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:Ansel Adams did an image very much like this one and I've been trying to replicate his magic and always failing. What I don't like in the picture:The problem is that I can't get enough depth of field for the entire fern from near to far to be in focus. What I learned:The version at left is a five-image focus stack and the closest I've come to matching Adams' view camera tilt that gave him so much depth of field. I'm close, but next time I have an opportunity I'm going to try and even great number of focus points. If I succeed, I'll probably never show it to anyone because Adams already did it so well and I don't want to just copy his magnificent image. That doesn't mean I can't learn from him by my efforts to replicate his vision. |
