What is "good" photography?

 

I recently watched this video by Pat Kay titled "20 Essential Photography Tips (Get Good, Fast)". I usually shy back when I see a number in the title. Numbers are often click baits, suggesting a short and fast way to achieve a goal. There is no such way for photography. But the video turned out to be worth watching.

The essential line was

Subject! Subject! Subject!

And that captures the truth about good images better than I could. Photography is about photographing something. It isn't about testing the camera or the lens. The video claims that a good image is 70% subject, 20% technique, and 10% post processing. Our job is to squeeze something interesting into an image. At best, something which can only be told visually.

But what is "interesting"? Here is, where most amateurs, including myself, fail too often. If we want to participate in online forums or contests with our images, we better find subjects which are of general interest. Sex always sells. So, many photographers specialize in girls. But we should not restrict photography like that. Much depends on the community we are in. If you shoot birds go to the birder community. If you shoot planes there is a plane spotting community. Only if you have birds or planes of very general interest, step outside your circles and try to create something of general interest. 

Is the photo at the start of this page interesting? Probably not to you. If you lived near that area where a big industry site is taken down to make place for a new start, your view may be different. The water tower is the only building left amidst the tumbling trash.

You still have to create a technically good image. In general, you want to show the message or meaning of your subject across. You will need the right light, be at the right place, shoot at the right moment with the right lens etc. The image above fails here, because the light was not right, and the chosen photographic location conceals the meaning of the water tower and the pile of concrete too much. There are several nicer ways to make this image. But time and other restriction reduced me to that option.

This is another example which I recently uploaded for curation on 100ASA. The image is one of my favorites because it recalls a special journey for me. I took it at the museum at the Hoover dam while travelling the West. The big window displaying the lake, the ranger and the visitor all contribute to it. But for a casual viewer, the photo is not interesting enough. There are too many questions unanswered. The curation ended in the upcoming gallery.

In contrast, the image below was selected for the elite gallery. Is it so much more interesting or "better"? Probably not. It is just so that more viewers can relate to this scene than to the one above. Indeed, the difference was in the "content" section of the curation. It may be the contrast of the Corona measures with the intimacy of the scene. The nice light also contributes to the mood. The lens was not my best lens. That shows that gear is not the point here.

I learned from that experience that I should keep the viewer in my head when publishing an image. For yourself, as an amateur, you can take and keep any image you like without caring if it is boring for others or not. But if you want to be successful you better find interesting subjects. And learn to make the best out of the scene, I should add.