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
Color or Grayscale WeekOne of the fundamental decisions in process our image is the question whether or not each image should be color or b/w. Sometimes this decision is unnecessarily complicated. Perhaps the answer is BOTH! What I saw that I liked:What caught my eye was the pattern. I would guess this is a place where perhaps a deer spent the night smashing the grass flat for its bed. The case for color:I have a project titled, The End of Summer that this image would fit into nicely. The grayscale version above could easily be interpreted as spring green grass — which obviously doesn't fit the theme of the end of summer. The case for grayscale:Remove the factor of the season and the above image in grayscale shows the pattern just as well as the color version at left. I could easily see both of these used in a project, but each would be based on characteristics that fit the project, not the "reality" or "abstract" nature of the rendition. |
