One Photo, Two Edits

Lens-Artists Challenge #410: One Photo Edited

Looking Back at Lens-Artists Challenge #154 — One Photo Two Ways

Sometimes, when I’m composing an image, I can’t be completely sure which way to go. Sometimes it’s whether the scene will be more dynamic in monochrome; other times, it’s a matter of an expansive landscape versus a close crop; and still other times, I’m not sure whether I should use a portrait or landscape orientation. For this week’s Lens-Artists Challenge #410, Ritva invites us “to explore the different methods you use to create images. Capture the same subject through a variety of unique approaches.” Be sure to read her post and see her own examples. This challenge is also a revisit of Tina’s original Lens-Artists Challenge #154, One Photo Two Ways.

I’ll share three photo pairs I captured at Big Bend Ranch State Park, each one built around a decision like the ones above.

Color or Monochrome

Let’s start with color versus monochrome — a decision I usually make during post-processing rather than in the field.

Whenever I see real drama in the sky, I lean toward monochrome. I can push local contrast much harder in black and white than I can in a color file, without the color casts or noise that heavy contrast work tends to introduce. That’s exactly what happened with this Ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens): the color version gives me the scene, but stripping the color out lets those sweeping cirrus streaks and the plant’s bare, gestural stems do the work instead. I ended up favoring the monochrome. Which do you prefer?

Landscape or Close-Up

The second set is a vast landscape versus a close-up, and it’s the pair I went back and forth on longest.

I switched to my superzoom (Nikon P950) to pick out the detail in that eroded rock formation (it’s not a cropped image), but I kept wondering whether the tight crop was really more compelling than its counterpart — the wider frame that shows the land falling away around it and more of that dramatic sky. When it came time to pick one for this post, I went with the wider shot (captured with a Sony A7RV and a superwide-angle lens). The rock formation still reads clearly at that distance, and the extra sky gave the image the scale and drama I remembered feeling standing there, which the close-up couldn’t hold on its own.

Portrait or Landscape Orientation

Finally, the last set asks whether a subject is better suited to portrait orientation than landscape.

This Spanish Dagger (Yucca faxoniana) bloom pulled me toward a portrait crop. Turning the camera let the flower fill the frame edge to edge, and the leaves’ upward lines carried more of a sense of the plant’s growth than they did stacked into a wider, landscape crop. Comparing the two, the portrait version won out because the composition matches how the plant itself is built—vertical, radiating, reaching.

Last week’s guest host, Steve Hyde, brought in amazing responses with your best-ever and beautiful photos. I hope you’ll join us this week for Ritva’s challenge. Don’t forget to use the “lens-artists” hashtag so others can find your response in the Reader.

Next week, Sofia will lead us with another fun challenge. It goes live Saturday at noon Eastern. I hope to see you there. Please see this page for more information about the Lens-Artists Challenge and its history. If you don’t want to miss any future challenges, please consider subscribing to the team members’ websites. Here they are:

• Tina of Travels and Trifles.
• Patti of P.A. Moed.
• Ann-Christine of Leya.
• John of Journeys with Johnbo.
• Anne of Slow Shutter Speed.
• Sofia of Photographias.
• Egídio of Through Brazilian Eyes.
• Ritva of Ritva Sillanmäki Photography.
• Beth of Wandering Dawgs.

That is the story behind the shots. For more like this, enjoy these related stories: Big Bend Ranch SP, Landscapes, Lens-Artists, Ocotillo, Spanish Dagger, Texas, Wildflowers, and Yucca. Until the next shoot, keep chasing the light and the wonders it reveals.