Brooks Jensen Arts - Every Picture Is a Compromise

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Every Picture is a Compromise
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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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Black and White Week

at the Dakota Creek shipyard

The opportunities to photograph in color are everywhere. We see in color. All our RAW captures are in color. What are the decisions that lead to a b/w photograph? This week will feature 5 compositions that ended up as b/w images even though the color originals could have worked, too.

What I saw that I liked:

The shapes and detail in this one are great.

What I don't like in the picture:

I'm not sure the blue is important. A way to check this is to visualize that blue as any other color — yellow, green, cyan, brown. Would any other color make this a better (or worse) image? If not, then the color is not important.

What I learned:

After converting this image to b/w and pushing the blue areas to a darker matte black, I still wasn't thrilled. The image at left is the result of rethinking what this subject is. Is it part of a ship, or an abstract? Once I recognized that I was making a artistic photograph rather than a picture of a ship detail, I was free to rotate to a stronger visual composition. As Minor White advised, "Don't just photograph what it is, but photograph what else it is."

2nd chances:

Now that I've rotated the image to create a abstract, should I clone out the number "29" in the (now) upper right?