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:A jigsaw of windows. What I don't like in the picture:The bricks on the far left edge clash with the weathered wood. I thought that cropping that out and converting this to a warm-toned b/w would result in something good. I was wrong. What I learned:I forgot the compression effects of a long lens. The corner of this building and its three-dimensional angle gets squashed into a flat plane. Not crazy about it. 2nd Chances: What I might try nextSince it's distorted due to compression, what if I were to distort it even more? Skew it, maybe? |
