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
More fun with Film Noir
Last week was Film Noir week. I had so much fun processing images for that film noir look that I have another five for this week. I'm starting to think about how to string these together with text or voice over to tell a hard-boiled story. Now I just need to practice my Humphrey Bogart delivery.
What I saw that I liked:
This is one of the most successful of these Film Noir experiments I've playing with these last couple of weeks. It just feels so "film noiric."
What I learned:
Color balance with artificial lights can be very tricky. Here we see an orange hue to these black tires that comes from the light source, in this case a street light that shines into the shipyard. By converting to b/w, the image looks "normal" and even dated. This helps this image feel like it belongs in a film noir picture. |
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