First Light
When I was doing the post-processing on “First Light“, it was like meeting an old friend I hadn’t seen in a long time. There is a certain comfort with the familiarity of the things that remain as you once knew them. But at the same time, some things have changed. They are new and you have to get acquainted with them.
I took this photo in March, 2017 at sunrise at Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes in Death Valley National Park. When I returned home, I processed the image. It turned out okay, but just okay. I just wasn’t that excited about it. As a result, it remained in my Lightroom catalog ignored and forgotten.
I happened to come upon this shot recently and thought I’d give it another try. However, rather than just tweak my last efforts I decided to try a new approach. I’m much happier with this and hope you like it too.
Marinating Or Something More?
I’ve posted before about letting your work marinate (here and here). It’s about stepping away from it for 2 or 3 days so you can lose some of the emotional attachment and assess your efforts more objectively. But March, 2017 is waaaay more than 2 or 3 days ago. Was this still letting it marinate or was it something more?
When I looked at how I originally processed this photo I felt there were some good elements I’d like to keep. However, this photo didn’t just need a bit of tweaking. It needed something more. I felt compelled that to go in a different direction by making this more about the play of light in the scene than just a documentation of a mesquite plant in the dunes.
Once I got comfortable with this change in direction, I was able to approach this image with renewed enthusiasm. I dodged some areas to “throw” more light on them and in other areas burned in more shade. I liked the result as it now matched the feeling I had when I saw the scene. This included changing the title to “First Light” to further indicate what I wanted to emphasize.
Some might call this just tweaking the processing. Perhaps, they’re right. Is this just simple “marinating” or something more? I don’t know. I do know that stepping away from the image helped me realize what I liked about the scene. The fact that it took so long is probably inconsequential. Maybe, that’s the important lesson. Our feelings about our images change over time but it is not a fixed schedule. So, take the opportunity to visit some of your “old friends” and you might be pleasantly surprised.
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Do you go back and visit “old friends” in your photo archives? I’d love to hear your comments and feedback. Please leave a comment in the comment box below.
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