Opinion: The ‘Almost’ shot and the road we draw as photographers

I’ve discovered myself in a little bit of a dilemma. Last yr, I used to be fortunate sufficient to go to the East Coast of Tasmania and {photograph} at Binalong Bay.

It’s a shocking location, however regardless of three early-morning makes an attempt, the sky by no means fairly cooperated. I took loads of photographs, however there was one picture I actually needed – a shot captured with an ultra-wide angle lens wanting in the direction of Little Elephant Rock with a good dawn within the background.

I composed fastidiously, had the sunshine hitting all the appropriate locations and but…it simply didn’t come collectively.

These days, fixing that’s nearly too simple. When I first began utilizing Lightroom 15 years in the past, it was a fundamental sorting software with an editor tacked on. Now, native changes to particular elements of a picture are easy, the interface is intuitive, and tutorials are in all places.

Tasks that after took hours can now be finished in seconds. I nonetheless bear in mind my pal Mark Galer giving a complete presentation on denoising a picture; in 2026, the identical end result may be achieved with a single click on.

Take my nearly-there shot. I dropped in a vibrant crimson preset sky in Lightroom, and abruptly the picture seemed precisely like what I had hoped to seize.

Yet in doing so, it pushed the picture into fairly uncomfortable territory.

Now, I can’t publish it or present it to family and friends in good conscience, and I can’t print it at house for my very own use both as it will simply bug me, sitting on the wall as a reminder that it’s not all my very own work.

And earlier than you counsel it, I can’t even swap in a dawn from one in every of my very own images as a partial resolution—each shot I took these three mornings seems just about the identical.

Most possible, the picture goes to stay caught in a little bit of a gray space on my exhausting drive, filed away as a kind of ‘almost’ photographs, ready to be upgraded on a day after I get to return and shoot it once more maybe, or just by no means checked out once more. 

Everyone has a special line within the sand for enhancing, and mine has modified over time. But what hasn’t is the concept that a lot of the magic in pictures comes from capturing each component within the body your self. I didn’t get it this time, however possibly I’ll subsequent, or a greater shot solely.

Sure, it may be irritating as hell, however I’m making an attempt to deal with this one as a constructing block. The parts are there, I now simply want the opposite bits to come back collectively and make the magic occur subsequent time.

I believe most photographers have just a few photos like this tucked away. Shots which are shut sufficient to harm, however not fairly proper.

I’d have an interest to know what you do with yours. Do you permit them as they’re? Do you push them over the road with fashionable instruments and name them completed? Or do you file them away and deal with them as a lesson for subsequent time?

Let me know within the feedback.