I was sitting in the living room one day channel surfing, when something caught my eye. The guy on the screen looked slightly familiar, but that's not what it was. It's what he was doing that stopped my remote finger dead in it's tracks. There he was, this vaguely familiar gentleman, on the floor, combing the fringe on a floor rug so it all went in one direction. He then went to the other end of the rug and did the same thing. So far so good, I thought to myself. I've personally done that many times. I understand where he's coming from. It was, in effect, almost perfect visually. He then proceeded to walk through what I assume was his house, moving objects and furniture, ever so slightly to the left or right. Clockwise and counterclockwise. Everything in the room was just the way he wanted to see it. At that point, I was totally engaged. It was probably because I had done the same thing, not only in my home, but also in just about every house I have ever photographed in my professional career. Visual perfection, while unattainable in reality, does make everything look so much better. Just an inch to the left ..... Perfect. And this, a little clockwise turn, forward two inches .... perfect. Overlap those items just a touch to create visual tension .... Pefecto. And on and on it goes. I can't remember how many times I have had to get off the couch at home to move something a "smidge", just so it doesn't bother me to look at it. Sounds a bit crazy, doesn't it? Well .... I guess it really is. The show I was watching was about OCD. The guy on the screen was some kids TV show star. I think it was the show that introduced "slime-ing" people to the masses but I don't remember the name of the show. He was opening his life to everyone watching the show so they could better understand OCD and it's effect on peoples lives. Needless to say, that shocked me a bit. Here was this guy, doing the same thing I do on a regular basis, claiming he had a problem. Which I'm sure he believes he has. But I didn't see it that way. While I feel for all of those people out there with major, debilitating OCD, I know we can also learn from it.
It's what I call ....... OCD for fun and profit.
By that I mean ..... if you see something in the viewfinder that you are about to shoot, but it isn't in the exact place you want it, and you have the ability to move the object before you click the shutter, go over there and MOVE IT! Don't say "I'll fix it later in Photoshop". The small amount of time it takes to move it will save you hours in the long run sitting behind a computer "fixing something" you could have moved before you shot it. I say this more to the next generation of photographers who have the luxury we "old timers" didn't have of "fixing it later".
Less time in post means more profit on the time spent on the computer.
Hence: "OCD for fun and profit."
