Don't Say "Cheese"!
A lot of those pics we see on our Facebook and Instagram feeds are what Thai photographer Chompoo Baritone calls “artistic-looking photos”. And yet it only pretends to create art, what Jonathan Jones blasted : “We are turning into a world of bad artists, cosily congratulating one another on every new slice of sheer kitsch.” Baritone says pretty much the same thing; that most pics just seek to show off trendy aspects of life “with the end goal of getting praise” (a phrase from Baritone’s Facebook album on the same topic). As Annalisa Merelli said : “Such nicely framed images, pretty filters, witty captions and hashtags break no boundaries, but rather strengthen a pre-defined taxonomy of what’s trendy.” So what’s the way to avoid that? Eugene Wei talks about the simplest tip to improve one’s photography : “Take photos where your subjects aren't looking directly into the lens.” Why not? And why would that make any difference to the shot? First, let’s understand th...