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:Gee, can you tell I'm working on a project of abstracts? Two days in a row. Hope you don't mind. What I don't like in the picture:So many times my abstracts tend to be high contrast, dark and moody, or even downright spooky. Not sure why. Calling Dr. Freud, calling Dr. Freud! What I learned:The opposite of dark and moody is light and pastel colors. I rarely find pastel colors in an industrial environment like the Dakota Creek shipyard where this was photographed. I can, however, take my own advice and PROCESS FOR TONES. 2nd Chances: What I might try nextNext, I'll save the processing of the image at left as a Lightroom Preset and apply it to some other abstracts from the shipyard, at least as a starting point. Might find something I didn't even know I had. |
