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.
|
Original digital capture
What I saw that I liked:I am irresistibly drawn to photograph white tree trunks. What I don't like in the picture:Universally the challenge with this subject is to isolate it from the background. What I learned:There are lots of ways to accomplish this, but one of the easiest is to push the tones down in the background to a deep shadow. Not too far! Not to black. The background still needs to be a background. Sometimes this really challenges our masking skill. This one was easy using Moonlight's "object selection" masking tool. 2nd Chances: What I might try nextI'm not fully convinced that I like this warm-tone treatment. In the original above, the tree trunk has a blue cast and I might try to reproduce that in the monochromatic image at left. |
