|
Forums >
General Industry >
The meaning of "High End"
Every now and then, I experience that term in my professional life when my peers use it, but nowhere near as frequently as I see it used in the hallowed halls of Model Mayhem. Whenever I hear it, or read it, I wonder at the mindset of the person using the phrase. The term, when used on MM, is used most often in the Digital Art and Retouch forum, but I also see it used frequently in the other forums as well. For some reason, people seem to think their work is better if it is associated with the perception of esteem. A sandblasted mannequin doesn’t equate to a quality retouch job just because it was done for Vogue, and a beautiful image doesn’t equate to pablum simply because it was made for your next-door neighbor. I believe anyone that uses the term “High End” is an idiot! If in your work, you differentiate your level of commitment to excellence, based on your perception of the hierarchy of the end users value, you’ve completely missed the point of your work. Never once in my career, no matter who the client was, have I ever given less than 100% effort to any project I was involved in. To me, “High End” is a slap in the face of those clients that you deem to be of a lesser value. If you think your clients don’t recognize that slap in the face, you truly are an idiot. I’m sorry for the rant, but lately I’ve been noticing a lot of posturing in the forums. Mar 18 13 07:31 am Link I often get spammed by self styled "high end" retouchers, whose skills don't seem to extend beyond badly applied gaussian blur. Mar 18 13 08:31 am Link Robert Randall wrote: Totally agree... may include those who choose to F'up their cars that way too... Mar 18 13 08:31 am Link Robert Randall wrote: As rants go, this one's fairly high end. Mar 18 13 08:33 am Link "High End" == the part of a sinking boat that is still sticking up out of the water. Mar 18 13 08:42 am Link Maybe it's taken the place of "cutting edge", which I don't hear as much... thankfully! Mar 18 13 08:49 am Link K E E L I N G wrote: win +1 Mar 18 13 08:56 am Link There are always certain buzz words that become trendy. I come from a marketing/advertising background where you'd become nauseous with the overuse and misuse of terms. You say "high-end" and I think of the words our copywriters were told to "work into" a piece of collateral - "Exclusive" was a big one. What the fuck is an "exclusive vacation" when the marketing piece is going out to 500,000 people? "Destination" was another big one in the travel world. So if you used the phrase "exclusive destination" I think you immediately got a raise and a trip to Cancun. Personally, I don't know what high end retouching is. Other than a declaration from the provider that they are narcissistic blowhards. Mar 18 13 08:59 am Link KevinMcGowanPhotography wrote: I'm offering an exclusive, high-tech product that is cutting edge in the industry. Oh, and it's new and improved. Mar 18 13 09:01 am Link I was out one night and ran into a friend, she spent nearly an hour talking to me about her "high end" photo concept.... I finally figured out after a dozen or so question that to her "high end" meant high key white background... Mar 18 13 09:03 am Link Playing devils advocate because I'm bored and waiting for LR to finish backing up. Maybe they are referring to all the classic techniques such as frequency separation, pixel level editing etc. opposed to actions and plug-ins? And I've gotten a bit of retoucher spam lately.. they're nothing to write home about. Mar 18 13 09:10 am Link Michael Pandolfo wrote: It probably won't sell well, the fact being you didn't take into account the new paradigm, which is problematic to your metrix. I think high enders should use those three words a bit more, don't you? Mar 18 13 09:18 am Link Robert Randall wrote: New and Improved!! Mar 18 13 09:21 am Link Kevin Stenhouse wrote: They have started CALLING my studio... Mar 18 13 09:24 am Link I get random messages from "high end" retouchers. How high end could you possibly be if you don't know/care that models generally can't authorize edits? Mar 18 13 09:27 am Link Any time someone has used the term to describe themselves to me for a shoot, I think this person is going to be hard to work with. I strive for the best at everything I do. Certainly different techniques do not qualify people to be better than others. The best sellers in fine art are the exact opposite from what you read about on MM. One of the worse things I see on MM is Critique and all the members that think they are qualified to critique others work. BTW Bob the retouching skills/techniques you have taught me have opened many doors on photos that I before felt I could not use. Mar 18 13 09:29 am Link I've been around some teachers too long and "Critical Thinking" always bugged me. One of their common buzz words. As opposed to "non-critical thinking" -- or how about not thinking at all? "Dumb" also works. I've always equated "high-end" to expensive (or high-priced), and sometimes questionable worth. We have some high-end framers in town and they won't look at you unless you spend $500 for a picture frame, another $200 sheet of Tru-Vuw non-reflective UV glass, and then some custom $685 Hograth Pencil Light (Need to add Invisawire to the light too for $217, plus another $215 for color-correction lights = $1,117 for a "high-end" picture frame light!). A $1,817 "high-end" picture frame! No joke! Mar 18 13 09:43 am Link 
Photographer Posts: 4288 Amundsen-Scott - permanent station of the US, Unclaimed Sector, Antarctica J. Lo has a high end and I think it's fabulous. Mar 18 13 09:46 am Link salvatori. wrote: Mar 18 13 09:55 am Link It's just words, people who actually listen to people use these terms, know they are trying to sell something. High end, top of line, top shelf, cutting edge, etc...all the same BS!...To me it means - over rated!.... Mar 18 13 09:56 am Link I've been called "High Maintenance", "You Must Be High", and "Hi & Lois", but never "High End" . . . since yesterday was St. Patty's Day, I'm still a little high, if that counts fer anything . . .  Nice to see Mr. R back in action on here, or maybe my nose was jest to "HIGH UP" ta see 'im . . . SOS Mar 18 13 10:04 am Link Marin Photography wrote: In practice, it is way more than words, it's an attitude. A friend of mine that is recognized internationally as a highly respected photographer uses the term all the time, or at least used to. I'm not sure how this person approaches work now, but when s/he was coming up in the commercial marketplace, anyone that was no one received a different effort than those perceived as high end. And that is the real bullshit. Mar 18 13 10:08 am Link I have not yet smashed my MM mouse. yet. Mar 18 13 10:12 am Link You don't know what high-end is if you have to talk about it Seriously, the term works very well if applied to a line end of products. H4D is a high-end digital camera, D5100 is not... Mar 18 13 10:16 am Link Robert Randall wrote: While I agree with most of the posters here, I do have a question regarding the term "high end"?? Mar 18 13 10:19 am Link Robert Randall wrote: Agreed, when it comes to a work ethic you should always do your best and approach it with the same effort. Classifying one thing over another is nonsense unless admittedly you half as it when you feel like it and offer high end when it means something to you... Mar 18 13 10:23 am Link When I want to use the term "high-end" as a loose description, I'll often pair it with an example of work that (in my opinion) suits it. It's a term that gets thrown about quite a bit, and everyone has their own idea of what is and what isn't high-end. To me, when I think of high-end, I think of images close to perfection in my eyes, like the type of work that gets published in European harpers bazaar and vogue sort of magazines. Mar 18 13 10:29 am Link Mar 18 13 10:37 am Link Marin Photography wrote: But, and this works into where Bob is ranting, the terms resonate with their clients. People on MM want to hear "high end" for their retouchers and it must work because it's taking off. Or maybe no one really knows how to retouch so they call "high end" when all the skin is plastic - or when it was a decent job that would have been expected in the real world. Mar 18 13 10:46 am Link To me it is simply a subjective description added by someone to something. Those who use it to describe something want others to give whatever is being described the value of something expensive, or top quality, and believe it to appeal to a sophisticated audience or someone with good judgement. That's why its thrown around so much, those that use it want others to believe (and/or believe it themselves) that their work is of a superior high quality. That's all. edit- the reason it does work often is because the client or whatever always wants to believe they have a superior keen insight to be able to judge top quality so they go to that thing that is named "high end" to find it. Think about how often we hear "high end department store" and of course everything in there is expensive and supposed to be of a better higher quality. Those that go in are thinking they deserve or want the best quality so that's where they go. Mar 18 13 10:50 am Link h i g h e n d Mar 18 13 01:12 pm Link Paige Morgan wrote: Sometimes the simplest statements are the most logical. Mar 18 13 01:28 pm Link I don't think even my favourite retouchers/cgi use the words 'high end'. And they are some of the best. http://www.happyfinish.co.uk/ Mar 18 13 02:48 pm Link I like the term "High-end". It implies that there must be a "Low-end", and that's where I come in. cheers Gordon Mar 18 13 03:00 pm Link gmcphotography wrote: Good one! Mar 18 13 03:27 pm Link gmcphotography wrote: If You are low end then I am 2 floors below your basement. Mar 18 13 06:30 pm Link I think it's similar to many 'quality' words. They start off having some meaning/value. For retouching, I had the sense it was meant to denote careful technique to produce publication quality images, as opposed to the quick fix and automated techniques used so prominently. Then usage progressed to being an arbitrary label one could apply, in-of-itself, to magically up the quality of one's work. Rendering it progressively meaningless, until finally its meaning becomes the exact opposite. Mar 18 13 06:44 pm Link Only slightly related to original topic but the most annoying thing about MM is, no matter at what time do I log in, there is always an asshole spamming the announcements section with crap like "handmade retouch" or "high end retouching services", usually with an equally annoying beauty shot of a model with her mouth half-open as avatar. Mar 18 13 07:07 pm Link thank you Mar 18 13 07:23 pm Link High-end= appealing to sophisticated and discerning customers, per the dictionary. I don't see anything wrong with using the term "high-end" to describe a service or item that falls into that category. I don't understand this rant. If you don't like the term, use a different one, but why does it bother you when others use a term that has legitimate meaning in the business world? Appealing to sophisticated and discerning customers is a great marketing strategy for many businesses who want to run a low-volume high profit margin type of business. Marketing to appeal to such clientele has nothing to do with "missing the point" of anything, it's simply a business decision.....and often a smart one. Mar 18 13 09:33 pm Link |
