Brooks Jensen Arts - Every Picture Is a Compromise

Site Table of Contents
Complete List of Projects

Kokoro
Bi-monthly PDF Image Journal

Every Picture is a Compromise
A Series About Keepers, Also-rans, and Learning from Mistakes

On Creativity
Books, articles, podcast

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.

Click on the image to see it larger

Previous image | Next image

Original digital capture

Click on the image to see it larger

Contrast to the Rescue Week

It's amazing how many times an increase in contrast helps an image. Of course, it's possible to push this too far, but a nudge to increase contrast brings a presence to an image that otherwise would seem flat and dull. This week's examples are all from low contrast light that was boosted a bit in processing.

What I saw that I liked:

This is Lake Abert in eastern Oregon on a calm day. An almost perfect reflection.

What I don't like in the picture:

In the original RAW, pre-processed image above, the light is dull and flat.

What I learned:

After increasing the contrast, the colors naturally saturated a bit. I liked that, but that slightly tilted horizon line just had to be fixed. That's about all I did to this one and it was finished. This one made a beautiful print, by the way.