Making dull things interesting

[fletch]

An interesting discussion came up in this thread in the critique forum.

Can any subject be made interesting and dramatic in a photograph? Not using context and periferal information such as titles or a dramatic background. Just the subject on its own as a photograph with no supporting info or prior knowledge of the subject.

So this thread was born as a challenge to the people who say anything can be interesting with some thought and a camera. I will set some subjects that are (hopefully) available for most people to shoot. You need to post an intersting shot and see what people think. Other topics can be sugested but try to make it hard.

Subjects are...

A garden shed
A coridor in your office
A house brick
A coin

Happy snapping.

[KodiakStar]

Sounds like a fun challenge... I'll work on getting a couple

[AnnetteJ]

Glad you did it! Is pp allowed or is that a too obvious way of tarting up dull pix? I mean extreme pp, I would assume basic pp like levels, contrast, saturation etc would allowed.

[AnnetteJ]

Anyway, here's one of coins!



This is actually a crop of one of the first pix I took with my Lumix. I don't think coins are boring enough anyway! What about mud? A wall? Poo? A cardboard box?

[fletch]

Originally Posted by AnnetteJ

Glad you did it! Is pp allowed or is that a too obvious way of tarting up dull pix? I mean extreme pp, I would assume basic pp like levels, contrast, saturation etc would allowed.

Yeah why not. Few caviats, no adding elements into the photograph, I don't want a shark poking out of a garden shed! It has to be the subject that is interesting not the method of PP, i.e. making the subject pop with a bit of HDR is OK making the shed minature using tilt shift is not, that would be interesting PP not an interesting subject.

Originally Posted by AnnetteJ

This is actually a crop of one of the first pix I took with my Lumix. I don't think coins are boring enough anyway! What about mud? A wall? Poo? A cardboard box?

Close but no cigar. I said a coin, not some coins! Anyway if people get all of the ones that are deemed easy then maybe we can come up with something even more boring. No Poo though, please! pretty please!

[sybren]

Originally Posted by fletch

making the subject pop with a bit of HDR is OK making the shed minature using tilt shift is not, that would be interesting PP not an interesting subject.

You count a tilt/shift lens as "post processing"? It's a type of lens, which has some physical properties resulting in a unique photo. The same can be said about lenses with a large aperture - are those "post processing" too?

I think you've gotten an interesting challenge here, but it might be a good idea to be more specific about what you'll allow and what not. I'd opt for at least allowing any type of lens. What about having an influence on the light? Can we use strobes? Can we turn some lights on if they are off? Or the other way around?

No Poo though, please! pretty please!

Of course not! Poo isn't boring

Cheers,
Sybren

[fletch]

Originally Posted by sybren

You count a tilt/shift lens as "post processing"? [...]

No of course not. I meant the fake PP effect like this here that luismr used to make a building site look interesting. The lens would be fine although not accessable to the majority of photographers.

Manipulating the light is fine, its a photographic technique, anthing photographic is fine. I suppose I'm trying to get away from people getting a subject to look intesting because of its setting rather than because of the subject. Enhancing the subject with the odd flash is fine, having a house brick framed in front of a spectacular sky is not in the spirt of things.

[sybren]

Originally Posted by fletch

No of course not. I meant the fake PP effect like this here

Ah. This is a photographer's forum, so if you say "tilt-shift" I assume the majority will read "tilt-shift" and not "a fake tilt-shift-like effect" ;-)

Manipulating the light is fine, its a photographic technique, anthing photographic is fine. I suppose I'm trying to get away from people getting a subject to look intesting because of its setting rather than because of the subject. Enhancing the subject with the odd flash is fine, having a house brick framed in front of a spectacular sky is not in the spirt of things.

Ok, I'll see what I can come up with. Don't expect anything soon, though, as I work at home (no real office corridors) on the first (counted like I believe everybody except the Americans do) floor (so no garden nor garden shed) and I do have a brick house (but no loose bricks) and a coin...

[AnnetteJ]

Originally Posted by sybren

Of course not! Poo isn't boring

Cheers,
Sybren

LOL!!

I agree we need more ground rules then, and I've had some more ideas for a single coin, which I'm about to go and shoot. I think we need more potential subjects too [not poo, maybe in a separate thread as it's so interesting Sybren?] but submit anything which sounds boring, if others don't agree it's boring it loses!

[fletch]

Originally Posted by AnnetteJ

LOL!!

I agree we need more ground rules then, and I've had some more ideas for a single coin, which I'm about to go and shoot. I think we need more potential subjects too [not poo, maybe in a separate thread as it's so interesting Sybren?] but submit anything which sounds boring, if others don't agree it's boring it loses!

The point is that your not going to be able to make a master peice out of every thing you stumble upon, not beacuse of your camera skills but because its just not that interesting or stricking, or at least that is the challenge. If somebody wants to take it and run with it, get together a load of rules then go for it. Me I'm just looking to see if anything can make a nice photo or not.