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
Processing to the Rescue!
The longer I strive to be an artist, the more I realize the essence of artmaking with a camera lies in processing. Capturing is only the first step. It's what happens to that capture in processing that makes it a personally expressive image.
What I saw that I liked:
There is a sheen off this leaf that captivated me.
What I don't like in the picture:
There are two things about the above that I don't like. The green makes this capture a bit too much of a botanical documentary image. Then there is that adjacent leaf jutting in from the left. Gotta go, but I had no way to do so once I recognized the need back home.
What I learned:
It's not the leaf that I want you to see, it's that glowing sheen. B/W does this better by focusing attention on the light, not the green.
That distracting leaf on the left was easily removed once Adobe had introduced AI Removal in their software. In fact, this new feature has me looking back at all my previous images that can now so easily be fixed. Processing to the rescue! |
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