Brooks Jensen Arts - Every Picture Is a Compromise

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Every Picture is a Compromise
A Series About Keepers, Also-rans, and Learning from Mistakes

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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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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:

My first visit to the Grand Canyon. On a day not ideal for landscape photography.

What I don't like in the picture:

The haze from a nearby forest fire played havoc with the photographic potential.

What I learned:

Aggressive processing to the rescue! In this example, Lightroom's DeHaze was aggressively used to clear our the smoky haze which then allowed me to pump up the shadows. I'm amazed how that aggressive processing can simultaneously preserve and even enhance the tiny details in the scene.