Deutsche Version: Was ist ein sehenswertes Foto?
Version française :: Qu'est-ce qu'une photo remarquable ?

© German Federal Archive / B145 Picture-F088809-0038 / CC BY-SA 3.0 DE / Photographer Joachim F. Thurn / Painting: Dmitri Wladimirowitsch Wrubel / East Side Gallery, 1990 / Original Photo: Régis Bossus, Oct 5, 1979


The answer is simple

The answer is actually simple, as we all know such photos. They arouse our curiosity by showing something unfamiliar or something familiar in a special way. They stimulate our imagination. They move us emotionally. Noteworthy photos speak for themselves:
© Steve Mc Curry, Tailor In Monsoon Floods, 1983, Reference: Leica Store, Wetzlar
© Nick Ut, The Horror Of War, 1972, Reference: Wikimedia
© Yongqing Bao, The Moment, 2019, Reference: Natural History Museum, London

The more they do this, the less they have to be perfect. Their creators don't have to add many words - which does not mean that supplementary information is superfluous. It is often helpful, but never necessary for their impact. Noteworthy pictures are those that evoke special attention, admiration or praise. They go right under our skin. Here is another one that I saw a year ago in the exhibition The Family of Man in Clervaux (Luxemburg):


Is it important for us anyway?

Now some will probably say: "That's out of my league! I'm just an amateur photographer, not a professional". And, as Tanja Loughcrew pointed out in her comment on my article What is a good Photo?: Many of us are only with ipernity to network and communicate with others - with "photos that mean something to oneself and from which one hopes that others might also like them".

For us as a self-managed community, however, there is an important reason to deal with this issue: The external impact of our website. How do visitors from the World Wide Web perceive ipernity on their first visit? Is our website inviting? Does it motivate people to take a closer look at it and perhaps even consider becoming a member later on? Because, like all associations, ipernity is subject to permanent renewal, which requires regular influx of new members. That's why this topic is relevant for all of us, even for those who have less photographic ambition and would rather network.


It's essential for the future of our community!

Visitors from the World Wide Web usually explore our website via the Explore-Button on our homepage:


So we are in the same situation as a merchant who wants to decorate the window of his shop: What shall be displayed? The answer is also simple: anything that catches the eye of passers-by:


What is eye-catching?

Never the normal, the everyday, of course. Even if you have a shop for everyday needs, you will put things into the showcase that will make passers-by stop, take a closer look and, preferably, come into the shop. Showcases are not meant for core customers who know what they want and where to get it, but for walk-in customers. To illustrate with another example: Imagine you operate an underwear shop. What goes in the shop window? Certainly not the standard white fine-rib underwear, but attractive fashionable underwear that people might not buy, but enjoy looking at:


And what about our gallery?

Sadly, our gallery shows not only photos that are particularly worth seeing, but also a lot of everyday photos. These don't have to be poor pictures. They can even be precious, but they are not always eye-catching.

Another two weaknesses of our 'Gallery' are: It shows only the latest pictures and only the most popular ones which quickly get the most FAVs and comments right after uploading. But these are not always the most noteworthy pictures, even if it flatters each of us to find one of our pictures there. Maybe your picture even made ist to the top of the gallery because you are socially well-connected? Congratulations! It's perfectly fine. That's what ipernity is for. But unfortunately, the evaluation by friends is rarely objective, and for external visitors it is never relevant.


What is attractive for external viewers?

Unbiased external viewers always perceive a picture from three angles:
© Bergfex, Illustration 1, 2022


1. Attention

I recently saw the documentary "Terra X, Winter Adventure - Animals in the Snow". It's about the use of high-tech miniature cameras in realistic animal robots or artificial snowballs. It looks like this:
© ZDF Mediathek, 2022, Reference: Abenteuer im Winter - Tiere im Schnee

At first contact with the snowball camera, the polar bears were highly interested. Would it be possible to eat it, or was it dangerous? After a short time, the bears didn't care about the camera anymore. The bullet could roll around the bears undisturbed. It was ignored and could now do what it was designed to: Making never-before-seen film clips of polar bears living in the wild.

Why am I quoting this? Because we humans don't behave any differently. The unknown mainly catches our attention. The familiar, on the other hand, attracts us less:
© Bergfex, Illustration 2, 2022

When looking at series of pictures, we have a fluctuating attention which varies from picture to picture. To trigger the reaction to study a picture more closely, a certain stimulus level must be surpassed. This varies from person to person and is strongly dependent on the state of fatigue. We know this: When clicking through the ipernity Gallery after work, our attention usually wanes after just a few overview pages.

This is not any different for visitors to our Most Noteworthy Pictures. If we want to gain the attention of viewers, we do well to present motifs which are unknown, rare or instinct activating. Less suitable are pictures that have often been seen or are commonplaces.

In today's media age, we are very saturated with impressions. That's why it takes something special to draw the viewer out from behind the stove. Besides a special motif, you may also be lucky enough to snap a unique situation. It doesn't have to be as extraordinary as the kiss between Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker. Even small incidents like mating snails can be unique.

But the problem is: rare motifs or situations are rare. That's in their nature. Many things are already known. But maybe not yet in the way you have photographed it. Maybe you chose a special perspective, took advantage of a special light situation or were creative in a different way that produced a truly unique result. Here we can make full use of our creative talent and our skills as photographers, even if we are only amateurs.


2. Fiction

I would also like to use an example to illustrate this angle. What do we see here?


Women in burkas, a brick wall with a barred window, all shot in a high sun. If you look closely: Only the woman on the far right seems to be walking. The others are standing still. And now? What story does the picture tell you? Or rather: What is your fiction whispering to you? Whatever it is, it is 99.999% likely to be wrong. Heidiho wrote the real story under the picture. Read it for yourself.

The often-used metaphor: "A good picture tells a story" is linguistic nonsense. No picture ever tells anything. Everything is just your fiction. Your brain makes it up:
© Bergfex, Illustration 3, 2022

Many aspects play a role in this: cultural conditioning, wishes, concepts, private experiences, mental blueprints, interests, memories, beliefs, and more.

What is true, however, is that as a photographer you can manage, within the given framework, which fantasies you might evoke in potential viewers. This is the great playground of photographic creativity. And what is also true: a picture worth seeing should always arouse a lot of fiction. For this satisfies the viewer since his brain is stimulated. Imagery that does not inspire fiction is only figuring.


3. Emotions

There is actually not much to write about this last angle. Who wouldn't be warmed by this photo?
© Amelia Heath, Emotion, 2019, Reference: Amelia Heath@ipernity.com

Pictures with children are almost always emotionally touching. But other shots can be too. An autumnal landscape picture can trigger melancholy, the macro of an insect can evoke disgust, the photo of a homeless person in New York can evoke sadness or outrage.

Instead of losing myself in a list, I refer to the corresponding Wikipedia article 'Emotion' from which I have taken this wheel of emotions:
© Bergfex, Illustration 4, 2022
© Robert Plutchics, Wheel of emotions, 2011, Reference: Wikipedia (CC)
Other languages: see the linked Wikipedia article.

Just like fiction, the nature or intensity of an emotional reaction depends highly on the individual viewer. In general, all that can be said is that a picture with an emotional impact is more likely to be noticed and better remembered.


And what about the 'photo quality'?

As already mentioned, 'photo quality' is less important for photos that are extraordinarily worth seeing. But such photos are rather an exception in our community. For us, it is more likely that a modest 'photo quality' will spoil the most splendid photo. Especially if typical amateur mistakes were made (crooked horizons, sensor spots, unfavourable focus, etc.).

Sometimes the quality of a photo can be lifted by re-editing, as with the snail photo mentioned above, where the photographer had to accept the circumstances he met. Otherwise, a modest photo quality is only acceptable for really exceptional shots, as our Ambassador Pictures are a kind of flagship for our community. Normally, postings should have a quality of ❻ or better with respect to the grading scale mentioned in my article "What is a good photo?"

Don't forget: The point is motivating visitors to get interested in our community.

Summary:

Whether photos are worth seeing is decided by the viewers only. Generally speaking, pictures are more likely to be considered worth seeing, if they

- attract attention,
- arouse fiction,
- touch emotionally.

For truly exceptional photos, the 'photo quality' is less important. Normally, however, a photo for the group 'Ambassador Pictures' should have at least a good amateur quality.

If a picture of yours meets at least two of the three criteria mentioned above, you are invited to submit it to the group: Ambassador Pictures. How the editorial team selects the photos from all the submissions that will finally make it into our showcase with the 'most noteworthy pictures' will be the subject of a third, final article.


Bernhard Westrup (Bergfex)
St. Johann in Tyrol
December 9, 2022


Postscript 1: I'm not a professional, just an amateur. Therefore, I may have been erring in some details, or I may have forgotten to mention something. I ask anyone who reads this article and notices any discrepancies to let me know. I like to learn.

Postscript 2: When asked which of my pictures I would submit to the editorial team for evaluation: This one:

© Bergfex, Utmost attention, 2015, Reference: unpublished yet