On Thu, Jun 02, 2011 at 07:08:02PM +0100, Bob W wrote: > > Daniel J. Matyola > > > Cornell researchers analyzed 35 million Flickr photos and discovered > > that we all shoot the same places?from the same angles: > > > > Read more: http://www.budgettravel.com/feature/25-most-photographed- > > places-on-earth,7308/?wpisrc=newsletter#ixzz1O89YAKwf > > > > > > http://www.budgettravel.com/feature/25-most-photographed-places-on- > > earth,7308/?wpisrc=newsletter > > that's very interesting. I was expecting Paris to be the most photographed > city, and I was expecting Big Ben to be the most photographed thing in London. >
I suspect there's more than a little sampling bias, not least due to restricting the sample to people who post their travel shots on flickr. I mean, Portland, Oregon as the 25th most photographed city? Really? > What I try to do when faced with one of the standard postcardy places is to > treat it as just something in the background and try to get people doing > something interesting as the main point of interest. > > The classic example of this, which I try to emulate, is this shot of the Taj > Mahal by Steve McCurry: > > <http://tinyurl.com/tankmahal> > <http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/212/cache/taj-mahal-river-reflection_21246_600x450.jpg> I agree - that's a great shot. While it exemplifies the primary advice of the article - find a different viewpoint - I find many of the examples they supply to be no significant improvement on the cliche "postcard" shot. It's hard (in some cases impossible) to see the iconic landmark. If I go to an exotic locale I want to come back with a photograph that could only have been taken there, not one that could just as well been taken within a few miles (or even a few hundred yards) of my front door. The most obvious thing I deduce from most of the photographs is that an in-camera "perspective correction" filter might be a good idea. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
