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
One Big Change Week
I often find that a bad looking image can be one big change away from success. It's as though that one big change is a key that opens the door. Once the door opens, smaller changes can still improve the image, but without the one big change the image is lost.
What I saw that I liked:
A water-stained wall in the bedroom of an abandoned farm house (now destroyed) in North Dakota.
The One Big Change: Color Balance
The color balance of this image was not very pleasing. I think I must have had my camera set wrong. This was one of the first digital cameras I owned and I was still learning about things like color balance.
What I learned:
This image dates back to 2003. I'd never used it or even tried to process it. That's how much I dislike the yellow cast to this image. Recently, I've begun to push digital processing more than I have in the past and was able to salvage this mess into a pretty nice image (left). I continue to be amazed how capable the processing in the digital workflow has become.
2nd Chances: What I might try next
I like the way the gritty appearance of the wall paper looks like texture. I might try enhancing that even more. |
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