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
Something from Nothing WeekNot infrequently, I'll look at an image in my Lightroom catalog and think, "What possible image did I think I saw in this mess?" This week, we'll look at examples that demonstrate why we should push ourselves to see what might be there, how we might create something from nothing. Trust the "you" that clicked the shutter. You never know when something interesting might be lurking in those pixels that seem to be hopeless. What I saw that I liked:The rough bark was very eye-catching. I don't ever recall seeing tree bark that looks like this. What I don't like in the picture:The above RAW capture doesn't pull my attention to the textures as I'd like. What I learned:As you can probably guess, this one took quite awhile to find the picture (left) hidden in the RAW capture (above). A square crop, extreme contrast, a heavy vignette, lightening the whites. A lot of fussing. I think the key to this image was when I realized it wasn't going to work as a picture of tree bark, but needed instead to become a semi-abstract image. It's still tree bark, but it also functions as an abstract. I like that dual functionality of this image. 2nd Chances: What I might try nextSplit-tome? Warm tone? Hmmmm. . . |
