Have you found an outtake at second glance that's beautiful

Mainecoonmaniac · Oct 18, 2019

As most of you probably have, I have an outtake or a reject pile. One day I saw a print I didn't recognize at first then I found it interesting and a pretty beautiful image. I think my problem is I get too focused on the ugly tree and I'm not seeing the beautiful forest. Sometimes when I'm making prints, I get too goal oriented to the point where I'll reject great prints. If you have had that happen, what do you do to get out of being too rigid way of seeing?

Sirius Glass · Oct 18, 2019

When I arrive at an area where I am going to take a photograph, any photograph not just landscapes, I note several compositions, chose which one to start with and reassess after each photograph.

BrianShaw · Oct 18, 2019

I’ve experienced similar but can’t seem to get any conscious control to change. What helps is getting totally immersed to the point where I’m not “thinking” but “experiencing”.

Mainecoonmaniac · Oct 18, 2019

BrianShaw said:
I’ve experienced similar but can’t seem to get any conscious control to change. What helps is getting totally immersed to the point where I’m not “thinking” but “experiencing”.

I think you hit the nail right on the head. But printing is very technical and involves a lot of thinking. It's possible that I over think things and override my emotions. Photography just like any other art. The technical part serves the art. But I think I just get too wrapped up in the nuts and bolts.

Vaughn · Oct 18, 2019

Not often, but I'll come across a print that I must have made and think, "Did I really make this? Its pretty nice -- wish I could remember it."

jim10219 · Oct 18, 2019

Yes. And more often than not, it takes some cropping to get from outtake to keeper. Time can help too. Sometimes you need some distance to be able to remove the emotion of the moment and see it for what it really is.

jtk · Oct 18, 2019

Yes. I'm reviewing a half dozen variously 11X17 (or smaller) big-rebate images right now.... thinking to cut the rebates (and white borders) off entirely in order to show better with my standard 13X19 Hoya Archival Art Profolio black pages or my home's repeatedly re-used glass frames.

If that doesn't work I'll grit my teeth and toss them. Have thought a lot about this over the decades but was convinced by a fictional video about Gerhardt Richter, of all people, making B&W paintings

IMO there's little aesthetic value in a print held in the hand,...what counts is the way it's displayed.

In ancient times many young photographers flush-mounted all of their prints on B&W...I did understand what they were doing but I didn't go along with that back then.

I've found that borderless prints sometimes come across better on beige/tan backgrounds..

jtk · Oct 20, 2019

jtk said:
Yes. I'm reviewing a half dozen variously 11X17 (or smaller) big-rebate images right now.... thinking to cut the rebates (and white borders) off entirely in order to show better with my standard 13X19 Hoya Archival Art Profolio black pages or my home's repeatedly re-used glass frames.

If that doesn't work I'll grit my teeth and toss them. Have thought a lot about this over the decades but was convinced by a fictional video about Gerhardt Richter, of all people, making B&W paintings

IMO there's little aesthetic value in a print held in the hand,...what counts is the way it's displayed.

In ancient times many young photographers flush-mounted all of their prints on B&W...I did understand what they were doing but I didn't go along with that back then.

I've found that borderless prints sometimes come across better on beige/tan backgrounds..

Didn't mean to say "flush mounted"...meant borderless-printed or trimmed-borderless, then mounted on black.

I think "flush mounted" works OK in some situations, but that can distract from the image, depending on background.

TheRook · Oct 20, 2019

Not really... if the print doesn't pop out at first inspection as something special, then there's nothing there. Even if I failed to achieve what I intended, I still look for aesthetic appeal beyond the intended goal..

jtk · Oct 21, 2019

TheRook said:
Not really... if the print doesn't pop out at first inspection as something special, then there's nothing there. Even if I failed to achieve what I intended, I still look for aesthetic appeal beyond the intended goal..

That's almost my way of thinking...except that since I shoot digitally the image doesn't "pop at first inspection" as it remains in my mind until I post-process...which is usually substantial as I previsualize something different than I would have achieved with Kodachrome.

Mainecoonmaniac · Oct 21, 2019

Have anyone on this thread have looked at a piece of art, tried a new food and it's a "meh" then later on you grow to like it. To me, liking something that I don't like before is a sign of growth as a person and as an artist.

BrianShaw · Oct 21, 2019

Mainecoonmaniac said:
Have anyone on this thread have looked at a piece of art, tried a new food and it's a "meh" then later on you grow to like it. To me, liking something that I don't like before is a sign of growth as a person and as an artist.

She eventually married me... and we’re living happily ever after...

Tom Kershaw · Oct 21, 2019

Yes, particularly if I'm looking through a large batch of negatives soon after photography, I've missed images at first glance that I've come back to later - this is more from subject point of view - I'm better at disregarding negatives that simply don't work compositionally.

Tom

Mainecoonmaniac · Oct 21, 2019

BrianShaw said:
She eventually married me... and we’re living happily ever after...

Yes. Perceptions of relationships and partners are the same as looking at art. I'm glad I'm married and deeply in love with my wife. I'm glad I'm not a bachelor any more. There are few types in the dating scene. My theory is that ones that fall in love for superficial reasons have relationships that don't last as long as those that fall in love for deeper reasons. When my wife and I were first dating, she admitted that she was watching me on how I treated restaurant staff and her own family. I did the same.

Back to being an artist. We all can like the quickly like "Wow" pieces of art. The artist that work too hard to please. Some of those works of art are just fads. Those works of art that requires deeper perception from life experiences are to me, tend to be timeless art. It's easy to reject a photograph that isn't perfectly focused and exposed. I'm really not impressed by digitally perfect, focused stacked and HDR'd photos. I sometimes on Flickr I'd find mind blowing photos that are by amateurs.

Magnus919 · Oct 21, 2019

Outtakes & BTS are my favorites. They often mean more to me than that which I set out to shoot in the first place.

Berkeley Mike · Oct 21, 2019

MattKing · Oct 21, 2019

A few years ago, a number of my friends and I went on a photo shoot to an interesting location, with heritage farm buildings and old orchards. One of the members of the group set up a photo of the rows of trees, in capturing nicely the textures and colours and light.
After getting the result, he liked it and ordered a nice enlargement.
It was only after getting the enlargement from the lab that he realized that one of the details he overlooked was that amongst the trees and fruit and dappled light, there was a guy urinating against one of the trees!
It was surprising, and funny, but it was not beautiful!

Andrew O'Neill · Oct 21, 2019

Yes, and that is why I don't throw out anything.

Have you found an outtake at second glance that's beautiful

Mainecoonmaniac

Sirius Glass

BrianShaw

Mainecoonmaniac

Vaughn

jim10219

jtk

jtk

TheRook

jtk

Mainecoonmaniac

BrianShaw

Tom Kershaw

Mainecoonmaniac

Magnus919

Berkeley Mike

MattKing

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Have you found an outtake at second glance that's beautiful

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