Photography is an art form. And ART is subjective in nature. It is difficult to define what is cliche and what is not. But, there are certain types of photographs that are too common over the internet and normally they are considered as a cliche.

Cliches are called cliches for a reason. They all started as a normal thing. Normally they are very good ideas and that’s why they became so popular in the first place. But at some point their overuse by people make them a cliche.

With the ever growing market of cheap consumer level DSLRs and PRO phone cameras, Everybody is now a photographer. If you are somewhat serious about the art of photography, you need to stop doing following photography cliches and start bringing your own creative touch in your photography.

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1. Always using Black and White for Street Photography.

We all at some point or another, tried our hands at street photography. It looks artistic and classy. But why everyone is converting their street photographs to black and white?

Most of the famous street photographers had their work in black and white because they belong to black and white film era. At that time, either color cameras were not present or too expensive. So, their work is mostly in black and white. Most of the iconic street photographs are black and white.

Now that we have powerful DSLRs, there is no need to go for that look. Only go for black and white if it makes sense. Lets suppose, you want to get rid of uncontrolled distraction (different colors of cars and sign boards that don’t go with your color theme) or you want to emphasis on light and shadows.

The first image here is of a Porter on Karachi Railway station. Black and white won’t work here as people will not able to distinguish his specific Green,yellow and red uniform.

This second image is of a butcher in Muscat city. This whole image is pretty much teal in color and converting it to black and white will render an image with very less contrast.

Black and white is a creative choice. Don’t blindly use it because most famous street photographs are in black and white . Understand its PROs and CONs and do it creatively.

2. Punchy High Dynamic Range (HDR) images.

High dynamic range photography is a process where you capture multiple images. One for each shadows, highlights and mid tones. You blend them together to make an image with details in both dark and bright areas. It all started when camera sensors were not that strong as they are now a days.

Today’s consumer level DSLRs and even high end point and shoot cameras have very powerful RAW image processors. All you have to do is to adjust highlights and shadows along with blacks and whites and you are good to go. 

Processing single RAW file will give you much better and natural results than blending multiple images. Yes, HDR blending has its own place. It comes handy when there is too much contrast in a single image. But overall HDR images look unnatural and over processed.

Both of the images here are HDR images of a Mosque from a single RAW file. I only used shadows and highlights adjustments to bring details in specific sections. You can see the details in both bright and dark areas.

3. Sticking to rule of thirds at all time.

Almost everybody know the rule of thirds. It’s the first rule that you learn when you start learning composition in photography. Rule of thirds is very scientific in nature and 9 out of 10 times it gives you good results. And that makes it a Cliché.

There is a famous saying that ‘Rules are meant to be broken’. It’s true. Just by deviating away from some industry standard will automatically make you stand out among the crowd. But it has to be done with care. You can avoid the rule of thirds in symmetrical compositions very easily. You can avoid it in minimalistic shots as well.

With practice you will come to know when you will get better results by not following this rule. Whenever you shoot some picture, always experiment with different versions. Rule of thirds is a good starting point for your composition. But since everyone uses it all the time, it’s a bit boring.

Alternatively, you can place your subject in extreme sides or corners and still make an attractive composition by placing some elements on opposite side to balance it.

Both the sample images here doesn’t strictly follow rule of thirds but still they have an interesting balance and composition.

4. Following histogram religiously.

Histogram is very powerful tool that lets you decide whether you have a properly exposed picture or not. Understanding histogram is of prime importance. Just by looking at it, you can tell whether you have pure whites or pure blacks in your image, i.e. whether you lose details in highlights and shadows or not.

The problem is, histogram only tells you the range of the brightest and the darkest pixels in your image. It doesn’t know what you want to shoot actually. If you want to shoot low key or high key image, the histogram will show that you are clipping shadows or highlights. In this particular case, I want to shoot a low key silhouette image in Muttrah Souq, Oman. It is ok since I deliberately want to clip both shadows and highlights. It’s your creative decision.

Histogram is also good when you have an inconsistent LCD screen on your camera. Camera LCDs are normally much brighter than actual image is. Sometimes the image looks properly exposed on screen, but actually it’s a bit underexposed. You have to pull shadows in post later on to balance it and it will introduce some noise.

Checking histogram will tell you this at the time of the shoot. You can adjust your settings in camera, and you don’t have to push it in the post. You must know how to read a histogram. But you should also know when to follow it and when to follow your own creative guts.

5. Using Image Borders

Gone are the days when the only outcome of photography is the wall mounted frame. This age is the age of social media. Yes, wall hanging frames still have their own place. You can’t deny that. But making your image compatible over the internet is important.

People normally add borders because of two reasons. Either their frame corners are not tight enough and they need some sort of borders to keep it under boundary or their subject is not prominent enough.

Try framing your image in a way that it naturally creates a border around your subject. You don’t have to use frames within frame technique all the time. Just try to look around the edges of your frame and place something strategically to guide viewers’ eye.

Here I shot these three guys walking in Nizwa market in Oman in a way that it creates a natural frame around them. Although it only covers left and right side of image.

Another technique is to use a vignette in your images either by using dodge and burn technique or simple darken your edges and brighten the subject. In this image, the sky is completely plain, so I added a little vignette to create a border.

6. Using cliché Lens choices.

It is common to shoot Landscapes with wide angle lens, Street photography with 50mm and portraits with an 85mm or 100mm lens. Thousands of images are uploaded over the internet on a daily basis that follows the same exact rule.

Every other shot that follows these clichés looks almost identical. Like the rule of thirds, these lenses will give you great results. The wide angle lens lets you include foreground and background both in focus. Telephoto creates simple background with flattering facial features. But try something different to create a new perspective.

Like I shot this landscape and architecture image with a 50mm lens. It’s a totally different perspective of this place as compared to all other pictures of the same place. You can try portraits with a wide angle and street photography using telephoto lens as well.

Conclusion

It doesn’t mean that you should not use these techniques at all. Using a bit of all of these techniques in moderation is all you need to avoid clichés.

It’s really hard to find the subject that has never been photographed before. Try to look subjects in a different way. Try different angles. Try different lenses and filters. Try different post processing techniques that are not common.

One interesting way is to start a project of photographing the same subject in 15 different ways. It will force you to look at the subject in an entirely different way. That practice will help you in your photography in general.

Again photography clichés are not bad. It’s just that they are way too common and they won’t help in bringing your very own personality in your photography. Now, try to be creative and tell me in the comments section which cliché you find most annoying.