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:A beautiful and vibrantly red-leafed tree. What I don't like in the picture:We live in a world of color, but as a b/w photographer (primarily), I tend to see color as an opportunity to shift gray tones with filtering. What I learned:In my film days, I always carried with me a variety of Wratten color filters. I had created a system where I could magnetically mount them behind the lens, inside the bellows of my view camera. It was effective, but fussy. These days, I can just use the Color Mixer in Lightroom to do the same thing, but with much more flexibility and precision. That's how I was able to created these delicate high-key tones in the b/w version at left. |
