The difference between good photos and beautiful photos

Good photos tell stories. Average photos are just beautiful

These days there are tons of photos around. Many are very good. Many just beautiful. Lot of professional stuff done by pros that know how to get the thing done. Killers, maybe.

The most appreciated photos are those of simple composition, often central, with beautiful colors. Once Roger Ballen said:

When people say they admire a photo, they are very often just admiring the colours.

Colors are the sugar of photography. We all love sugar. Colors strike us immediately in a photo and maybe there is a theory about color perception to figure out why some colors work well and let us say “Oh beautiful picture”. The blue of the sky, the colors of the flowers, the tone of a child’s skin.

Let’s do this test: blur a picture with beautiful colors to the point that the figures are unrecognizable. Pure color spots. If it’s still nice it’s a nice photo. If it is unrecognizable it is no longer a photo, and I mean a photo with a solid composition, not a blocked one.

Beautiful pictures annoy me. The photos I’m most interested in are not even the ones I would like to think of “Who knows how he did it”. The technique is interesting but usually I got bored more sooner than later. I’m only interested in photos able to capture my attention for at least 10…