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
Composing in Threes
There is a convention in graphic design to always use odd numbers in compositions. This week will be a look at landscapes that are composed using three elements compared to their counterparts using just two.
What I saw that I liked:
Beautiful blue spruce (I think) in contrast to the fall leaves.
What I don't like in the picture:
The above image is dominated by the two trees. That third one on the right is cut off and really doesn't command any attention in the composition.
What I learned:
Again using the ideas of "threes," the image at left has the short tree on the right as the main subject, the wall of trees behind and left as the secondary subject and then the row of yellow leaves at the bottom as the third element. Much more "alive" to this one than the simplistic example above.
Also, there is an odd thing I've noticed over the years about composing in threes. They don't look composed, whereas the example above with just the two trees looks very tightly controlled, overdone, rigid. For landscape work, I much prefer images that look less artificially composed.
2nd Chances: What I might try next
I think I want to trim about half an inch off the right side of the image at left. |
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