I have just been looking through my archives at some of the backlog of images that I have shot and not yet processed. I came across this one that I had rejected because the highlights were blown. It was shot back in 2009 but then left on my hard drive because it "wasn’t perfect“. Somewhere, not sure where or when, I made a rule for myself that the histogram must be full and not clipped or my image was imperfect and not worth processing. Interestingly, I now believe a clipped histogram can create a much more powerful image, and so it is with this one.

Shooting into the sun at sunset (well the sun is just out of frame on the right) I would never be able to hold the highlights. Attempting to do so would have created a very odd image and I think it would have lost much of its power and feeling.

So the message is clear, don’t create rules and limitations on your work. Experiment and push your boundaries. You never know what you might create.