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Thread: Another great scene messed up by sloppy shooting!

  1. #1

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    Another great scene messed up by sloppy shooting!

    I often feel that we don't show enough of our failures which could provide worthwhile examples to other photographers; particularly to those who are relatively new to this hobby and still have a lot to learn.

    So this is one of my recent examples of how not to do it.

    Another great scene messed up by sloppy shooting!

    Pond Digging so I put down my spade for a quick shot of the other guys. Moved around to get the best shooting angle. Still a bit dark so dropped the aperture to F8 and increased Iso to 800.

    Seemed OK so thought about the scene and waited for the perfect moment. Click and it looked OK in the viewfinder. But when I saw it on my computer screen the shutter speed had dropped to 1/160 when I recomposed and I hadn't noticed the blur.

    I had wondered about going to high speed flash but didn't have my external flash unit. A little bit of work on extra sharpening using a layer and mask has helped but not enough. Tried the Shake Sharpening but couldn't get any results that made an improvement.

    Anybody else have any recent examples of their sloppy workmanship?

  2. #2
    Tony M's Avatar
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    Re: Another great scene messed up by sloppy shooting!

    Good suggestion Geoff. Here's one I took in the Valle de Arán, in the north of Spain, last autumn. I liked the contrast in colours and brightness. I didn't like that I wasn't careful when selecting the aperture, and the result was an out-of-focus background. F/8 simply wasn't enough. I was hurrying, but that's no excuse, as the first lesson is to take time over each photo. And the next lesson is to think or calculate or experiment to get the right aperture. (A DOF calculator on a smart phone is a good idea; an even better idea is to use it!)

    Another great scene messed up by sloppy shooting!

    Tony

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    Re: Another great scene messed up by sloppy shooting!

    Hi Geoff, I have too many examples of poor work probably over 90% of my picture directory. In regard to this image the motion blur does not bother me. I am still learning what is unacceptable and now wonder if my aforementioned poor work percentage needs to be adjusted upward. :-)

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    Shadowman's Avatar
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    Re: Another great scene messed up by sloppy shooting!

    Just entered the facility, fiirst shot of the night, handheld f/4, ISO 200, 0.5sec. Saw the action, finger/brain went for it.

    Another great scene messed up by sloppy shooting!

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    Re: Another great scene messed up by sloppy shooting!

    I didn't realize that folks saved their muck-ups.

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    Re: Another great scene messed up by sloppy shooting!

    Quote Originally Posted by chauncey View Post
    I didn't realize that folks saved their muck-ups.
    All of them, which is why I need so many backup drives and I need to change my workflow.

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    Re: Another great scene messed up by sloppy shooting!

    I didn't have to look far to get an example of a failure. I wanted this to be good but just didn't get it sharp. And I suspect it is not all motion blur.

    Another great scene messed up by sloppy shooting!

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    Re: Another great scene messed up by sloppy shooting!

    Quote Originally Posted by chauncey View Post
    I didn't realize that folks saved their muck-ups.
    Very common to save them but it is extremely rare for good photographers to show them....

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    IzzieK's Avatar
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    Re: Another great scene messed up by sloppy shooting!

    Quote Originally Posted by chauncey View Post
    I didn't realize that folks saved their muck-ups.
    I save my muck-ups -- all of them. It is a learning experience. I have 4 of the old terrabytes hard drives all full of images, both good and bad and sometimes it is nice to look at them and realize how bad I was at combination of ISO. Shutter Speed and Aperture. Then there was the stage in my photography where I learned about the Exposure Triangles. I have been known to shoot and pray in the past, then when we went out somewhere, hubby asked how many I had taken and I said, a little over 50 I think. He asked why. I said 'because I try to get it good in camera so I do not have to do much editing later.' I get to think more of composition, which is a big change...and now having an 'adult camera' (thank you for the terminology, Jack...) the pixels helps a lot.

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    Re: Another great scene messed up by sloppy shooting!

    Quote Originally Posted by Geoff F View Post
    Anybody else have any recent examples of their sloppy workmanship?
    You really wanna see an example representing 95% of my photos?

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    Re: Another great scene messed up by sloppy shooting!

    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Buckley View Post
    You really wanna see an example representing 95% of my photos?
    If other people can learn from your mistakes, Mike, go on, show us something.

  12. #12

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    Re: Another great scene messed up by sloppy shooting!

    Quote Originally Posted by Geoff F View Post
    If other people can learn from your mistakes, Mike, go on, show us something.
    Considering that my most recent mistake was capturing my lens cap using the lens it was attached to, I doubt that anyone is going to learn anything meaningful about anything other than my work habits.

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    Re: Another great scene messed up by sloppy shooting!

    I call them abstracts....

    Another great scene messed up by sloppy shooting!

  14. #14

    Re: Another great scene messed up by sloppy shooting!

    Paul, I'm not not liking it! I actually think you got something here...seriously.

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    pnodrog's Avatar
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    Re: Another great scene messed up by sloppy shooting!

    Quote Originally Posted by flashback View Post
    Paul, I'm not not liking it! I actually think you got something here...seriously.
    Jack it was definitely an accident and terms of the shot I was after it was messed up as I slipped while rushing the shot. However it did work out reasonably well as an abstract.

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    Kaye Leggett's Avatar
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    Re: Another great scene messed up by sloppy shooting!

    Quote Originally Posted by pnodrog View Post
    I call them abstracts....

    Another great scene messed up by sloppy shooting!
    It's all in the marketing!

  17. #17

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    Re: Another great scene messed up by sloppy shooting!

    Blurred or over exposed flying birds are a regular feature for me with at least 90% failure rate. Sometimes, if I can work out an average exposure, I will set the camera manually to avoid all those false settings caused by background problems. But that is usually an invitation for the sun to hide behind a cloud!

  18. #18
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    Re: Another great scene messed up by sloppy shooting!

    Quote Originally Posted by pnodrog View Post
    I call them abstracts....

    Another great scene messed up by sloppy shooting!
    I don't know what it is but there is something I like about it.

  19. #19

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    Re: Another great scene messed up by sloppy shooting!

    I think that we gotta admit that all failures are not caused by poor technique but...by a luckless subject.
    Why I shoot smoke I usually fire of several hundred images...maybe 10 % have potential.
    Don't see anything here.

    Another great scene messed up by sloppy shooting!

  20. #20

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    Re: Another great scene messed up by sloppy shooting!

    Just to prove that I can mess up bird photos as well as anybody else.

    Another great scene messed up by sloppy shooting!

    7D Mk II with Sigma 150-600 lens at 600. 1/640 F8 Iso 400. A little on the low side for shutter speed but just about acceptable for a wading bird which wasn't doing anything interesting. So I was following it in the hope that something exciting might happen - and when I detected some movement I fired my first shot. But the bird leapt into the air with a great deal of wing flapping that took it out of my autofocus reach which concentrated itself on the water ripples instead. The shutter speed would have been far too slow as well.

    Nothing much else happened on that day so after a couple of hours I gave up and went home without a single keepable photo. Except for a landscape type shot of some moored boats with reflections.

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