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Since I started this thread, let's see if we can steer it back to rules and critiques. Do you perceive the "rules" to be a) mental structures that the OCD need to bring "order" to their images, or b) useful guidelines that derive from an understanding of art, or c) arbitrary dictates from the "experts" that only serve to support the "experts" biases, or d) proven techniques that work most of the time if applied judiciously, or e) some or all of the above or f) none of the above, or g) oh, go away - this is getting really annoying?
Yesterday, our photo club had a "members' night" where members presented their chosen projects in a 4-minute AV presentation. They ranged from a presentation of someone's travel in an airplane, to a study of lamp-posts, to exploration of reflections, to someone's documenting the growth of his kids, to... well you get the idea. Some of the presentations were very moving, others were rather boring. I was looking for some guiding principles as to what attributes the individual images had that really grabbed my attention. In all cases, the technical aspects of the "good" images were excellent. But what set the images apart were the artistic elements of surprise, novel viewpoint or perspective, clear and obvious subject matter, and consistency of view (as in lack of competing or distracting elements). Many of these images were accompanied by the audience reaction ("wow", intake of breath, etc.) so it was clear that the really good images affected many people at once.
Now there is the other issue that "popular" images are not necessarily the same as "good" images. Images of cute animals are always popular, but few are "good" from an artistic point-of-view. Sunsets are popular, but again, not particularly original. Images of attractive people (both male and female) are always popular, but again, not original or necessarily good art. What guidelines do YOU use to decide whether an image you see is "popular" or "artistically good"? Should there be other categories as well?
Um... can I revise my answer to "No Comment" or are we a little late on that a this stage? Rotflmao