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:This is a pretty common scenario for me — shooting several compositions, possibly just changing the focal length as you see here. What I don't like in the picture:Too bad there wasn't some sunlight on this day. What I learned:Because I use field sessions to just "gather assets" rather than make final decisions, I need flexibility once I'm back home and working on a specific goal for a project. I never know exactly what I'll need, so while I'm there, why not give myself options? I suppose I could just crop the left image above, but doesn't it make more sense to just click off three versions so I don't have to worry about cropping compromises in Photoshop? 2nd Chances: What I might try nextSky replacement? |
