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:I found this strange shape during a walk in the woods near Anacortes. This is a manzanita tree with all that lovely bark! What I don't like in the picture:The one above (as a horizontal composition) has distractions in the lower right, the lower left and in the upper left. What I learned:Flipping my camera to a vertical composition pulls all the emphasis to the shapes in the tree branches. I didn't see this as a vertical composition, but I've developed a strategy over the years to do both a horizontal and a vertical composition with the same subject just in case I need one of the other for a project. In this case, that habit so improved the image that it wasn't a contest as to which I should use and print. |
