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
Olana Failures and Recoveries
In the January 2026 issue of Kokoro, I presented images from the Olana historical site. It was a fascinating and fun place to photograph. Notice I did not say it was easy. This week, I'll show 5 images that were total failures and compare them to ones that made it into the final PDF.
What I saw that I liked:
I first saw the beautiful teapot.
What I don't like in the picture:
The teapot. Too dark and the background is very distracting. This was one of the first images I made upon entering Olana. Unfortunately, I entirely missed the thing I should have seen . . .
What I learned:
When I came back to this first room, the delicate cups were backlit in this luscious translucent green. That the shot! I made sure I had enough exposure to record the texture of the teapot, but even so it took a bit to pull up the shadows on the dark side. I also desaturated the background and darkened it quite a bit to give the teapot and table contents the entire focus of attention.
2nd Chances: What I might try next
On the right side of the teapot is a plastic wire that is as security wire. I need to AI remove that before I finish this one. Speaking of that, this image was the last one cut from the Kokoro PDF. Too bad. I like this one a lot. |
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