I try to look at 500 photos in Flickr every day in an attempt to discover what makes a good photograph and why. I spend about a half-hour doing it and sometimes post the one photo I find that I think is good. This 30-minute exercise isn’t working out, as lately all I see are copies. Copies of either style or subject matter, and the post processing methods currently “in.”
Then I sarted looking at famous phtographers and their work. Recently, I posted the world’s most expensive photo, which at one time sold for over $3.3 million. By that standard it is a great picture. But I don’t like it, and neither does anyone else I know. Now I am trying something new to help me understand what makes a good photograph. I am going to try and copy a few “great” photographs and see if there is any real difference between the real deal and a blatant copy.
My first blatant copy is “The Fork” by André Kertész, a “Hungarian-born photographer known for his groundbreaking contributions to photographic composition and by his efforts in establishing and developing the photo essay.” You decide which is better. Not if either one is good, just which you think would be praised by art critics, and which would be derided as a blatant copy. Let me know, and no fair cheating.
Brian's Blog 
The bottom one would be “praised by critics” and the top one is the copy. I think.
The top photo is the original, my fake is below. I think I’ll try this again. Gerda knew which was which because she recognized our own silverware. She did mention the lack of contrast in my shot as a reason she liked the original better.
Nice reproduction, BK! I guess we know what you’ll be doing after you retire. It was a 50/50 shot, but I concentrated on the lighting when I was evaluating them and concentrated too much on the letters stamped on the bottom. I think I added too many contingencies when guessing. My bad.
I do agree with Gerda-Marion.
Ocam’s razor isn’t much help here…
Just my two cents worth – the first is more interesting because of the angle of the fork, the shadowing especially crossing the plate, heavy contrast, aged textured background and the shape of the fork itself. While the composition lacks interest originally I was pulled in by what seemed to be an oil painting feel of it.
Lisa Wood
http://rearviewphotography.wordpress.com/