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:These touch little plants poking up through the snow. What I don't like in the picture:In the one above, the blue color is an indication of an improper White Balance in my camera. Easy enough to fix, but would need to be fixed. What I learned:Worse, in the above the little stick-like stalks are messy and don't really form a patter that our eye can decipher. They look cold and defeated. The image at left, however, is both a more interesting distribution of the plants, but seems much more hopeful to me. This one feels composed, whereas the image above feels just poorly seen and disorganized. 2nd Chances: What I might try nextBelieve it or not, the image at left is a color image. Should I crank up the color a bit so it is more visible? |
