8 Of The Biggest Photographic Clichés

[mcmahong]

Yep, I've tried every single one of those at some point in the past (actually not the nude yet, but it's on the radar)

I'm hoping the article was really intended as a curious observation of the most commonly taken photographs, but instead it has come across as unnecessarily derogatory (a bit of food on a child's face is "replusiveness"...really?). They're not so much cliche's as just the most common types of photographs to take. Why? Sometimes because they are good starting points for creative imagery, sometimes because they connect with the photographer, sometimes because they have been done to death and therefore are easily reproducible, accompanied by a few hundred online tutorials on how to do them.

I wouldn't say they are top 8 though. Probably the only 8 that the author could think of. The list could really be extended. I want to add to the list too, but I'm not calling them cliche's. I'm just saying that these are styles of photographs that seem to occur more often than others.

1. Abandoned wooden boat / dead tree / rocky outcrop / on a waterfront in front of a heavy-handed HDR landscape
2. Macros of eyelashes (always seems to be a winner in the Canon Photo5 comp)
3. Flower close-ups (macro or not)
4. Panoramas (unfortunately often without any foreground)
5. etc etc

(I'm referring to actual attempts of creative photography here, not just normal snaps that people take).

I like Xebadir's photo above. Maybe that can be a challenge for forum members here, to take one of the cliches above and produce something truly unique?

[Tommo224]

Haha the arm out self shot I've done many times (difficult holding a DSLR and doing this, requires help or two hands lol.) =P

The milky water one I did to learn, and applied it to shooting cars


But I agree with Riktas's first post in this thread!


But hey, cliches can be cliches for a reason. They work in a positive way for a large majority of people! (meaning, they get enjoyment and happiness as a result)

[ving]

Sorry about the lack of appropriate setting



Sent from my HTC Incredible S using Tapatalk

[Danielle10]

Sorry about the lack of appropriate setting



Sent from my HTC Incredible S using Tapatalk

Hahahaha, ya clown!!

[swifty]

Aren't they just a measure of popularity of the technique/genre/style etc.
If there was a way to 'trend' (like on twitter) new photos on some large database like Flickr, we'll know today's popular styles and tomorrow's cliches.
Timeless cliches like the golden hour shots/milky water/droplet etc. are great fun and ways of expanding your photography horizon if you've never tried it.

[ricktas]

call me mr cliche!

what? No 'duck-face' pout. Geez, this photo would not get a look in..even on Facebook If you are going to do Cliched, do it right

EDIT: SHOULD LEARN TO READ ENTIRE THREAD, BEFORE QUOTING A POST BY SOMEONE. Looking good there vingster.

[Kym]

@Ving I like the slight OOF and noisy image, really such an excellent phone cam FB image.

100 x 'Nice shot' on FB

[mudman]

I reckon the challenge is to try and get all the Cliches into the one shot

i had the same thought David.
you get your chance to do just that in the next weekly comp.

[ricktas]

i had the same thought David.
you get your chance to do just that in the next weekly comp.

Yep, We thought it would be interesting to see how everyone interprets these, so the POTW is about these very clichés

More info: HERE

[Dylan & Marianne]

Coming from a landscape / seascape point of view, I think it's sad to consider only the end result of producing a cliche'd seascape photo
- what about being out there alone with nature's beauty?
- what about heading out driving on a dark highway with your favourite CD on
- what about the thrill of being among the elements nature throws at you
- what about the exhilaration of just being atop a mountain / beside a shore when that magic moment of light occurs
- what about the intellectual side of working out what filters /iso /shutter/ aperture you need for a specific given shot (ps. it is not always the same)

Coming from a wedding photography point of view I think it's sad to consider only the end result of producing a cliche'd wedding photo
- what about the joys you experience sharing the couples most intimate day
- what about all the emotion you get the witness through a long lens at proud relatives and friends
- what about the thrill you get from getting your 'the shot' for the day

Coming from a arm length portrait point of view I think it's sad to consider only the end result of producing a cliche'd arm lengthe portrait photo
- what about that silly moment you might otherwise have forgotten about years later now captured
- what about the moment of sharing with a stranger turned friend you've met on your travels you'd like a keepsake to remember by
- what about just having fun and not caring that the result has been done to death

and I could go on for all of the genres mentioned ( attacked is a little strong but it came across that way to me initially).........
If the Cliche end product is all that you end up being 'worried about' you may need to consider what drove you to take those pictures in the first place (is it really all just about the picture?), you may need to consider who you are trying to show off these images to. At every wedding, I produce a good 500 cliched images and why doesn't that stop me? Because I enjoy doing it now that much of the technical stress is gone, the clients enjoy the end product (hopefully).

[Kym]

If Cliché was out, then Leonardo would not have painted the Mona Lisa because portraits had been done to death by 1500

[arthurking83]

......

I wouldn't say they are top 8 though. Probably the only 8 that the author could think of. The list could really be extended. .....

There'd have to be at least a top 100,000 ... most certainly more, but you have to draw the line somewhere.
Why the OP chose 8 is a bit strange .. it's usually top 100 ..... or top 10 if you can't be stuffed.
There's the distinct possibility that the cliché in having a top 100/10 is so cliché in itself, that the OP chose to use a non cliché value of something like 8, I guess so as to not appear too cliché themselves whilst on the topic of clichés.

I would have chosen a non integer value myself .. something like a top 12¼, or π².
I think a 'Top π²' list of clichés would have come across as being less stereotypical whilst still maintaining enough tradition.
The value of π² is relatively close to 10 and yet transcends beyond the banality of a cliché.

... well it works for me anyhow!

[Ezookiel]

The shots might be cliched, but so are most of Ken Ducan's shots by those definitions, the difference is, that by taking those shots myself, in the hope that I might one day fluke - or even learn enough on the way to deliberately - get a half way decent one, means I can put a shot up on my wall that I took myself, rather than be yet another person - in itself cliched - to have a Ken Duncan photo on the wall.

(I actually don't have any photos on the wall at all, only some paintings my father did (one of which of could be considered cliched even as a painting, as it has the SHB in it, just from a rather different angle (pardon the crap photo, it's hard even with a CPL to get no reflections on a glass framed painting))
Dads Painting (8).jpg

But one day I hope to put up some superb photos on my wall - of the cliched types that people pay good money to buy from the likes of Ken Duncan - but that I can say I took myself. Until then, I'll keep taking cliched shots because in all honesty, what HASN'T already been photographed by someone else? Pretty sure there isn't much on the planet that hasn't had someone already take photos of it. (oh, and for those who can read the signature on the painting, I should point out that my Dad always signed his nice pictures "Lesley" (his wife's name). He only signed his horrible 'demon's nightmare' paintings with his real name)

[Kevin M]

I like that idea David...that would be interesting to see....ie all 8 cliches in the one photo

[Kerrie]

I live for the day I take just " a really good photo" and as a newbie who sees a lot of " excellent" photos here, I say cliche away! You have talent , use it how you see fit.

Wonder if anyone's ever taken a bw photo of themself, headless and naked, on a pony, he colour selects, on the beach at sunrise, with a messy kid in the background giving food to a homeless person, at arms length and over processed it ?


Just a thought

[I @ M]

Wonder if anyone's ever taken a bw photo of themself, headless and naked, on a pony, he colour selects, on the beach at sunrise, with a messy kid in the background giving food to a homeless person, at arms length and over processed it ?

Tried it once but the shrieks of horror from the messy kid, homeless hobo AND the pony caused me to drop my camera in the sand so I never got around to (over) processing it.

[dbax]

Gee I reckon I might be able to get a headless desaturated nude self portrait at arms length at dawn or sunset, with milky water and selective colour, but getting a homeless person and a grubby faced child in the same image just doesn't sound right. So i'll give up now. But I might try as many as i can

[FallingHorse]

No mention of cliched Monks in orange robes?

[Danielle10]

Gee I reckon I might be able to get a headless desaturated nude self portrait at arms length at dawn or sunset, with milky water and selective colour, but getting a homeless person and a grubby faced child in the same image just doesn't sound right. So i'll give up now. But I might try as many as i can

Lol

[Danielle10]

Wait!! I can add a 9th cliche'

Babies and maternity shots.
I'm sorry but I just hate them!!

Babies in some sort of vintage suitcase with a blanket or somewhere in the bush. Uugh and pregnant bellies? I have seen some ok ones but it just erks me.