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:What a lovely pastoral scene! What I don't like in the picture:Too bad I didn't have a longer lens or an ATV. The action is just too far away. (BTW, this was photographed with the terrific Panasonic 35-100mm f/2.8 lens — the longest lens I owned at the time. It was this image that motivated me to upgrade to the Panasonic Leica 50-200mm lens.) What I learned:The image at left was made a few moments later as the sheep came down the hillside. Look at the image below and you can see how much I cropped the RAW file to try to get "closer" to the action. The sky in this extreme crop was awful. I used the "Sky Replacement" tool in Photoshop to replace the crunchy sky with something more acceptable. Even with all that processing work, it's still not a great image. If only I'd had the necessary lens. : - ( 2nd Chances: What I might try nextExcellent reason to return to China, don't you think? |
