Signup Login

Get in touch with us

6 photography clichés you should avoid

Everything is tempting for a beginning photographer. It’s all new and the possibilities seem endless. Unfortunately, some choose the wrong, ugly path of kitsch and clichés.

They believe that by adding or changing certain elements in the photograph, they are enhancing its artistic value, when in fact , they are just making things worse. Here are 6 clichés to stay away from if you want to be taken seriously as a photographer.

(Success Tip: The easiest way to learn photography when you have little time to spare)

  1. Partial desaturation

3233 pic 1 image

Some people believe that by isolating a certain color and making everything else black and white, they are actually adding value to the color element. It’s actually a normal phase for most photographers, but it’s one that should be quickly grown out of. I’m not saying there aren’t good photos out there that use this technique, but there certainly aren’t many and most of them have little or no artistic value. If you really want to get creative, try duotones or making your own color filters) read Photoshop actions).

  1. Very dark corners

3233 pic 2 image

Also known as heavy vignetting. It can be a great tool and it can enhance your photos, but it has to be used right. Too much of it and even a great photo can be ruined.

  1. Text on photos.

I know you badly wanted to say something other than “standard sunset photo”, but please, do yourself a favor and stop writing on photos! A good photograph needs no words (except for documentary photography where descriptions are common, but they are not on the photos either). If you want to get creative with your writing, design a poster or an ad, don’t sacrifice a photograph. Even a mediocre picture would be better off without text.

NIKON Prime Lenses CANON Prime Lenses SIGMA Prime Lenses
Nikon 24mm f/1.4 Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L II Sigma 24mm f/1.8 EX DG
Nikon AF-S 50mm f/1.4G Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM
Nikon 35mm f/1.4G Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM
Nikon 85mm f/1.4G Canon EF 85mm f1.2L II Sigma 85mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM
Nikon 300mm f/2.8G AF-S ED Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS Sigma 300mm f/2.8 EX DG IF

  1. Giant watermarks

Watermarks are effective and should be used. Photographers should be able to protect their work as best as possible, especially now, when stealing photos seems natural to some people. However, giant watermarks won’t do very good to your image as a photographer. Besides ruining the aspect of your photo, they’ll make you look like a show off.

  1. Extreme tilting

Also known as the Dutch angle, this is a composition technique is used to ad drama. It works fine when used properly, but some photographers tend to abuse this technique and use it in almost every photo. Besides that, tilting too much will do more damage because the elements will tend to look like they are falling out of the frame.

  1. Over saturated HDR

12919021 s image

Image credit: badmanproduction / 123RF Stock Photo

HDR can be used to create stunning images; however some photographers tend to get the colors all wrong. Other than that, in the past few years it has been abused in all possible ways and that has kind of made it lose value as a technique. Make sure to use it only when you’re sure it will work properly.

 

Also Read: THE 19 MOST EXPENSIVE PHOTOGRAPHS EVER SOLD

Recommended Reading:

 
 

 

Photos from Wikimedia Commons