There are fads that come into fashion that then become passé and others that become overused clichés. Some things we do are just unethical. Here’s what should be abandoned this year, and drone owners won’t be pleased.
Instagram Stylizing Filters and Lightroom Preset Equivalents Are Out
Over the last decade, the application of filters on Instagram and elsewhere has become a quick and easy way for photographers to change the way their images look. These were never high-quality edits. Nevertheless, the look produced by these filters then became trendy and, consequently, the bread and butter of Lightroom preset creators.
Those filters and presets now look dated. That faded, low-contrast look with blue toning was never going to be anything other than a fad that would soon look become as obsolete as tank tops. Now, thank goodness, their end is in sight.
The Sins of Skin Smoothing, Body Resizing, and Skin Whitening
There are also, of course, some filters that are damaging to self-esteem. Those are still popular and, sadly, are likely to remain so. It’s time to ditch them for the common good.
Skin-smoothing was a technique employed by portrait photographers long before Instagram was a twinkle in Systrom and Krieger’s eyes. Even before the days of commercial digital photography, fashion photographers would airbrush skin in the darkroom to give it a flawless, plastic look. For decades, we’ve been aware of the negative effects on the mental health of these techniques – especially to young women – yet they are still prevalent. The idea of beauty is perverted by this mockery of reality.
Of course, there are times when minor corrections of skin blemishes are appropriate. I removed an acne spot from the face of a bridesmaid when processing a wedding shoot. That went unnoticed by everyone apart from the bride, who thanked me for doing it. If I had left it, everyone would have been reminded of it for all time.
Resizing and thinning faces and bodies is also a damaging trend that, again, places unrealistic expectations on young people.
Even more damaging is skin lightening. It’s well documented that in the 1950s, the great jazz singer and pianist, Nat King Cole, was pressured into whitening his face with powder when appearing on TV. Even now, cosmetic skin lightening and bleaching happen with huge detrimental effects on health. Despite the growing condemnation, some photographers still use digital techniques to whiten the skin of people of color. It’s time this racism was stamped out.
We should get used to how natural skin looks and celebrate bodies of every size, shape, and color.
Give Up Overblown HDR
Is this still a thing? Sadly, yes. Although those horrible, over-processed images of a decade ago seem to have mostly faded away, they still appear in their death throes.
In a few circumstances, HDR does have a place. For real estate photography, interior details can be improved using the technique. Also, when shooting contre jour and wanting to get the details in the shadows and not blow out the sunrise or sunset, it can help too. But, with the advancements in sensor technology, the dynamic range of contemporary cameras is such that it is unnecessary to combine images of different exposures in most circumstances. Furthermore, standard dynamic range images look better than artificial, hyper-real HDR photos.
Stop Vandalizing Your Images With Watermarks
You spend hours planning and implementing the perfect photograph, removing all unwanted distractions by careful framing. Next, you pour over the raw file, gently adjusting it to get the very best results. Then, you spoil that perfect photo by watermarking it with a distracting, wiggly signature.
What is the purpose of that watermark? If it’s to advertise who took the photo, then you have already done that by posting it to an account owned by you. Or, do you do it to stop others from using the image? If so, then that won’t work; a single stroke of the spot removal brush in editing software will erase that as easily as a bridesmaid’s zit. Is it, then, to prove ownership if someone plagiarizes the photo? So long as you have the raw file, embedded within the metadata is your camera and lens’ serial numbers and other identifying information too. If someone is determined to use your photos illegally, then they shall. You can find your stolen images with Google’s image search and Tin Eye, then send them either a takedown notice or a big invoice for the image’s usage.
If you still want to do it, look through the collections of any great photographer. They don’t deface their images with signatures.
Fake Film Grain
Grain produced by high-sensitivity film can look great. Clean digital images look fantastic too. Adding grain that tries to emulate the look of the film is creating a lie. It’s trying to turn the digital artwork from something genuine and worth celebrating into a poor imitation of film. In doing so, the photographer is declaring that the digital image is less worthy and film is better. If that is the case, then surely, the photographer must shoot with a film camera.
Okay, so adding grain can hide a multitude of sins, including making soft images look sharper, especially after removing digital noise. But contemporary sensor technology and the outstanding noise reduction software that’s now available, like On1 NoNoise, make that technique redundant.
It’s Time to Put the Drones Away
Drones come in for a lot of bad press. When used properly, they are a useful tool, a cheap way of obtaining aerial photographs. For farmers inspecting their crops and building managers surveying inaccessible roofs, they are ideal. However, news reports highlight no end of incidents from invasions of privacy, to endangering air travel, and causing harm to wildlife. Despite this, most drone users do fly them responsibly.
From an artistic, creative viewpoint, they’ve become a gimmick and are used unnecessarily. It seems that every television program has distracting interference of unnecessary drone footage. They rarely add anything to the content of the program and say little more than: “Look at me, I’ve got a drone.” In film production, cameras should be used so that the shot is immersive, and the tools that create the images should not be obvious.
Event photography has become plagued with drones too. Shunning Robert Capa’s advice about getting close to the subject and every wildlife and portrait photographer’s insistence of shooting at eye-level, we now look down on our subjects from far away, making them look insignificant.
At a wedding, the drone footage rarely represents what the couple remembers of the event; they were literally — if not metaphorically — at ground level. They were not flying dozens of feet in the air the venue. Furthermore, their favorite photographs will be of them, their family, and their friends because of the emotional human attachment that photos bring. Drone footage is more about the photographer pleasing themselves with unique shots, the video graphics equivalent of the boring drum solo at a prog rock concert.
Unless there is a specific need for a drone image or footage, please leave it in the box and concentrate on high-quality photography and videography instead.
Avoiding Unethical Photographic Equipment
This is something I have vented about before, but cheap, mass-produced DSLRs and compact cameras are short-lived. Furthermore, photographers soon outgrow them, and so they are replaced. Consequently, they then end up with more plastic and electronic waste in landfills, polluting the environment. It’s time that manufacturers concentrate on producing quality products and abandon the cheap, plastic, low-quality trash. Then, we photographers should boycott those who don’t make that change.
Similarly, we should look at where equipment is made. Considering whether the manufacturing base is in a country with an open democracy or an oppressive regime with poor human-rights records.
What Do You Think?
Of course, some of these opinions are subjective, and if you are happy using Instagram filters, then it doesn’t matter. But, do you agree or disagree with me with any of these thoughts? Is drone footage overused? Should signatures filters be assigned to the bin? Can you see digital effects becoming obsolete?
Perhaps you have techniques that you once employed that you would rather be forgotten because they are now tacky clichés. Or, maybe you make purchasing decisions based upon ethical considerations. Let me know in the comments.
Happy New Year!