one-size-fit-all in photography

it's usually vertically correct, but i thought i'd spice things up a little :D

see the picture above? besides the fact that the model is ethically wrong, and the fact that it might make you puke or faint or worse; kill yourself.

 Don't. This is a good example for what i have to say, read on..

In photography, there's many styles of capturing a moment. There's a whole culmination of lighting, apperture, focus, ISO, angle, etc. The model or subject of the piece is also relative upon its beauty, and what people would like to call "photogenic".

This article is true upon the statistics that i believe myself, and please understand this is not a mockery, but a mere result of observation. 80% of profiles in facebook, friendster, myspace, or whatever other "networking" sites available on the web has this; a picture taken like the example above. Pretty much you hold a camera, and you pan it towards yourself, usually a bit lofty in position, and you make a wide smile. This will result in a photo that has an angle that covers a large portion of the upper hemisphere of your head. My statistics also show that in more profiles than not, females have at least 1 picture using this style. And also more often than not, it is a "comparative edge" of their profile, meaning they put it on as their primary picture.

Why you ask? I have several theories;

1. There was one photo with this style decades ago, looked good, everyone suddenly had to have one

2. It actually is a style of photo, and i need to learn so much more about photography (maybe i'd call it "narcisism")

3. Through an impossible sheer of coincidence everyone has photos like this without knowing the fact that other people, actually millions of other people has the same style (unlikely, i know, this one's a bonus answer hahaha)

4. People generally feel this kind of photos focuses a lot on the upper hemisphere therefore can pardon the misfeits of someone's looks

There's many things to analyze this phenomena (i'm sorry i couldn't answer why people do this; human phenomenons are truly inpredictable o.O). But at least we know that photography definitely is a trend, it influences people, it has style, and if its good, like fashion, the next day people will be wearing it. We also know that photography does unite our taste, in a worl of globalization people are throwing themselves to be different, but in this case people actually look all alike (style-wise). I get more fascinated with photography by the day.

"Camera ready, ready, pose, click!!!"

Now, altho there's a universal agreement that photos using this style is "good" and "attractive" and "hot", doesnt always work folks.. have look at my picture, used it to show how it can have devastating implications given the wrong model/subject. Do puke now if you want hahahahaha

I was thinking, if you don't fit the style of this photo, you can try and experiment with the model of "silhouette". Like such :

This works regardless how you look, only that you gotta find the right lighting background. Take it at night, use night shoot (if you use slr, try; ISO 400, apperture 1/30, f 2.8) to get a dark pic of your object and exploit the light source behind it.. hahahaha i'm joking

"Its not who you are underneath, it's what you do that defines you - Batman/Bruce Wayne"

But still i think people do have rights to self-express and they're all fine by me. It just makes me wonder in awe, because this style is so common it enters into my attention span, and i'm a pretty ignorant person! Cheers, have a good weekend everyone :)