Boring (redux)

[cunim]

I can honestly say that no one but me likes my knife pictures. Wife says they're creepy. I guess that's worse than boring. Knife collectors can't tell the difference between IQ and iPhone. Knife makers are bearded mountain man types unlikely to buy product shots. As I said, just me to like these. IQ4, Rodie 138 tilted, swung and stacked.

 

[bensonga]

I can honestly say that no one but me likes my knife pictures. Wife says they're creepy. I guess that's worse than boring. Knife collectors can't tell the difference between IQ and iPhone. Knife makers are bearded mountain man types unlikely to buy product shots. As I said, just me to like these. IQ4, Rodie 138 tilted, swung and stacked.

View attachment 209239

I’m sure there are others here besides MGrayson and myself who like your knife pictures. I’m sure that he even understands the complexity of the set up and gear (including lighting) you used to make this picture.

 

[Shashin]

Getting closer?

 

[Duff photographer]

I'm not sure what I was going for here. Anyway, it didn't make it to print and never will.




Nikon Dsomething? Zeiss ZF 35mm I think.

By the way, I haven't "liked" anything on this thread as that would mean I find it interesting, or does it mean I find it boring? I'm confused again.

Cheers,
Duff.

 

[cunim]

By the way, I haven't "liked" anything on this thread as that would mean I find it interesting, or does it mean I find it boring? I'm confused again.

I have the same problem. If an image fits the topic and bores me, can I really like it? What I am finding is that I can be bored by an image but still respect the skill that went into making it. I am finding a lot to respect in the work here but we don't have a "respect" button.

 

[cunim]

But next to some nice landscapes I also shot these two, don't know if they're boring subjects or boring photos (or both) but somehow I didn't dicard them from my catalog and like them myself but I wonder what impression they make on anyone I show them. I haven't yet, and the audience here is the first time, so please tell me what you think.

I think you are onto something here. That first one is a 77 on the boring scale.
Great examples of how image appreciation is a very personal thing. Thanks for posting.

 

[pegelli]

I have the same problem. If an image fits the topic and bores me, can I really like it? What I am finding is that I can be bored by an image but still respect the skill that went into making it. I am finding a lot to respect in the work here but we don't have a "respect" button.

Maybe we can agree what the current emoticons mean (this is just a random thought, final word should be with the originator of this thread)
For instance:
Use this the "like" ( ) for liking the post and agreeing the photo fits the boring definition of this thread, i.e. this is the "rspect" sign.
And then use the "love" ( ) for a post you like and the photo is (in your opinion) much better then "boring" for you.

@cunim , maybe as the originator of this thread can set something like this up that we can all follow, I have the same problem and don't know what "liking" a post here really means.

 

[cunim]

Thanks to @pegelli for suggesting a way to indicate both respect and boredom. Maybe we are pushing this topic a bit far but, if anyone wants to indicate respect, here is what I suggest.
1. If you think a photo is both boring and technically questionable, don't say anything.
2. If you respect the skill that went into the photo, but are bored by the subject matter use the "Wow" emoticon.
3. If you feel the poster has posted a really good and interesting photo, like it normally. The poster thinks it is boring so it is - to him. You are free to think it deserves to be liked.

The real problem with this topic is that, once our attention is drawn to an image here, we start to wonder why the poster thinks it is boring. For example, @Shashin's images of a window and a road above are technically excellent. I think the road is also beautiful and I am now interested in why Shashin thinks these are boring. Wondering about this makes the images interesting. Aaargh. Starting to sound like one of those temporal paradoxes.

I encourage posting a little comment with each image, telling us why you think it is boring. For example, maybe you love it but your partner says it spews and no one noticed when it was posted online. Therefore, you suspect that people find it boring. I have lots of those.

 

[MGrayson]

I thought the criterion was that the photographer liked it, but their friends/family did not. For that, we just have to take their word and judge the photo as we normally would. I love that defining the issue is more complex than the photography!

 

[Shashin]

OK. If a window in a wall didn't bore you--even just framed in the center--perhaps this will:

 

[cunim]

OK. If a window in a wall didn't bore you--even just framed in the center--perhaps this will:

That did it. Zzzzzzz

 

[bensonga]

I thought the criterion was that the photographer liked it, but their friends/family did not. For that, we just have to take their word and judge the photo as we normally would. I love that defining the issue is more complex than the photography!

This is what I had in mind too when I selected a few images to share. I can certainly understand that some photographers would also post images that they themselves decided were boring.

Gary

 

[cunim]

OK, it doesn't get much more boring than this still life of trash. The $10 pen is atrociously bad and is entangled in a bunch of useless copper wire i got from an airport rubbish bin. I like it (no one else does) because I really hated the pen and was able to insult it here and then just throw it out after the photo. Satisfying. The technical quality is about as good as I could produce at the time. IQ180, stacked.

 

[cunim]

Bart, I think that pigeon wants to mate. It's showing you the colorful nape of its neck.

 

[bensonga]

Anchorage officially had record breaking snow falls during November and December. 89 inches at the airport. Easily 100+ inches where I live in the mountains north of Anchorage. That was a lot of snow to shovel.

We caught a break from more snow in the first few weeks of January, only received a few inches so far. Just a bit of frost every morning and I'm ok with that.

Even I think this image is boring....just testing another lens.

Gary

 

[pegelli]

water-link or water-wink


Sony A7ii + OM Zuiko 21/3.5

 

[Duff photographer]

Even I think this image is boring....just testing another lens.

Ooooh! Of course! Lens test shots!!

The pinnacle of photo's only meaning something to the photogapher and no-one else. Here's one of several hundred I will be posting in a very long, boring series which excels my rock series and petriified car keys montage...



Nikon D300s. Fujinon-A 240mm f9 @f11.

Epic, is it not!?

Duff.

 

[cunim]

The pinnacle of photo's only meaning something to the photogapher and no-one else. Here's one of several hundred I will be posting in a very long, boring series which excels my rock series and petriified car keys montage...

That one is stunning. Oh, wait. I'm not stunned. I'm sleepy.

 

[pegelli]

Emergency exit, a boring subject?


Leica M246M + Summaron 35/2.8

 

[Duff photographer]

As promised, here is my run of several hundred lens test shots. Well, 5 to start with. See if you can spot what was important to the photographer, but not to anyone else. It's an interesting test by the way.

Please note that this post was inspired by Gary (bensonga), so blame him.



Details for all 5 images are: 100% crops of a Fuji-A 240mm f9 lens on a D300s on a tripod using mirror lock-up. All taken at f9. No photo-editing applied other than cropping. All other variables (other than the effect of wind on the vegetation) for lens and camera were exactly the same, except for one. Actually one and a half, the half being a physical "corrective" that needed to be applied as a result of changing the original variable, if that hasn't confused you. It's also a clue.

After you've bored yourselves to the point of total apathy, trying to work out what was that important single variable, only then will I tell you, by which point you won't care anyway.

Cheers,
Duff.