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
Aggressive Processing Week
Pictures are rarely fully resolved at the click of the shutter. Processing is the step that turns a raw capture into something that might be art. Sometimes that processing needs to be aggressive — as we'll explore this week.
What I saw that I liked:
Here is an example of the rock wall in Capitol Reef that I discussed in Here's a Thought #2644.
What I don't like in the picture:
I find I'm less interested in these images as rock walls than I am in these images as abstracts.
What I learned:
As I discussed in the audio, it took me 14 years before I understood what my creative subconscious saw in these patterns. Once I found the vision, I applied it (via a Lightroom preset) to the 270 images photographed that week. Only 37 of them look good with this high contrast treatment, but that's more than I need to complete a project from these images.
Creativity can shower upon is in an instant as we click the shutter or over decades of laying fallow until the vision ripens. You may quote me on that. |
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