Social Media Alters Our Photographic Judgment and Analysis Skills

A black and white photo of a landscape of Yosemite in California. Photo by Amar Guillen.

A black and white photo of Yosemite in northern California. This photo has nothing of the aesthetic canons of the photos published on social networks. Yet it has been sold several times.

Social Media’s Trivialization of Photos Is a Great Danger to Photography

Social networking is not a bad thing in itself. It is a way to share and exchange instantly.

Similar to how digital cameras were an extraordinary evolution of photography, social media networks are simply the next step in this evolution chain.

The problem, as always, is how we as human beings choose to use social media. Some social networks have a real plus for photography and photographers. They allow us to spread ideas quickly and easily. Thus, photography is evolving towards emography.

Photography is an activity that requires time, experience, and a commitment to introspection. It is necessary to develop a photographic why, a photographic conscience, identity, foundations, and creativity.

Emography does not require all these qualities. It is enough to take a picture just because there is an event and post it on social networks.

Photos have become commonplace. Photographers who post a lot are not seen anymore. They become part of the mass of information delivered. People get bored quickly nowadays. The speed of data transfer and the ease of access to them allow us to find answers to our questions in a few seconds.

Social networks are the image of our modern world. There is only room for the sensational, the spectacular, and the one-upmanship. But what is the point of all this? The exceptional becomes banal because there is always an exceptional event in the world. Many photos published on social networks are void of meaning. They do not encourage analysis or introspection. They are visual information. Photography becomes trivialized and uninteresting to most of us.

Why and How: Developing a Photographic Consciousness.

Social Networks Impair Our Photographic Judgment

The proliferation of images on the networks represents another danger: the alteration of our photographic judgment.

When we browse the walls of images that are offered to our eyes, we scroll with our finger or our mouse.

Our eyes scan our screens in search of information. This remarkable information is characterized by contrast, saturation, and vivid colors. This is what I call impressive photos at first glance.

In addition, our eyes are attracted to the hot areas of the screen. Indeed, when we look at a computer screen or mobile devices, we do not look at the whole screen. Our brain selects certain areas of the screen that are called hot zones. If you research this topic on the internet, you will discover an extraordinary world. You will discover how marketing professionals use visual tools to attract you.

Your eye will naturally be drawn towards the warm areas. In addition, it will look for saturated, contrasting photos, with bright colors. It will look for impressive, eye-catching images. Finally, you will always be attracted by the same photos in a totally unconscious way.

That is why I wrote that our photographic judgment is greatly altered by social networks.

We lose our ability to analyze pictures. We will always look at the same kind of pictures.

The conclusion of this paragraph is that most people who spend a lot of time on social networks come to believe that these contrasted, saturated, and explosive images are the standard.

This is what I see especially in many beginner photographers who have surfed many social networks. They think that a photo should be very colorful and very contrasted. They think that a photo should be seen at first glance with retouching techniques.

They forget the essential: the meaning. They do not know that photography is an art form that is also an extraordinarily strong form of expression. In addition to losing their faculties of analysis and judgment, they become uniform. They look like the others. It is the standardization and formatting of a beautiful society.

If you do not want to fall into this trap of uniformity, never forget that you have to create pictures for others. Your goal is to express yourself but also to help others. Your mission as a human being is to bring your stone to the building. Wanting to be like every other photographer does not benefit you or the world. When you try to mimic someone else, you are denying yourself and the world that special vision and perspective which only you can share.

Why It Is So Difficult to Judge a Fine Art Photograph.

Is This Evolution of Photography a Good Thing?

I do not have the answer to this question. I can only observe that the way of photography is changing. From an art form and a mode of expression, it is becoming a means of information. This is evolution. Maybe these changes will bring us new ways of thinking and seeing the world.

For the moment, the search for the spectacular and the instantaneous show that the general level of photography is being pulled down. A lot of people who take pictures do not ask themselves questions. They photograph and they post and then they repeat.

For me and my constant quest for timelessness, this is a mode of operation that I find hard to adopt. In fact, I do not even try.

Diamonds in the Rough

Despite this observation of the degradation of the average level of the photographers, I sometimes find particularly good photographs. These are diamonds in the rough and they can be difficult to find. There are some photographers’ social media accounts whom I passionately follow because they preserve an authentic photographic approach.

But I go to their websites more often than to their social network accounts. The blog format remains for me the best way to share with other photographers.

I take the time to read stories, to soak up the atmosphere of the photos. The main difficulty is to find these gems amid the vast ocean of images.

The lack of quality is often a hindrance for me to spend time looking for good photos. I spend less and less time looking for inspiration on social networks. The average photos do not interest me. Only the search for excellence stimulates me in my photographic activity.

Should We Use Social Networks to Show Our Photos?

This time, I have an answer to that question: yes.

Using social networks to post photos is interesting for photographers.

But I think you must do so in a balanced and very thoughtful way. If a photographer posts a lot of pictures on social networks, the people who follow him will get bored. They will not even take the time to like or write a comment. They will just fly over the photos without looking at them.

If a photographer consistently posts one or two high-quality photos per week, for example, he will have every chance to be seen and followed.

As in all areas, quality is more important than quantity.

Quality photos are photos that express emotions, convey messages, or translate feelings. They are photos that make sense. They are photos that will appeal to those surfing the web for inspiration. They evoke genuine reactions of joy, awe, wonder, and introspection. Believe me, no one is interested in looking at a photo in a restaurant or in an airport.

Social networks are places to share within a community. They are not meant to highlight how great you are or how important your job is. As I said in a previous paragraph, people are only interested in one thing in life: themselves. Nothing else matters.

That is why when you post photos on social networks, you should always ask yourself what you will bring to others. If you do not bring anything to your photos, then they will not be looked at or they will be forgotten very quickly.

If you need to remember one thing from this article, it is this fact. Believe me, I have been in contact with customers who buy my art for years. If I were to forget this essential rule, I would not sell any more photos.

Donc So, when you post photos on social networks, do so with others in mind. Empathize by asking yourself what you are going to contribute to them and what you are going to do to make things happen. It is as simple as that.

And If This Revolution Also Applied to Other Art Forms

During my research for this article, I had a few exchanges with a photographer whose first name is Annik. She was a professional musician. She was a concert performer, and her instrument was the flute. I found her testimony and her thoughts remarkably interesting. I wanted to share it with you. Here they are:

« All these photos that we see everywhere, make me think of a phenomenon a little identical with the music. Music is played everywhere: restaurants, stores, train stations, etc.
It has become background music that no one listens to. It messes with your head. And it is usually bad music. In musician's jargon, we call it SOUP. No one is listening to this music that is being played in spite of us anymore. We are no longer concentrated. We do not feel any emotion when we listen to it. Everything becomes banal. Fortunately, there are records and concert halls where we can really listen in silence, in contemplation, let ourselves be lulled, bewitched. »

Reading Annik's comments, I have the impression that this phenomenon of trivialization and of a level drawn towards the average also applies to other artistic forms.

What do you think? I have no idea. One thing is certain. If we want to be different, we must absolutely continue to cultivate this search for excellence that we will never achieve. This is the price to pay for our photos to be different, interesting, and remarkable.

Finally

I hope this article has given you a new insight into the relationship between social networks and photography.

The artistic field will know a revolution without precedent by passing from a function of expression to a function of information. The world evolves. Photography too.

When you post your photos on social networks, you may not do it the same way. Do not fall into the average. Always strive for excellence. This is a quality that makes good photographers strong.

Social Media Makes Us Lose the True Meaning of “Photography”

Black and white photo of a geyser in Yellowstone in Winter. Photo by Amar Guillen.

A photo that would perhaps be noticed on social networks. This photo of a geyser has been developed in a very contrasting way that can attract the eye.

With Social Media, Photography Becomes Only Informative

Did you know that more than 50% of people who want to go on vacation look at photos on social networks to choose their vacation spot or to confirm their choice? Did you know that vacation photos are the ones that are most shared on these same social networks?

Most people who take pictures no longer do so to express themselves, translate emotions, or convey feelings.

They do it to inform or to show that they exist.

This is the great paradigm shift in photography. In the previous paragraph, I explained that to photograph is to tell your truth. With the network, photography becomes a way to inform and show that we exist. This is a radical change in the way we consider photography.

With the abusive and forced use of photography, the people who take pictures are no longer trying to express themselves, they are just documenting.

They relate information about the world around them or about themselves for money, products, promotions, etc.

The intense use of social media networks pushes people to document rather than to talk or exchange.

Is it good, is it bad? I do not have the answer to that question. The world is always changing. The photo too. It adapts to the modern world.

But personally, this is not my photographic approach. I am not concerned. I am someone who thinks in the long term. I like timelessness. Fortunately, we are all different. I like what has meaning, what has a body. I like to transmit in any form. This way of photographing for social networks does not have this dimension of timelessness. This is what I will explain to you.

Landscape Photography Is a True Means of Artistic Expression.

With Social Media, Photography Is Not Attached to the Photographic Sense

To give meaning to a photograph is to tell a message that a human being can understand, grasp, and interpret.

A meaningful photo allows the viewer to reflect, think, escape, understand, analyze, and judge. When a photo has meaning, a viewer spends time looking at it. The meaning of a photo gives it a direction for its understanding and analysis.

When we give meaning to a photo, we translate an emotion, we transmit a message, and we show what we find beautiful.

Most photos on social networks are informative. They are meant to inform about a specific moment or about the person taking an image. These photos are only meant to keep you informed of events.

They do not focus on the deeper meaning. They do not seek to make people think or to provoke analysis. It is just information.

With Social Networks, Photography Is Reduced to Proof of Existence

Most of the photos posted on social networks have a purpose. They prove that we exist. We do this by showing the events we participate in. I use the word 'we' on purpose. Photography allows us to integrate everyone – you and me.

The photos we post have become factual evidence that we exist, because we are participating in an event. We validate our lives in the eyes of others. We make public our life and all our acts.

This is, in my opinion, a terrible mistake for several reasons.

First, other people do not care about us and what we do. Everyone thinks only of themselves. We always think of our own comfort and interests. We think of ourselves first. When we have some time left, we think about others. That is the way human beings are. If you study Maslow's pyramid, you will see that this truth, even if it is not good to hear, is the only one that prevails.

So, by publishing pictures of us and our existence, we are pleasing ourselves. No one else is interested in us. The few likes we get will be obtained just to please us. They do not reflect the authors' thoughts.

Another reason that makes me say that these photos published on social networks are useless is their truly short lifetime.

On average, people look at our photos for 2 seconds. Then they look at the next picture. Our photos are quickly forgotten. They are only snapshots of our lives. These photos are called emographs. This word is obtained with the beginning of the word emotion and the end of the word photography. It sums up perfectly this new way of communication.

Photographing for Social Media Makes Photos Commonplace

As a professional photographer, I often take marketing and personal development courses.

One of the things I learned is that we tend to want to copy or be like the five people we are most in contact with. That is why you must choose your friends and your professional circle carefully.

Social networks only illustrate this fact. When you look at the photos of people you follow, you end up copying them or wanting to look like them. Eventually, all the photos, whether yours or others, are almost identical. The explanation is simple. You want to belong to the group. We are social animals. We live with others. We want to fit in.

But in the end, by trying to be part of the tribe, we lose our identity and our differences. We become satisfied with the average instead of striving for excellence.

If our friends on social networks show us evidence of their existence, we will imitate them telling ourselves that this is the way to do it. We choose to partake in this circle of mimicry.

Social networks have this ability and power to lower the photographic level because everything is so similar.

The photos become banal.

Why You Should Define Your Photographic Identity.

Our Loneliness Creates an Urgency for Low-Quality Photos

I cannot count the number of photos posted on social networks where people show an airport, their train ticket, where they are sitting in a waiting room, the restaurant where they are having dinner, or the dish they are eating.

These are absolutely useless photos which bring nothing to the debate and are made with an urgent desire to post something to remind our followers that we exist. We have to show who we are and what we do as a justification for our existence.

And all these acts are done at the expense of photographic quality. The compositions and the framing are non-existent. What to say about the meaning of the photos which evoke the nothingness, the interstellar void.

It is certain that these people communicate, that they need to fill the void of their existence somehow.

They have forgotten that photography is a means of expression. When you express yourself, you communicate. But we have to say something. As I said in a previous paragraph, we are witnessing the emergence of a new means of communication: emography.

What saddens me the most is that this virus is spreading to more and more people. I know many professional photographers who have it.

I even met one who ruined part of a trip for me because there was no internet connection. He could not post his thirty daily photos on his favorite social network; thus, he made the rest of us miserable.

I even met a professional photographer who threw a tantrum that I will always remember. We could not go out because of the weather. The storm lasted 2 days, therefore, he could not post on social media for 2 days. What a disaster! The world still has not recovered from his tantrum.

Social networks create a state of emergency which in and of itself creates simplistic photos, because they are made without thinking about them, without construction, without giving them any meaning. They are made just to show that we exist.