« Photographer Test Drive Cancelled due to weather | Home | The Art Snob »
Trashy Vs. Artistic - Some Thoughts On Technique
By Pywrit | May 3, 2008
Okay, so I’m on Model Mayhem now with a minimal portfolio. As any good photographer would, I spent some time checking out other photographers’ portfolios. Some of these are really good. Some are not so good. One of the things I have noticed it that a number of photographers - not in the majority, mind you, but enough - seem to have an inclination for blown out highlights (the really bright areas in a photo). There are times when this technique works for an artistic photo, but unless it is done carefully, it can be horrible. What bothers me is that some of these photographers can’t tell the difference. I’ve seen way too many shots that are so blown out it borders on ridiculous. This drives me nuts. It is one thing to use the highlights to bring the viewer’s eye to a certain area of the photo, but another when it draws the eye away or even obsures the subject.
Then there are those who understand light, but not shadow. They put models behind studio lights and never change or adjust the lighting. They photos are technically decent, but there is zero creativity behind them. These guys could have a great career as Wal*Mart photographers.
And the last one is a personal pet peeve of mine: A beautiful model in lingerie in the wilderness. What is up with this? Where in the world do women stroll through the desert or a forest wearing only their panties and a bra? I wanna know so I can see it for myself. A swimsuit is okay. Nude is okay. But lingerie? There is a market for this, but I really just can’t understand why. It just strikes me as silly, cheesy, and contrived.
So, before you get after me about blasting poor photographers on MM, let me say that there are plenty of very, very good and creative photographers there as well - with a great range of styles. With such a great variety of models and photographers, I feel considerably more comfortable there with my style of photography than I do at either MioTalent.com (cliquish and glamour oriented) or OneModelPlace.com (mostly glamour, but not completely). MM has a great sense of community that the other two lack. It strikes me as a nice place to be.
Topics: On Photography |