Continuation of the Myspace Culture

Now to go into more detail of each of the MySpace picture categories . . .

In the self-portrait, as stated before, there is usually no sign of a tripod. When there is no tripod available what do you do? Just use your left or right hand, of course! The camera is held out in front while the photographer/subject grimaces in a fake smile and tilts his/her head uncomfortably. If that isn't unique enough, the camera is held at a high angle above the head with a quarter view of the face. I'm not sure why, but people seem to think that this pose is adequate for a self-portrait. No one has tried anything new! The high-angle-cocked-head-shot has seemed to stick and has become the standard for "The MySpace Picture."

The glamour shot -- most girls seem to think that they are models on MySpace. I'm not sure if they are creating their modeling portfolio or simply putting on 10 pounds of makeup on a Tuesday night. 90 percent of the time the glamour shot is cropped very close to the face. There isn't much negative space (if any) around the subject. Pout-y lips seem to be a must and eyes that are "peering into your soul" (that's a joke).

Badly Photoshopped -- As I stated before badly photoshopped photographs are tacky. To many times people use either to many filters or one filter to its fullest. Its seems that the standard is a blown out extremely contrasty photo or colors that are overly intensified. Other options include cutting and pasting several images into one without smoothing out edges of edge blurring. Often the angle of the lighting it each photo has not had attention paid to it, there would be several different angles of sunlight (which is a dead give away to poor photoshopping).

The Muscle Man -- A mans way of show off "the goods". The photographs never have a natural state to them. Example: Being by a pool or at the beach with their shirts off. No, They are at home, in their room with their shirt off doing an acquared flex that is supposed to seem natural.

At this this time, this is still an on going study. I feel that there is much more to this than everyone thinks. I also believe that this MySpace culture will keep growing and developing into a certain way of life.