Photo Bugaboos

I'm trying to keep my posts abut specific projects and photo assignments. If you learn something about how I navigate through various obstacles and challenges, it's supposed to help convince you that I'm a genius that you can trust with your own projects.

Or something like that. Except that it's the quiet time of year and I haven't had to solve too many problems lately. But I am always working on my photography. 

As my photo selling site rounds into shape, I've been revisiting everything I have worthy of selling. And on the way, also seeing the photos I took that aren't worthy of lining your birdcage. 

Every photographer makes lots of boo boos - images that are out of focus, blurry, too dark, too light, have the subject in the wrong place, etc. But then there are other images that ought to be good, but for some reason aren't. I can't quite get them to look exactly right, no matter how I crop them or adjust them. Those are my nemeses. The photo bugaboos.

But maybe I'm getting close to my 10,000 hours of diligence, because, by gum, I've dragged a few of those bugaboos back into shape, where they don't embarrass or haunt me any more. 

I'm going to go ahead and say I'm proud of myself for "re-seeing" these photos and finally revealing the beauty I'd known was there all along.
I wish I could tell you there's a formula for this. But I think they are mysterious as my muse. The formulas you use work on most photos, but not all. Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith and break the rules. And sometimes, you have to come at these photos with fresh perspectives, to focus on what others will see, instead of what you want to see. And it helps to know Photoshop or Lightroom inside and out, so you can use an adjustment that you normally wouldn't even attempt.

Or you can tell me this photo is still crappy, and I'll go suck my thumb in a corner.