Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Stupid Photographer Tricks


Am I the only photographer that does dumb stuff on photo shoots? Here are some of the dumb things I've done:

1. Accidentally turned on auto exposure bracketting. I did this recently at the zoo. I was taking photos in manual mode, I would look at the photo and histogram and it would be over or underexposed I would then change my aperture to compensate for either the under or overexposed photo and take another shot and the exposure still wasn't right. This went on for four or five shots and it was driving me crazy, I was beginning to think something was wrong with the camera or metering system. So this time I paid attention to the settings as I looked through the viewfinder, I had the camera set to f8 and 1/250 of a second, I took a shot and all of a sudden I noticed it now said 1/500 of a second, then another and it changed to 1/1000 of a second. Huh? I was in manual mode why was my shutter speed changing? Then it hit me the camera was bracketting my shots! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I had accidentally turned on auto exposure bracketting!!!

2. Taken photos at the wrong ISO. I was out taking photos in the Cuyahoga Valley NP and had taken about 15 - 20 shots before I noticed that my ISO was set to ISO 800. I had been taking low light shots the day before and forgot to reset my ISO!!!! What a dummy!!!

3. Got out of the car and start walking to the Beaver Marsh, got half way there and then it hit me - my tripod was still in the car!!! DOH!

4. Was taking photos and wondering why the photos looked so dark? I had forgotten to take off my sunglasses!!!! Another time I was looking through the viewfinder and everything looked weird with strange looking colors I had left my sunglasses on and had a polarizer on the lens!!!

5. Back in the film days I accidentally opened the back without rewinding the film!!! What a dope!!!

Have any of you done anything dumb while out taking photos? If you have click on "comment" below and let me know what dumb things you've done, it'll make me feel better knowing that I'm not the only one that does stupid stuff!!!

14 comments:

  1. Well! My first day in the studio by myself...

    I melted the plastic strobe covers because I forget to take them off the studio lights.

    And, I even said to myself several times, "Hey, those lights really do give off a burning plastic smell! I don't remember that."

    And, then, after I replaced the covers. I did it again.

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  2. I also wanted to add that the post photo is a really nice self portrait! It's one of the more interesting shots of Blue Hen Falls that I've seen in awhile. :)

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  3. Thanks Mary, and thanks for the funny story (although it probably wasn't funny to you!)

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  4. 1. Stupid things- well I was at Hocking Hills and I was so excited about
    the beauty of it all, I pulled my camera out, put it on the tri- pod
    and when I was looking through the lens, I was trying to hurry to
    catch the sunlight through the trees, and when I looked through
    the lens, I was quickly trying to adjust the exposure, because it
    was to dark, as I was fumbling with it, getting frustrated as to
    why not enough light was coming in, I stood up and looked over
    and the cap was still on the camera, HELL 0------
    2. Another time I was doing a christmas shoot with a group, and
    everyone was all set up with their cameras. I quickly tried to
    set up my tri-pod and some how my ball on the tri- pod rolled off
    across the grass, people were trying to get the pieces for me
    so I could screw everything back on. Thank God I did not put
    my camera on right away.
    Linda

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  5. My personnal best is when I had to change quickly a lens. Here's the steps I followed :
    1) open my shoulder bag on my back
    2) find the lens without looking (bag on my back)
    3) close the bag
    4) change the lens on my camera
    5) put the lens in my bag
    6) hear my lens falling in the canyon behind me a n realize that I forgot to open back my bag

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  6. I'm sorry Fred, that is a sad story, but oh how funny! Gave me a good laugh! I hope it wasn't an expensive lens! I have to say that I'm OCD with my camera equipment, so my stories come more from my injuries to myself rather than my shooting skills. Ever hit yourself in the head with your tripod? Yep, done that a few times! I also remember vividly the time I took Sammy (as a puppy) hiking behind Squire's Castle in the winter. He took off running and I remember yelling to him because I was worried he would slip on the snow and slide down the hill. Instead, mid yell, I found myself horizontal in the air and crashing down on my back, while hugging my camera equipment of course, and then laying there catching my breath with a dog nose in my face. I'm a glutton for punishment, that's for sure!

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  7. Keep the Stories coming, I glad I'm not the only one who does dumb stuff!!! Summer I thought for sure you'd have a run in with a moose or something but the story of you and your puppy was pretty entertaining!!! LOL

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  8. Ok....I've got one for ya!!!
    Just bought a Canon 70-200 f\4 IS lens....so excited.....wanted to try it out......planned a day with hubby at the zoo nearly an hour from home.
    Got to the zoo........yippeeee.....so excited.....
    pulled out my camera with my new shiny lens.....super super excited.......turned the camera on.......and....nothing...
    I had left the battery at home still in the charger!!!!!!
    LOL!
    Enjoyed everyone's stories.......nice to know we're not alone!!! :)

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  9. The Wife & I took a European vacation in '05. Flew to NYC, spent 24 hrs. there, then boarded the QM2 for a crossing to Southampton. Three days in London, three in France, then another day in London before the flight home. I made almost a thousand pictures during that time.

    Several months later, while clearing many old work files off the computer, I accidentally deleted all but a handful of those photos. I didn't realize what I had done for several months, so by then it was too late to retrieve them. I have less than a dozen now. Lesson learned; double check before you hit delete.

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  10. Wow,sorry about you losing all those photos Danny, guess you'll have to go back to Europe again and take some more photos.

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  11. That's what The Wife says. ;-)

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  12. You would think I would learn after the first few times, but no...

    Shooting at the local airshow the last few years, I usually get to do some night shots of aircraft on the ramp, on the tripod, long exposures, using the timer to minimize camera shake. Of course, the next day, when the first jet flies past, I hit the shutter button, only to hear the "beep, beep, beep" of the timer as the airplane disappears from view before the shutter fires.

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  13. Hey Moose I've done that self-timer trick a few times myself. You press the shutter waiting for the click and don't here anything.... then 10 seconds later "CLICK" Doh!!!

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  14. My friend kathy and I were in Oregon at a lovely beach. A storm was rolling in and so was the tide. I had just bought a SB800 Speedlight for my Nikon. It was late afternoon and I was getting weary, so decided to travel light to the beach.I had just purchased an SB800 Speedlight, never used, and threw it into a mesh bag along with a raincoat.Why did I take the Speedlight to the beach???no logical reason in retrospect. Well the storm came in..up went the tripod, on went the camera, and down in the sand went the mesh bag. As I clicked away, the tide came in and washed the bag with wet sand and water. So much for the SP800. We tried in vain to bring it back to life with kind words and a hairdryer...didn't work... had to buy a new one. Barb Pennington

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