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:Cloud drama. What I don't like in the picture:I've mentioned elsewhere that I'm not fond of the natural blue in storm clouds. Here is another example of that. What I learned:After I stripped out the blue from the sky, the image was almost all b/w. As so often happens when processing an image, the first move requires a second adjustment, which then implies a third step in processing and so it goes. In this case, I needed to bring up the color in the grasses to preserve the sense that this is a color photograph. That meant I needed to lighten them to make it look more natural. The chain of cause and effect in photographic processing. Pretty common and not at all unexpected. |
