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
Subtle Color Week
The current passion of so many photographers these days is to hyper-saturate the colors in their images to unrealistic intensity. Viewing these images always feel like I'm being shouted at. Is there not an aesthetic that celebrates subtle colors? Of course there is.
What I saw that I liked:
I have photographed this location before on film. It didn't work because I didn't get a composition I liked. I returned last year with a digital camera which, of course, captured a RAW file in full color.
What I don't like in the picture:
The b/w above feels like it belongs to a previous generation. Me. In my twenties. Trying to be a West Coast Landscape Photographer. This looks like something Edward Weston or Morley Baer would have photographed. Maybe I should be happy and just accept that.
What I learned:
Looking carefully, however, reveals some very subtle colors in the scene. Yellow/brown grasses, the green of sage brush, even some variation in the dirt. Pulling out the subtle color aesthetic and reducing the Vibrance quite a bit to -28 allowed me to retain some color but allows the image to feel monochromatic. I love this look, when it works, anyway. A whisper of color rather than the steel gray of a gelatin silver print aesthetic. |
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