Don’t Improve on Perfection

This is a chapter from the book A Lesser Photographer.

There’s an old saying among musicians, “If you can’t do it in jeans and a T-shirt, it ain’t rock ‘n’ roll.”

If you’ve committed to being honest in your photography, avoid the temptation to improve the imperfections by dressing up your story.

If you can’t say what you need to say in a photograph without resorting to the latest trends in post processing, you’re probably not saying much of anything. Concentrate your skills in photography to those things that will put you in the right place at the right time while being adept enough to capture that moment in the most compelling way. Anything more is just covering up your creation.

Don’t let someone else’s constraints dictate your art.