Brooks Jensen Arts - Every Picture Is a Compromise

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Every Picture is a Compromise
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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

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More First Days with
an Early Digital Camera

This week I'm again looking at five images from my very first days with a digital camera. Lesson #1 - don't ever throw away a digital capture because advancing technology will provide unanticipated possibilities. Lesson #2, you will continue to learn — lots — and that is just as it should be.

What I saw that I liked:

Nice parallel lines in this composition between the road and the shoreline.

What I don't like in the picture:

I almost deleted this image. That damn car ruins the peacefulness of the scene.

What I learned:

I could never have anticipated today's easy ability to simply remove unwanted elements in a composition. The image at left is pretty nice as a b/w (fixing the awful color balance in the above) and without the car.