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DPChallenge Forums >> Photography Discussion >> What Subjects have been overplayed?
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 04/15/2004 02:39:54 PM · #1
I was just thinking about what to shoot for the next two challenges and was wondering if there were any subjects, ie cats, playing cards, and any others that when people are voting almost imeddiatly want to give a lower score to just because there are always seeing these pictures in every challenge. Because I've been here for about a month and a half voting and I have seen alot of the same stuff, seems like people are loosing their creativity. When I think of something to shoot I want to pick something that I know no one else will probably do or do something in a totally different light. Just wondering what everyone thought.
Clint
 04/15/2004 02:43:19 PM · #2
Winning lottery tickets.

See too danged many of those things in challenges. Why just the other day . . . .

Hmmmm. Wait a minute. Back that up; reverse it.

If you happen to have a winning lottery ticket you should submit it to DPC as a 100% crop with at least 200 ppi. ;)
 04/15/2004 02:44:21 PM · #3
Oh my @#$, cats for sure! In fact, just about any animal photo. Now I'm no animal hater by any means (I have 2 dogs and a cat) but why some people submit animal photos for certain themes I have no idea.
 04/15/2004 02:47:37 PM · #4
Cats, yes. Flowers of every sort. Kiddies big and small. However, my real pet peeve is the guitar shot. I've seen dozens of them here. I love guitars (own five of 'em), but have yet to see an original shot of one that stops me in my tracks.
 04/15/2004 02:48:04 PM · #5
Creativity isn't lost when you photograph a common subject. The simple truth is that when you photograph a common subject, you need to do it well. The common subject photos I see around here score poorly because they are poor photos, not because of the subject choice.

There are some who will vote something low because of the subject choice though. They will either grow out of that or they won't :)
 04/15/2004 02:48:46 PM · #6
I think the only thing I'd really rather not see ever again is the waterdrops on plexiglass thing.
 04/15/2004 02:51:14 PM · #7
go into challenge archives and check out the "Clichés" challenge...
 04/15/2004 02:52:38 PM · #8
poorly lit, badly exposed, lifeless, uninteresting compositions are pretty well overplayed.

Stay away from those and you'll be okay...

Message edited by author 2004-04-15 14:52:48.
 04/15/2004 02:57:31 PM · #9
The 4 'C's.......Cats, Coins, Chessboards and Candy.
 04/15/2004 03:12:56 PM · #10
Originally posted by Gordon:
poorly lit, badly exposed, lifeless, uninteresting compositions are pretty well overplayed.

Stay away from those and you'll be okay...


LOL!!
Darn, I'm out of ideas then.
 04/15/2004 03:26:56 PM · #11
I agree with this statement... and I do admit that I find myself voting some cliche subjects down just because I'm sick of seeing them. I get particularly tired of seeing flower shots, personally. And like John said, if you're going to take a shot of a common subject, it HAS to be exceptional in order to grab the attention of voters.

Unfortunately, I'd say that only about 5-10% of flower shots get good scores from me, simply because most of them are only average and tend to bore me. "Not another damn flower shot" is typically how I react to them... especially when they're shoe-horned into a challenge.

Originally posted by jmsetzler:
Creativity isn't lost when you photograph a common subject. The simple truth is that when you photograph a common subject, you need to do it well.
 04/15/2004 03:33:39 PM · #12
I think the people who complain about the "cliche" shots are the ones who can't get a good picture of what they are complaining about.

Go look at your profile and see for yourself.

grrrr...

I like flower, cats, dogs, landscape and all the other cliche shots, if they are done right.

Here is my puppy just to be onry. :-P

04/15/2004 03:33:47 PM · #13
Welcome to DPC where the quality of your image means nothing. It's all about meeting the preconceived ideas of the voter's personal definition of the challenge based on their location, beliefs, pet peeves, dislike of certain subjects etc etc ad nauseum. I guess it's a good thing we have people with positive biases as well as negative!
 04/15/2004 03:36:04 PM · #14
Originally posted by alansfreed:


Unfortunately, I'd say that only about 5-10% of flower shots get good scores from me, simply because most of them are only average and tend to bore me. "Not another damn flower shot" is typically how I react to them... especially when they're shoe-horned into a challenge.


Hey! I resemble that remark!
 04/15/2004 03:37:18 PM · #15
Originally posted by bpickard:
The 4 'C's.......Cats, Coins, Chessboards and Candy.


I have another C .... CDs
 04/15/2004 03:58:28 PM · #16
Originally posted by Claya:
Oh my @#$, cats for sure! In fact, just about any animal photo. Now I'm no animal hater by any means (I have 2 dogs and a cat) but why some people submit animal photos for certain themes I have no idea.


I agree. I can actually recognise some of the fotogs by their pets!
 04/15/2004 04:05:18 PM · #17
[quote=Sonifo] I think the people who complain about the "cliche" shots are the ones who can't get a good picture of what they are complaining about.
Go look at your profile and see for yourself.
grrrr...
I like flower, cats, dogs, landscape and all the other cliche shots, if they are done right.
Here is my puppy just to be onry. :-P

I agree 100% with Onry.
If they're a good, stunning, done right, quaility shot....then I'm going to like it no matter what it is.
 04/15/2004 04:05:24 PM · #18
Originally posted by moodville:
Welcome to DPC where the quality of your image means nothing. It's all about meeting the preconceived ideas of the voter's personal definition of the challenge based on their location, beliefs, pet peeves, dislike of certain subjects etc etc ad nauseum. I guess it's a good thing we have people with positive biases as well as negative!


Touche :)
 04/15/2004 04:07:13 PM · #19
I really like Soni's puppy shots.

I typically dislike selective desaturation for no real reason.

I typically dislike random shots of pets without thought.

These puppy shots are great, capturing the spirit of puppyness, the mad bundle of energy and the new bumblingness. Hopefully she'll post the other two in the series. Really enjoyable.
 04/15/2004 04:28:34 PM · #20
Originally posted by moodville:
Welcome to DPC where the quality of your image means nothing. It's all about meeting the preconceived ideas of the voter's personal definition of the challenge based on their location, beliefs, pet peeves, dislike of certain subjects etc etc ad nauseum. I guess it's a good thing we have people with positive biases as well as negative!


Verry true, but isn't that what any kind of arts are all about? Some would love it but there would always be a few for who your work is garbage others won't understand it, some will see what you have seen when you took it other don't or don't have time to look... I think it's not DPC it's human nature you are talking about. There is no way anyone could please everyone. I thing whorse then negative feedback is no feedback, that's when your shot must probably suck or must be too subtle. I think a good piece of art is one that people loves it or hates it, a bad one is one that people ignores or overlooks it. In my opinion my best one yet here on DPC is not the one I got a ribbon for but another that scored average but I got alot more comments and 12 people have it in theyr favorites. Actualy I like that people were interested in it wheather they loved it or hated it it does not matter to me, I consider it my best success so far.

Edit: Oh and about any subject being overplayed, I don't think so, maybe the aproach on certain subjects could be, but I think a good shot is a good shot as a subject can be seen from an infinity of angles and I do belive that if one finds a good interesting aproach on any subject regardless of how much it whas played the shot could be a good one. Take me for example, I hate cats, but I have a cat shot in my favorites :)

Message edited by author 2004-04-15 16:36:30.
 04/15/2004 04:56:01 PM · #21
I saw someone say no animals. I hope what they meant was no pets. Animals in nature for certain challenges is always okay in my book - I prefer the animal ones, personally. In fact, I think there is a nice diversity of portrait photogs, studio photogs, NATURE photogs, animal and wildlife photos on this site. I'd hate to see it turned into studio-only, etc.

If something is shot well then I give it a high vote, regardless of the subject - where it looks like a piece of art and not like a snapshot. If a dog is shot really well then I'll give it a high score. If it looks like a snapshot of a proud dog owner then I give it a low score. Same goes for the flower shot. Sometimes I absolutely love a flower shot (particularly wild flowers), but only if it's shot really well.

Here's the list of things I'm personally sick of seeing (but again, will give it a good score if it's shot *really well* in an eye-popping and compelling way:
* Christian-specific themed stuff - bibles, crosses, etc.
* American flags
* Coins
* Eye droplets as a technique - when someone puts eye droplets over something to reflect the image below. very sick of that.
* Snapshots of children - I find there are way too many photos from proud parents where the image doesn't look at all artistic. Again, if it's shot in an eye-popping way I'll give a 10 to a kid shot. Just hate the old "this is going in my family album" snapshot of a kid.
04/15/2004 05:04:40 PM · #22
US flag :O)
 04/15/2004 05:06:18 PM · #23
Originally posted by frumoaznicul:

Verry true, but isn't that what any kind of arts are all about? Some would love it but there would always be a few for who your work is garbage others won't understand it, some will see what you have seen when you took it other don't or don't have time to look... I think it's not DPC it's human nature you are talking about. There is no way anyone could please everyone. I thing whorse then negative feedback is no feedback, that's when your shot must probably suck or must be too subtle. I think a good piece of art is one that people loves it or hates it, a bad one is one that people ignores or overlooks it. In my opinion my best one yet here on DPC is not the one I got a ribbon for but another that scored average but I got alot more comments and 12 people have it in theyr favorites. Actualy I like that people were interested in it wheather they loved it or hated it it does not matter to me, I consider it my best success so far.


If we are talking about liking or disliking art, sure - you either like something or dislike something. On DPC arent we considered judges of a photography competition? Certainly the impact of a shot is going to either put some negative or positive feeling toward the image but condemning a selection of images before even looking at them, let alone after looking at them, seems quite biased. If you do not like flower shots then dont vote on the flower shots. But as I already stated, there is already a constant battle between 'it's a flower shot, 10' and the 'it's a flower shot, 1' brigade.
04/15/2004 05:06:23 PM · #24
The things I can really do without seeing are run-down buildings, eyeballs, and insects. I've seen some very good shots of all three, but unless the technique is WOW, they just don't interest me personally.

I agree with John, that some of my favorite shots are common things done very, very well.
 04/15/2004 05:06:58 PM · #25
I don't mind cliche shots if they are done well, I am sure there are still many ways of taking such shots that will knock the pants off me! I'll look at anything I click on be it a pet, flag, water drop whatever and vote it fairly. The one thing that does get to me though is images that are way too small to recognise any detail. There have been some good photos in the challenges but the small size of them takes away all their quality! I've never seen one of those small size shots in the first 50% of the challenge results before, but had they been the full 640 pixels, they would have done a lot better.
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