Overdone and Cliche Shots

[fotomumma09]

Newborn babies unnaturally propped on their hands...bleh!

 

[DiskoJoe]

You know what the really REALLY sad part about it.... every single one of these 'cliche shots' are usually the money shots that mom pulls the checkbook out for!! And as they say, beauty is in the eye of the checkbook holder.

The beauty is in the check that clears!

 

[PhotoWrangler]

Well that too... LOL!

 

[amolitor]

Cliches exist for a reason!

People LIKE them!

What's the difference between 'people like it' and 'it's good'? I have some ideas on this point, but they're mine and you probably have different ones. That's ok. I think most of us agree that 'people like it' isn't the same thing as 'good'. Still, it's worth thinking about. These two do overlap a lot -- there aren't very many "good" photographs that nobody likes, right?

What I really enjoy seeing is when someone makes a cliched image, and does it well enough and in an interesting enough way to make it not matter that it's cliche. Shooting a cliche puts you one step forward (cliches are likable, popular, and there was probably a "good" photograph that looked like that one, once) and one step back (arrrg, we've all seen that one so many times, not another one!!). If you can take advantage of the one step forward and minimize the step back, you might have something.

Basically ALL professional photographs are pretty much cliches. That's what people buy. The difference between a high end pro and a down market pro is usually that the former is much more likely to make you not care or notice that it's a cliche.

 

[rexbobcat]

Fashion shots where the model's hands are on her hips and her shoulders are all scrunched up and she's leaning forward.

Does anyone know what I'm talking about? I mean, is that supposed to make me want to buy the clothes? Is it considered sexy to have an already super skinny woman get into granny osteoporosis pose?

 

[MLeeK]

Fashion shots where the model's hands are on her hips and her shoulders are all scrunched up and she's leaning forward.

Does anyone know what I'm talking about? I mean, is that supposed to make me want to buy the clothes? Is it considered sexy to have an already super skinny woman get into granny osteoporosis pose?

Hunched in. With her feet pigeon toed. DRIVES ME INSANE. Creates horrible hollow shadows in thin models and in large ones it makes them look fat

 

[Designer]

Is there a shot you cringe to see even if it is technically well done?

I can appreciate cliche if it is well done. What I often object to is the photographer's assumption that BECAUSE the shot is one that is done so often that he has AUTOMATICALLY created an exceptional shot.

 

[Rick58]

Sunsets...It's got to be amazing or they annoy me. Come to think of it, "amazing" sunsets are overdone

 

[unpopular]

Half dome. Not all half dome images, but that half dome.

Antelope Canyon: the only place on earth which ALWAYS works in "P for Professional" mode. If you want to see cliche:

antelope canyon

 

[12sndsgood]

Fashion shots where the model's hands are on her hips and her shoulders are all scrunched up and she's leaning forward.

Does anyone know what I'm talking about? I mean, is that supposed to make me want to buy the clothes? Is it considered sexy to have an already super skinny woman get into granny osteoporosis pose?

did that this weekend on a few shots. and none of them made it to my edit folder.

 

[jhodges10]

Clearly someone needs to take a shot of a model hunched over, bare titties with a big flower bow in antelope canyon at sunset while a little train circles her legs. I'm a photographic genius!

 

[unpopular]

LET 'EM SAG!

 

[MK3Brent]

Every mother's pictures of their children.

 

[Forkie]

Ring on a book creating a shadow in the shape of a heart. There are more of those on Flickr than the universe can safely accommodate.

 

[KenC]

To me any shot which has only one thing to offer, and that one thing is the placement of two objects together or a person standing in a particular place, i.e., something we've all (even non-photographers) seen many many times, is a cliche and not interesting. It's fine as a personal snapshot or a memory of an event for the people involved, but not as a photograph of interest to others.

There are other types of shots that some consider cliches, like some mentioned here - sunsets, bugs, flowers, etc. - but in these the lighting, composition, etc. can make these shots interesting anyway. I'm really burned out (pun intended) on sunsets, but sometimes I see one that has more to it than usual and which I would consider a good image. I'm not sure that's possible with some of the cliches, or at least it's much more unusual.