything has been done before.
Ignore the neigh-sayers who say "this is rubbish because it's been done before."

If a shot has merit, it will be evident, regardless of whether it's a style that has been done many a time.

I've tried many different styles, and I'm still yet to spread my wings and find my niche. Until then, I'm trying all the styles that are already existent.
 
some things may have been done to death, but not by me, if i didn't try something because it had been done to death then how would i ever learn anything about photography, ok yes silky waterfalls are always cropping up but i like them, and i have not mastered it yet (or have one that im really proud of) i suppose everyone has a different opinion.

also i looked at that dave hill blokes stuff. actually really like it, but can see where is might be in appropriate as some of them look more like comics than photographs.
 
Over 'shopped images.

Images that use photoshop to rescue a bag of *****.

HDR.

Venture style portraits.

Shots of Bath.




As for blurred water.....Sometimes it's a fact of life. If you're sat by a river at 25 past sunset then you don't really want to be shooting at iso 1600 just to keep the water crisp. Due to the way sensors react to light, long exposures bring out so much more colour in sunrises and sunsets than a shorter one.

I was reading an interview with Joe Cornish today at work and he made a good point about the locations around the UK that have been shot to death. E.G. that mountain in Scotland. As a photographer you should be looking to get a new take on it, not just replicating everything that's gone before. It's relatively easy to rock up to glen coe in the autumn on a sunnyish evening and get a nice shot of the Mountains with some snow on the peak etc etc etc. What's harder is finding your own style of photography (not photoshop) and then applying that to the location. How many people have sat there in the freezing winter on a full moon night for 20 minutes getting a nice moonlight shot of the place for instance?

The same goes with portraits, again it's relatively easy, once you know how to do it, to set up a white background and blast out trendy portraits of families in casual clothing with their shoes off and a wind machine on. It doesn't make you a good 'tog.

Same with Macro, once you have the kit and the technique down it's fairly easy to get good, sharp shots of insects that a lot of people will go 'wow' at because they've never seen things like that before.

What is difficult is to find a way to make your stuff stand out from the crowd.

I'll hold up my hand and admit that I'm guilty of turning out generic photo's, but my arguement is that I'm just learning my craft at the moment, the skills I need to be able to let my creativity show through the images that I produce.


Just some thoughts ;)

That's what sets good photographers apart from everyday ones. Those who can look at things with a fresh eye and not just immitate.
 
OK, so we are all agreed.
Newbies and people with old habits, have to spend at least 6 hours looking at the gallery before uploading..........:thinking:

Or we could just accept any pics and remember when we learnt how to drive.:eek::bonk::thumbs:

PS. Sticks and stones break you,re bones, but words allways hurt me.:-(
 
Well so far my photo attempts consist of swans (and lots of them) Silky water, sunsets and Durdle Door (including a sunset at Durdle Door with silky water :lol:) and I don't care because they may all have been done to death but they haven't been done to death by me :)
 
I read this post out and my other half immediately started going on about those Damn Athena posters years ago with the man holding the baby.

Must have made the tog a fortune but somehow I don't think J contributed to the kitty!

I can't honestly say that I hate anything! I react better to some images than others. (I'm not so keen on insects) but overall I can see technical merit if not artistic. (I'm thinking motorsport here!)

It takes time to get familiar with your gear and there is nothing at all wrong in taking generic shots, after all it gives us something to measure against!

I'm just getting to the point where I can express myself artistically with what I do but I also love to try slightly different genres as I like the challenges. :)
 
Selective colouring, HDR (I should say; noticeable, stylistic tonemapping), high contrast myspace photos, anything involving your dog or your cat, water droplets, straight ahead ring flash, sepia horseplay, landscape photography.
 
Its funny, since posting yesterday, I have been thinking further on this. We are all commenting on this "done to death" as photographers.

Before I took up togging, I looked in awe at so many great photographs. Thats what inspired me to get a DSLR, wishing I could take photographs like the ones I was seeing. With that in mind, there is nothing more satisfying than taking a photograph that your pleased with and has others complimenting it, however "generic" or "done to death". You get a sense of proudness. I hope that feeling doesn't end once your able to produce shots steadily.

Also, I have never heard anyone who is not a tog, moan about seeing the same shots "done to death". Maybe I am of a minority in this but surely, if our Audience's are happy, its not been "done to death"? :shrug:

Just another couple of angles on the thought train....
 
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