{"id":12451,"date":"2013-11-22T08:18:15","date_gmt":"2013-11-22T12:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/?p=12451"},"modified":"2013-11-22T08:18:15","modified_gmt":"2013-11-22T12:18:15","slug":"good-enough-the-story-behind-the-image","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/12451\/good-enough-the-story-behind-the-image\/","title":{"rendered":"Good Enough – The Story Behind The Image"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Condensation<\/a><\/p>\n

Condensation X, 2002 \u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the most dramatic wave; it\u2019s rather small in comparison to the enormous waves you find in the Pacific ocean. The ocean waters aren\u2019t glassy smooth; the wave line isn\u2019t fully continuous; the surrounding waves aren\u2019t perfectly scalloped; and the foam in the foreground serves only as accents, indicating a previous passage, rather than forming a clear and present pattern. It\u2019s not illuminated by the clearest light nor does it glow from within. Still, there\u2019s an intensely quiet presence about this image (Condensation X<\/i>), deceptively calm on the surface but potentially turbulent below, with an air of mystery (Where is it coming from and going to? What surrounds it?) that makes it powerfully expressive in a complex and unique way. It\u2019s not obvious but it is rewarding. You might say it\u2019s a sleeper, something you might not pay close attention to at first but the more you look at it the more it grows on you.
\nBeing sensitive to times when less is more and more is less will help you get it just right. In today\u2019s constantly competitive culture, it\u2019s hard not to over achieve. But sometimes, that\u2019s exactly what you need to do. Sometimes what you really need is to get it just right \u2013 and nothing more.
\nI like to do my very best. I like to try to do it better every time. Sometimes I try too hard and do too much. I\u2019ve wasted hours, days even, trying to perfect something only to find out that along the way the life had gone out of it. I\u2019ve found that things that I thought were distractions were really things that made something richer and more complex, after removing them. I\u2019ve come to the realization that what I thought were flaws made something perfectly imperfect. This is not to say that I don\u2019t still try to make things as good as I can and even to up my game. It is to say that the answers I\u2019m looking for transcend technical perfection and sometimes are better for less of it.
\nIn the world of photography it\u2019s easy to lose sight of the big picture for all of the details. We have an extensive list of physical characteristics to evaluate the quality of photographs \u2013\u00a0focus, depth of field, frozen motion (or extreme motion blur, but nothing in between), low noise, detail in highlights and shadows, contrast, credible color casts, believable levels of saturation, no lens artifacts, the list goes on \u2013 yet we are much more challenged to describe the quality of photographs on the levels of perception and content, which are more important. There are times when technical perfection can be distracting or worse a cover up for what\u2019s lacking. Photographer Ansel Adams remarked that, \u201cThere\u2019s nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept.\u201d
\nIt\u2019s a matter of appropriate means. You don\u2019t want to create dynamic images to portray quiet, tender moments. You don\u2019t want to retouch portraits of victims of war, famine, or pestilence. You don\u2019t want to reenact the truth to make it picture perfect.
\nThere are many times when things seem more authentic if they\u2019re not perfect.
\nBesides, the more perfect your presentation becomes the more attention you call to the delivery. When you want to call more attention to the content perfect presentation may not be perfect for the purpose. Make your delivery effective. Sometimes it\u2019s more effective to deliver just enough, not more, not less. It\u2019s part of getting it just right.
\nQuestions<\/i>
\n<\/i>What isn\u2019t good enough? How do you know?<\/i>
\nWhat is good enough? How do you know?<\/i>
\nWhat is too much?<\/i>
\nWhat is perfectly imperfect?<\/i>
\nFind out more about this image here.<\/a>
\nView more related images here.<\/a>
\nRead more The Stories Behind The Photographs here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Condensation X, 2002 \u00a0 It\u2019s not the most dramatic wave; it\u2019s rather small in comparison to the enormous waves you find in the Pacific ocean. The ocean waters aren\u2019t glassy smooth; the wave line isn\u2019t fully continuous; the surrounding waves aren\u2019t perfectly scalloped; and the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[61],"tags":[1823],"post_folder":[],"yoast_head":"\nGood Enough - The Story Behind The Image - John Paul Caponigro<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/12451\/good-enough-the-story-behind-the-image\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Good Enough - The Story Behind The Image - John Paul Caponigro\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Condensation X, 2002 \u00a0 It\u2019s not the most dramatic wave; it\u2019s rather small in comparison to the enormous waves you find in the Pacific ocean. The ocean waters aren\u2019t glassy smooth; the wave line isn\u2019t fully continuous; the surrounding waves aren\u2019t perfectly scalloped; and the...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/12451\/good-enough-the-story-behind-the-image\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"John Paul Caponigro\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-11-22T12:18:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Condensation_PreludeinGrayX_2002_425.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"johnpaulcaponigro\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Good Enough - The Story Behind The Image - John Paul Caponigro","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.johnpaulcaponigro.com\/blog\/12451\/good-enough-the-story-behind-the-image\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Good Enough - The Story Behind The Image - John Paul Caponigro","og_description":"Condensation X, 2002 \u00a0 It\u2019s not the most dramatic wave; it\u2019s rather small in comparison to the enormous waves you find in the Pacific ocean. 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