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:Delicate clouds behind this prairie school house. What I don't like in the picture:In order to keep the delicate tones in the sky, I purposely underexposed to keep detail in those whites. Doing so underexposed the roof of the school to a black silhouette. What I learned:This was one of the first times I came to appreciate how much can be pulled up from the deep shadows of a digital exposure. At the time (2004) I was using an Olympus C8080WZ camera — a very small sensor and a very early sensor technology. Nonetheless, I pulled several stops of detail from the shadows — at least enough detail to give the roof and school bell some texture. What more do I need in this shot? As long as some sense of texture and substance exists (for example, in the roof tiles) those shadows come to life. If I wanted more, I suppose I could have used an HDR strategy, but I don't think I knew about HDR back in 2004. |
