FX Fire Truck

A 1950 fire engine in an auto graveyard

As a general rule, I’m not a fan of solarization in photography. While it can be effective in some cases, this image, perhaps being such, often feels like a gimmick, a way to dress up a pig with lipstick.

Having worked on hundreds of movie sets, I’ve seen plenty of mediocre directors of photography fall back on flashy techniques, like dousing scenes in multiple-coloured lights, to mask their lack of skill. They hope to distract the audience from poorly managed lighting with an assault of garish colours, techniques that parallel a still photographer's usage of solarization.

In my experience, the use of solarization often signals a photographer’s failure to achieve their intended look. It’s as if they’re hoping that this trick will cover up the flaws in their work, instead of addressing the real issues at hand.

FX Fire Truck

A 1950 fire engine in an auto graveyard

As a general rule, I’m not a fan of solarization in photography. While it can be effective in some cases, this image, perhaps being such, often feels like a gimmick, a way to dress up a pig with lipstick.

Having worked on hundreds of movie sets, I’ve seen plenty of mediocre directors of photography fall back on flashy techniques, like dousing scenes in multiple-coloured lights, to mask their lack of skill. They hope to distract the audience from poorly managed lighting with an assault of garish colours, techniques that parallel a still photographer's usage of solarization.

In my experience, the use of solarization often signals a photographer’s failure to achieve their intended look. It’s as if they’re hoping that this trick will cover up the flaws in their work, instead of addressing the real issues at hand.