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:
Constantly shifting tidal flows in a really ugly green.
What I don't like in the RAW capture:
The color is awful, the contrast is non-existent, the mood is flat and bland. Other than that, it's great. Ahem.
What I made:
In an earlier post, I mentioned that part of my b/w conversion is the habit of pushing contrast to an extreme just to see what might be there that's hidden in the bland. When I did so with this image, the tidal waters leapt into the night sky. I was shocked and thrilled at the same time. This image at left I would place in my favorite Top 10 images of my entire career — discovered strictly by accident. PBPA (Photograph by Pooping Around) for sure. |
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