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
What I saw that I liked:Not a great shot, but one I can use to illustrate the power of dynamic range. What I don't like in the picture:That island in the middle is drastically under-exposed as a result of adjusting the exposure so as to preserve highlight details in the clouds. What I learned:Look at how much detail was buried in the shadows that I was able to pull out. Today's digital cameras have more dynamic range and can rescue more shadow detail than most photographers are aware of. I'm using this image just to illustrate the point. If I really wanted to make a finished image from this one, I'd first need to address that white link artifact along the top edge of the trees where they meet the sky. For this example, just ignore that and focus your attention on the what that hill becomes alive with trees compared to the unprocessed version above that just looks like a big hole in the image. I should say for clarity that these two versions are from the same digital file. |
