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.
|
Original digital capture
What I saw that I liked:Brooms at the Hancock Shaker Village in New York. What I don't like in the picture:By default, I have my camera configured to underexpose a third of a stop. That makes sure I preserve detail in the highlights. Sometimes, however, that causes a pretty severe underexposure unintentionally. This is an example. What I learned:Yet another example of how lightening an image works and brings out details in the shadows that we may not realize are there. Also, note that I've cloned out the stray corn stalk from the left side using Generative Fill. That corn stalk is the kind of "pokie" that I would normally have just removed before the exposure. In this case, there was a tourist barrier that prevented me from doing so. I knew the minute I clicked the shutter that I would be cloning that out. |
