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Photographic trends I’ll be happy to see the back of

Submitted by on November 15, 2010 – 10:30 am25 Comments

Today’s ‘personal post’ is a bit of a rant for no other reason than I feel like it today.

In all honesty it’s a list of things that I hate to see but we’ve all been guilty of at some point.

Bad HDR

To be honest when it comes to HDR I can take it or leave it. It’s a little gimmicky and I don’t think most HDR images actually represent what the eye is trying to interpret (but I’m guess that might not be the point).

White Backgrounds

We’ve all done that now so isn’t it time to move on?

Spot colouring/Schindlering

Call it what you want but this technique which has evolved from a Victoria hand colouring to 1998 style Photoshopping makes me cringe. In fact in really upsets me when I meet a photographer that I really get on with and who has some amazing photos and I see this.

High Contrast Glow

While we’re on the Photoshop subject I thought I might just throw this one in. It has lots of names depending on what Photoshop plugin you’re using but the effect is still pretty much the same.

It’s still a very popular Photoshop effect but I’ve a feeling it’ll date very quickly.

‘Reportage’ Wedding Photographers

Done well the reportage/documentary style is great…….. but that’s not what I’ve bee seeing recently. What we’ve seen far too much of is lazy long lens photography who’s ‘moments’ are about deceive as a cake cutting.

Whist there’s nothing wrong with a little long lens action it’s the images which I call ‘ear profiles’ that really annoy me. There’s nothing ‘documentary’ about shooting from behind a subject, over his/her shoulder so that the focus of the image seems to be on his/her ear!

Lazy, lazy, lazy…….

What ever happened to the Capa spirt of If your pictures aren’t good enough, you aren’t close enough? Surely being a passive observer doesn’t mean you have to do it from 100 yards away?

Feet portraits

I just don’t get it.

It looks kinda funky but do these pictures actually sell? In all honestly have you every sold a 30×40 wall art of someones closely cropped feet?

Vintage styles that ain’t too vintage

All Photoshop and no taste make Jack a very dull boy……

Lace Umbrellas

No no no no no… are you shooting a wedding or a costume drama?

Please Share

Are there any photographic trends you’d be happy to see the back of? Please share in the comments

  • http://www.morethanaphotograph.com Mark Cornwell

    Yes. 1. The “Dave Hill” look which always seems to make the subject look like they are haloed and the grittiness doesn’t work well with a soft portrait. 2.Heavy vignettes.

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  • http://www.jonread.com/ Jon Read

    Overdone vignettes, probably in Lightroom. Hate.

  • http://www.daveroutledge.co.uk Dave Routledge

    Good Morning Michael

    A very entertaining and thought provoking post, it does what good satire does: makes the point and makes you laugh. Apart from spot colouring (although the image you chose is one of the better examples of it) I am guilty of all the others (no concious ear foucusing but I am sure I have some examples in my portfolio). I suspect you are a bit of a purist when it comes to photographs ( happy to be corrected if I am wrong) and that is no bad thing, but the article begs a question; what then, would you like to see a return to?

  • http://www.memorygate.co.uk/ Michael Shilling

    ooooh good call Mark

  • http://www.memorygate.co.uk/ Michael Shilling

    Thanks for your comments David….. and you’re right….. I’m a total purist that heavily Photoshops his images to make them not look too Photoshopped!

    What would I like to see a return to?

    ……… no faff …. and less bandwagoning….. oh and starburst filters ;)

  • http://www.memorygate.co.uk/ Michael Shilling

    Just finished a 7 minute rant which’ll be on today’s podcast….. due to ‘drop’ at 2pm GMT

  • http://www.priorystudios.ie Dominic Lee

    Within a week of reading an article by some photographer that canvas’s were well and truly out of fashion and I thought about taking them off my price list, I had 3 customers order canvas prints for a total of over €5000. Funny how wrong the “experts” can be!
    Dominic

  • http://www.memorygate.co.uk/ Michael Shilling

    Don’t get me started on canvases Dominic! ;)

    Seriously though….. trends are moving so quickly that sometimes it’s easy to forget to tell our clients!

    Flickr doesn’t help with this…. it’s like the photography industry’s disruptive uncle that whilst having the best of intentions just ends up being a bad influence.

  • http://www.andrew-miller.co.uk Andrew Miller

    MMMmmmm interesting series there! I attended a seminar by Mark Cleghorn a while back and I am sure that one of the phrases that he used was “Sh1t sells.” Or to put it another way, if the client wants that spot colour and will buy it are you prepared to sell the spot colour and pay your mortgage or stick to your artistic bent and starve?!

    @Dave – great question. What is good then?!!

  • http://www.priorystudios.ie Dominic Lee

    Michael, Its especially easy to forget about fashion when they are waving €5K at you!!!!

    I’d be happy to see the back of photographers who harp on about a style they “invented” and accuse others of stealing it from their studio window. You can bet your bottom dollar that another photographer was doing it before their parents were even born and they were doing it IN-CAMERA and/or IN-DARKROOM.

    Dominic

  • http://www.memorygate.co.uk/ Michael Shilling

    Cleghorn is very good at making these big bold statements but seldom hits the nail squarely on the head.

    Shit does sell, but good shit sells better.

  • http://www.priorystudios.ie Dominic Lee

    Yes that word REPORTAGE should be renamed RIPOFFCHARGE.
    Many snappers use the term to cover their ass because they couldn’t pose a family of Barbie Dolls.

  • http://www.memorygate.co.uk/ Michael Shilling

    Good point Dominic……. in the words of the Barenakedladies….. “it’s been done before”

  • http://www.memorygate.co.uk/ Michael Shilling

    A few more of my thoughts can be found about 10 minutes into today’s podcast ….
    http://photocreative365.com/the-photocreative-podcast-episode-38/

  • http://www.memorygate.co.uk/ Michael Shilling

    Actually today’s post was inspired by an article from Feb 2010 at MCP Actions http://www.mcpactions.com/blog/2010/02/25/portrait-photography-trends-and-fads-the-good-the-bad-the-ugly/

    Worth a read

  • Nicole

    Personally I prefer photographs that show reality, as we are today. Sounds like you need a holiday in the darkroom. I stumbled across your interesting blog today, thank you.

  • http://www.kevinmullinsphotography.co.uk Kevin Mullins

    I agree with almost all of this Michael. Obviously, the one about Reportage is the one I slightly disagree with. I agree, that some “reportage” stuff is rubbish (and perhaps even mine is to some people) – however, I’m a very strong believer in capturing memories.

    Personally, a posed, prompted, directed image at a wedding for me just leads to page flicking in the album. Real moments, captured well, can leave you with the hairs standing on the back of your neck. Posed wedding images have never floated my boat, and no matter what happens in the industry, never will. Agree about the ears though ;-)

  • http://www.memorygate.co.uk/ Michael Shilling

    For those have who’d like to see the exact opposite of what I’m talking about regarding the ‘reportage’ wedding photography…visit Kevin’s site http://www.kevinmullinsphotography.co.uk …. awesome stuff and in no way ‘lazy’

  • http://www.photographicdreams.co.uk Matt Cain

    I’ll second Michaels comments about Kevins work being the exact opposite of what he describes in the article.

    Take a look at his site and see what GOOD reportage is like :)

    Anyway, back to your post Michael: This tickled me in quite a big way as many of the things you’re on about are mostly only bad because they’re not done with a real level of skill. Apart from spot colouring. I dislike it, but have been asked for it by clients and I’m pragmatic about it. If the client wants it, then I’m not only capable of doing it, I’m willing to do so

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  • http://www.tpsphoto.co.uk Tim Hoy

    Blimey it’s busy here. I said about 2 years ago (on the old forum I think) that i thought spot colour would become the stone cladding of the early 21st century and I think you’re alluding to that now. If I mention the issue to clients they all seem to turn their noses up at it too, so I think the trend to move off is there. Still can’t upload to the 2010 project by the way. Is it just me?

  • http://randrpremierportraits.com rika

    ready for lens flare “on purpose” to be over! I feel like alot of these things are from the new crop of photog’s (camera owners) that can’t take a good picture and alot of these Photoshop fixes are out there, so people start thinking that is what is in style & more start doing it. let’s face it photography as an art has taken a big hit with all the new consumer DSLR’s.

  • http://www.memorygate.co.uk/ Michael Shilling

    That’s a good one Rika…. after all Easy Rider (the film that brought this style to the mainstream) was made over 40 years ago! …….1969 to be exact……. time to move with the times!

  • http://www.kevinmullinsphotography.co.uk Kevin Mullins

    I’m with Rika too on that one. The problem is, our TV screens are saturated with the vintage look and lens flare so it’s only natural that it will end up in the stills photography too. Done well, I think it can look great but I agree – hopefully it will fall out of favour soon(ish).

    Thanks for the kind words above Michael ;-)

  • http://www.yourhandinmine.co.uk Steve Causon

    Flash shadow from on camera flash. The worse thing about it is that it’s probably mostly accidental and the camera owner doesn’t know how to do otherwise.

    Of course, it really doesn’t matter what any of us think. It’s all irrelevant. The only thing that matters at all is what the client wants. The trick is convincing the client that they don’t want this rubbish.

  • http://www.tpsphoto.co.uk Tim Hoy

    I now tell clients who request spot colour/schindlering that it could become the next stone cladding.  Seems to work and i still do the odd spot colour but very rarely.