If you look at this week’s image and do a bit of a double-take, thinking that you have already seen this picture before, you would not be too far off. In a lot of ways this picture is kind of a carbon-copy of the same shot I put up last week which was, in and of itself, an echo of the image from the previous week. It’s all part of the process though, and at the end of the day what matters to me is that I’m learning, growing, and enjoying the process. There’s also an element of self-reflection involved, and in looking at this picture I can see some things that are inspired by previous shots but others that I could have done differently to make a more compelling composition. That’s not meant as a criticism, but simply an example of self-awareness and a desire to improve.
Take, for example, the background. Specifically, the background just behind the flower on the right. It’s blurry, contrasts with the color of the subject, and serves to enhance the image overall. However, there’s also the matter of the green vertical flower stem cutting through the frame just above the bright orange and yellow flower. It’s not great, and the kind of thing I would normally make sure to look for upon taking the image and, upon seeing it, take steps to rectify such as repositioning myself or looking for another spot in the garden from which to compose a similar shot. But like the dwarves of middle earth, delving too greedily and too deep, I didn’t think beyond the immediate gratification of taking a cool photo. As such the final image is fine, but not great, and I’m perfectly OK with that since I still feel like I learned something.
The same goes for the purple flowers poking up right at the base of the same green stem, almost like a pop-up ad on the internet trying to get your attention. I could have cropped the image a bit, or even used the healing tool in Lightroom to just remove it, but instead I just left it as-is to serve as a reminder for me to take my time and compose my shots a little more carefully next time.
If all this sounds like I’m being a bit harsh on myself that’s really not my intention. It’s an effort to examine what worked well (most of the shot) and learn from what didn’t (green stem; purple flower) and try to do just a bit better next time. I’m sure I will, and I’m excited to see the results :)
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