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 wind-blown grasses were very fun, but a bit bland in their native colors. What I don't like in the picture:The literal translation of the scene into a digital image was banal and lifeless. What I learned:I had a chance to teach a workshop with the late Jack Curran before he tragically passed away. One of the techniques he used that I've come to love is a very heavy vignette and contrast increase that created the variation at left from the digital capture above. Can you see in the above where the stalks of the grass are in the finished image at left? Remember, it's not what you take that counts, but rather what you make. |
