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
Drama in the Sky
Landscape photography is often more about the sky than it is about the land. Nothing worse for a landscape photographer than a bald, featureless sky. This week's set of images are all about using drama in the sky to make the picture.
What I saw that I liked:
Dramatic cloud form that creates leading lines that pull is in three-dimentionally.
What I don't like in the picture:
In the above color version, the clouds are nice, but the land is bland.
What I learned:
After converting to a monochromatic rendition, it was easy to add contrast and texture to the clouds. Still, the land was bland. I made a selection of the foreground and punched up the contrast and clarity to bring the land a bit more life. Interestingly enough, that makes the clouds even more dramatic. This is a common occurrence in my landscape photography — that there are two areas (sky and land) that require different processing to make them look right and still blend together in the image. |
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