I've made the case for making our photography imperfect a few times. Today, we'll talk about ways to do so, both in camera and in post processing.
How to make your photography imperfect (but beautiful)
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imperfection
Make photography imperfect again
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Cameras are too good, they capture too much detail. We need to make photography imperfect again.
Show just the necessary, and not more
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A good image should make the viewer use their own imagination. It should have gaps in the story, it should feel a little bit incomplete. It should give some answers, but also pose questions.
Perhaps, that's why I like shooting in the fog so much. It hides parts of the frame, if not most of them. It reveals just the necessary, and not more. The viewer's mind has to work at a deeper level, it's not just taking what the photo gives it, but creating something.
“you can only see what you are ready to see - what mirrors your mind at that particular time” ~ George Tice
Of course, there are other ways to create mystery in an image. Black and White already adds a layer, but you can also: compose your photograph so the subject is almost out of the frame, or suggesting there's something else there; hide parts of the subject with elements of the environment; long exposures will make the viewer stop for a second and wonder about what is going on; shoot through wet glass, use motion blur, intentional camera movement (ICM), or use special lenses like tilt or pinhole.
During a time when even our smartphones have enough resolution to show details for days, there's something about saying less, about suggesting, about letting the viewer decide what they want the image to be about. In the age of hyper-realistic photography, imperfect images can stand out even more. Give it a try.
Photography is messsy
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Perfection is just a distraction, yet another excuse to not do something. I tell myself this sunrise isn't good enough anyway, it's not foggy, it isn't even cloudy. All I want is to watch a few more reviews so I can choose a new lens and camera.
Photography is messy and chaotic, and that's the fun part of it. We need to embrace the uncertainity, make it part of our daily lives and create every day.
In praise of imperfect images
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I always say that I like to destroy my images: I push film and work on my digital images to add grain, increase the contrast, remove details in the shadows and highlights. I seek imperfection.
It was this imperfection that allowed me to find my own style and to feel more free in my photography.
Read MoreLoosen up
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Usain Bolt is the fastest man in the world. In a sport where every millisecond counts, you'd think he had the best running technique. He didn't.
The real difference comes to light when you compare him to his rivals. While everyone is tense before the race, he's smiling and already having fun. While everyone runs like perfect machines, his form is natural, light, and yet powerful.
Is he having fun because he's so good? Or is he so good because he's having fun?
I believe it's the latter.
Perhaps we could apply this to our photography. Perhaps we should loosen up, have more fun, improvise more, think less, forget about proper technique, dismiss proper composition.
Don't aim for perfection
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A few days ago and while working on my YouTube channel, I came across some of the first videos I made.
They are just horrible.
I was partly aware of this when I published them, but at the time I was doing my best.
Today, I have better gear and I know more about video than I did back then. Most of this improvement happened because I started uploading videos and realized what was working and what could be improved.
If I had aimed for perfection I would have never published any video, post or image, ever.
We need to finish. A finisher gets better and better every time they put something out there. Only through practice can we improve.
I hope to come back to my current videos in a few years and see that, once again, they look horrible. That could only mean that my filmmaking skills improved.
Holga Pinhole Lens for Sony E-Mount cameras (Sony a6000)
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I believe that in imperfection lays the beautiful.
That's why I shot a Holga for quite a while, why I love to shoot film or use cheap lenses on my digital cameras.
Something I've wanted to try for a while was pinhole photography. I didn't want to do it on film because it could get expensive, so I built my own pinhole lens. That worked just fine but I didn't really like the idea of having the sensor exposed through a physical hole. I went ahead and bought a Holga Pinhole Lens on eBay for 20-25 euros.
This is the lens I'm trying in this video, where everything is about embracing imperfection.