Every Picture Is a Compromise
Lessons from the Also-rans
Most photography websites show the photographer's very best work. Wonderful. But that's not the full story of a creative life. If we want to learn, we'd better pay attention to the images that aren't "greatest hits" and see what lessons they have to offer. Every picture is a compromise — the sum of its parts, optical, technical, visual, emotional, and even cosmic – well, maybe not cosmic, but sometimes spiritual. Success on all fronts is rare. It's ok to learn from those that are not our best.
This is a series about my also-rans, some of which I've been able to improve at bit (i.e., "best effort"), none of which I would consider my best. With each there are lessons worth sharing, so I will.
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Original digital capture
What I saw that I liked:The chaos of these white branches caught my eye. Very neural network-like. What I don't like in the picture:The above in accurate color looks too much like a tree. I was hoping to have more chaos. What I learned:By pushing the green background down into to the deep shadows, I could see I was starting to get something closer to my initial feeling about the scene. The more I pushed, the better the image became. It took me a while to figure out how to do this in Lightroom, but once I had it, I was thrilled with this first result. 2nd Chances: What I might try nextOf course, the next thought was how else could I use this technique on a different project. That's tomorrow's image. |
