Worst looking CD/LP artwork

[NikF]

How about this one? Looks like a hostage photo.

Underneath the crap there's a bad photo. Those shadows - particularly around the eye and corner of the mouth - don't need to be there.

One Weird Trick

A quick look at a higher res version shows catchlights in the eyes from a window and so we're indoors. And indoors means more than one wall. Walls usually join at right angles. They're good for standing a subject with their back to the wall near the corner and using the second wall (out of frame) to act as a reflector and bounce back some light as fill. The size and close distance means that reflected light will be soft and flattering.
The advanced method is to place your subject with their back to the wall behind a door. The door then becomes a moveable reflector and as you adjust how much the door is open/closed you change the coverage and ratio of your impromptu lighting scheme.
Of course, even if that shot had been lit using those (or another competent) method someone would probably still 'edit' it in post to look like that.

[Alek Hidell]

Underneath the crap there's a bad photo. Those shadows - particularly around the eye and corner of the mouth - don't need to be there.

One Weird Trick

A quick look at a higher res version shows catchlights in the eyes from a window and so we're indoors. And indoors means more than one wall. Walls usually join at right angles. They're good for standing a subject with their back to the wall near the corner and using the second wall (out of frame) to act as a reflector and bounce back some light as fill. The size and close distance means that reflected light will be soft and flattering.
The advanced method is to place your subject with their back to the wall behind a door. The door then becomes a moveable reflector and as you adjust how much the door is open/closed you change the coverage and ratio of your impromptu lighting scheme.
Of course, even if that shot had been lit using those (or another competent) method someone would probably still 'edit' it in post to look like that.

*Genuflects at NikF's photographic acumen*

[TheGSMoeller]

Not really the worst, but I knew I recognized that look...

More from the photo boss, Semyon... SHAZAM!

[Ken B]

[PerfectWagnerite]

Underneath the crap there's a bad photo. Those shadows - particularly around the eye and corner of the mouth - don't need to be there.

One Weird Trick

A quick look at a higher res version shows catchlights in the eyes from a window and so we're indoors. And indoors means more than one wall. Walls usually join at right angles. They're good for standing a subject with their back to the wall near the corner and using the second wall (out of frame) to act as a reflector and bounce back some light as fill. The size and close distance means that reflected light will be soft and flattering.
The advanced method is to place your subject with their back to the wall behind a door. The door then becomes a moveable reflector and as you adjust how much the door is open/closed you change the coverage and ratio of your impromptu lighting scheme.
Of course, even if that shot had been lit using those (or another competent) method someone would probably still 'edit' it in post to look like that.

Good one. I bet chicks dig that.

I can't imagine Claudio sanction that picture. He just looks so unhappy, as if they pointed a gun at him to get him to record that music.

[PerfectWagnerite]

Why do you think it is bad? I think it suits the titled work quite well. Maybe you are objecting to its using people of middle eastern skin tone and hair?

[Dancing Divertimentian]

More from the photo boss, Semyon... SHAZAM!

[ritter]

More from the photo boss, Semyon... SHAZAM!

And yet more...




Mr. Bychkov looks confused..."Wait a minute. What is it we're playing now? The Mahler or the Höller?"

[Madiel]

Maybe you are objecting to its using people of middle eastern skin tone and hair?

Maybe you need to give yourself a good hard examination and ask why you had that thought and wrote it down.

[Florestan]

Maybe you need to give yourself a good hard examination and ask why you had that thought and wrote it down.

I can tell you why right now, actually: because for some people holier-than-thou virtue signalling has become a second nature and they can't help it anymore even in the most non-political contexts, that's why.

EDIT: As for the cover, while it's true that Carmina Burana is sometimes bawdy, it has got nothing to do with swimming pool pornography, though.

[TheGSMoeller]

And yet more...




Mr. Bychkov looks confused..."Wait a minute. What is it we're playing now? The Mahler or the Höller?"

[André]

Maybe you need to give yourself a good hard examination and ask why you had that thought and wrote it down.

Must have been done when under the influence. Never a good idea.

[zamyrabyrd]

Why do you think it is bad? I think it suits the titled work quite well. Maybe you are objecting to its using people of middle eastern skin tone and hair?

I don't want to copy over the Carmina Burana picture again but I did get the thought, which of them are supposed to represent Gruberova, Ozawa, Hampson or Aler?

[knight66]

Must have been done when under the influence. Never a good idea.

OK, thanks folks, I hope PW can see the consensus around his remark, it was completely inapropriate. Anything else like that will disappear as soon as we notice it or get to any report about it.

Knight

[Gurn Blanston]

Why do you think it is bad? I think it suits the titled work quite well. Maybe you are objecting to its using people of middle eastern skin tone and hair?

Without any reference at all to skin tone or hair (which Ken didn't make), it does seem a bit mismatched for Carmina Burana. I don't know why HE thinks it's bad, but for myself, it seems more like a 1960's hot tub party, something which I know a lot about.

[PerfectWagnerite]

OK, thanks folks, I hope PW can see the consensus around his remark, it was completely inapropriate. Anything else like that will disappear as soon as we notice it or get to any report about it.

Knight

Huh? My initial reaction to Ken's comments were only related to the apparently historical inaccuracy of the photo as the manuscript to Carmina Burana was found in central Europe near Bavaria. So I am not sure how the choice of ethnicity in the picture relates to the work. I wouldn't have have asked the question if Ken said why he thought the picture was bad.

[Ken B]

Huh? My initial reaction to Ken's comments were only related to the apparently historical inaccuracy of the photo as the manuscript to Carmina Burana was found in central Europe near Bavaria. So I am not sure how the choice of ethnicity in the picture relates to the work. I wouldn't have have asked the question if Ken said why he thought the picture was bad.

Bullshit.

[knight66]

Huh? My initial reaction to Ken's comments were only related to the apparently historical inaccuracy of the photo as the manuscript to Carmina Burana was found in central Europe near Bavaria. So I am not sure how the choice of ethnicity in the picture relates to the work. I wouldn't have have asked the question if Ken said why he thought the picture was bad.

You know what, you are continuing to dig a hole for yourself. Best now to leave this discussion alone or realise you are seen as being in the wrong and act accordingly.

Knight

[Biffo]

I was puzzled why Philips should put this piece of grisly soft porn on any record cover. I eventually found the connection. The Latin inscription on the side of the pool is a song ' Ecce chorus virginum' and comes from the 15th century Carmina burana manuscript. It is not one of the pieces set by Orff but appears on the album Illuminations (2009) by Medieval Baebes. You can also hear it performed by Boston Camerata - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MKq5xiWW8A.

The first verse is -

here be maids dancing
in the spring days
april light lancing
long level rays

[Madiel]

Huh?

Whether you meant to or not, you combined 2 thoughts that might have been okay on their own, but in combination they came across very nastily.

You're now trying to suggest that you recognise there might be something wrong about the picture, but your initial comment conveyed that you had no problem with it. And when put together with the question about ethnicity, the total effect was: "There's nothing wrong with the picture Ken, so maybe you're racist".