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
Rock Wall Week
I have lots of captures of rock walls. Why? Don't know, but I do know I want to put together a small project with them. How does one make a rock wall visually interesting? An even greater challenge is how to make a group of them interesting without becoming repetitious. This week will feature five attempts to do just that.
What I saw that I liked:
Rock walls often end up being abstracts.
What I don't like in the picture:
The version above is the correct orientation. It is also the wrong orientation.
What I learned:
The image at left is simply rotate 90° counter clockwise, and turned into a b/w image. Notice how (at least to my eye) the right side of the image is so much closer to me than in the version above. I'm not sure what optical illusion is at work here, but I much prefer the depth of the rotate image that seems to recede into the left edge of the image. |
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