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
It's What You Make Week
The theme this week revolves around the idea that it's not what you take, but what you make that counts. All the images this week are ones that required radical processing to pull something interesting out of a blah RAW capture.
What I saw that I liked:
From the garden a few feet from my back door.
What I don't like in the RAW capture:
The green RAW capture is okay, but just shows what the rain-covered plant looks like. As an illustrative photograph, it could almost be used in plant identification book. It's not art.
What I made:
This was one of the first times I had tried selective color as a technique. I think this can be very expressive and it is so easy to do. Just paint away the saturation to whatever you want. The two images at left show just two alternatives. This technique provides and open palette without limitations. Just be careful not to overdue this or it will be seen as a gimmick. |
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