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
Color or B/W? WeekOne of the fundamental decisions in process our image is the question whether or not each image should be color or b/w. This week will be an exploration of that fundamental decision. What I saw that I liked:This image is all about those thunderhead clouds. What I don't like in the picture:The color version above shows the clouds, but that blue in the sky is such a dominant color. The picture is not about color. This was an easy one to convert to b/w. What I learned:This was the image where I realized the power of the Color Mix panel in Lightroom. A small tweak to the blue allowed me to push the sky darker, thereby adding emphasis to the clouds — which is the true subject of this image. |
