One of those days.
Apr 11, 2012 13:45:15 #
Have you ever had one of those days? A friend had a 40 year anniversary partyI was asked to photograph. I have a D3000 with the kit lens and a 35mm 1.8 that rarely leaves my camera. I make no excuses for my equipment and I getting the most from Nikons bottom-rung camera. I also have flash triggers and a Nissin DI622 II.
Brought along my charger, spare battery and three memory cards. All set.
There was another shooter with a D90 and a greater selection of lenses.
When I shoot with the other guya ex-studio photogwe usually end up competing for the same shots. He is aggressive and will push his way to the front, steal the focus of your models . Well lately, he has been giving me more respect. Not sure what that is about, but I like it. We worked more as a team. I know what lenses he has and will move aside to let him get the groups. I tend to photograph the kids and am willing to sit/lie on the ground to do it. Seemed like a perfect shoot .
I ended up with 1200 shots. I got a few hundred nice shots early on. I was inside and outside; often forgetting to lower my ISO and getting blown out shots. I was chimping so I could sometimes request a do-over.
My battery started to fail while taking shots of the guests congratulating the couple. I missed a couple of shots while I changed it out and a couple more when I changed out the memory card.
My flash started taking longer to recharge but the light was bright enough that I could shoot at ISO 400 1/60 f2.8. I put the flash away and start shooting natural light. A martial arts group came in to do a demo. I get hit in the head with flying board pieces. My settings did not really net me anything useable. The other guy gets some great shots.
The dancers from the last event show up. I get more aggressive this time and am in their ranks, getting closeups. I get some OK shots but I am missing my flash. I grab it, but I cant get anything more out of it. I have rechargeable batteries, but why oh why did I not buy spares?!?.
If you saw my last thread, you know that the lead dancer is stunning. I photographed her with available last timeI want to do her justice this time. I take a deep breath and raise my internal flash. I am not happy with the way those turned out. After using bounced flash for months, the popup flash looks .bad.
The dancers are dancing, I am focusing on the lead. Its funny, but I am dancing with hersort of. I am trying to keep her in focus while getting motion blur on the rest of the group. I see my chance, get focus lock and ..nothing. The shutter wont open.
I try again and again. I can get the shutter to fire once every 5-10 seconds. Im thinking about how my Nikon warranty has just ended and I wont be able to replace the camera until next year.
After the dance is over, I pack up my stuff and we head home. I wasnt driving, so I was able to confirm that the camera was working normally once more. Overheating?
The fun continues during PP. I have these grand ideas for working the images. I wish Redsky made scripts for PSP. I got rid of the crap and ended up with 700 from my original 1200. I develop and convert. The next day I delete, make some changes to ASP and convert. I found out that I converted them to JPG and deleted them again, this time making sure to convert to TIF.
I should be finished with everything by next Friday at this rate.
Brought along my charger, spare battery and three memory cards. All set.
There was another shooter with a D90 and a greater selection of lenses.
When I shoot with the other guya ex-studio photogwe usually end up competing for the same shots. He is aggressive and will push his way to the front, steal the focus of your models . Well lately, he has been giving me more respect. Not sure what that is about, but I like it. We worked more as a team. I know what lenses he has and will move aside to let him get the groups. I tend to photograph the kids and am willing to sit/lie on the ground to do it. Seemed like a perfect shoot .
I ended up with 1200 shots. I got a few hundred nice shots early on. I was inside and outside; often forgetting to lower my ISO and getting blown out shots. I was chimping so I could sometimes request a do-over.
My battery started to fail while taking shots of the guests congratulating the couple. I missed a couple of shots while I changed it out and a couple more when I changed out the memory card.
My flash started taking longer to recharge but the light was bright enough that I could shoot at ISO 400 1/60 f2.8. I put the flash away and start shooting natural light. A martial arts group came in to do a demo. I get hit in the head with flying board pieces. My settings did not really net me anything useable. The other guy gets some great shots.
The dancers from the last event show up. I get more aggressive this time and am in their ranks, getting closeups. I get some OK shots but I am missing my flash. I grab it, but I cant get anything more out of it. I have rechargeable batteries, but why oh why did I not buy spares?!?.
If you saw my last thread, you know that the lead dancer is stunning. I photographed her with available last timeI want to do her justice this time. I take a deep breath and raise my internal flash. I am not happy with the way those turned out. After using bounced flash for months, the popup flash looks .bad.
The dancers are dancing, I am focusing on the lead. Its funny, but I am dancing with hersort of. I am trying to keep her in focus while getting motion blur on the rest of the group. I see my chance, get focus lock and ..nothing. The shutter wont open.
I try again and again. I can get the shutter to fire once every 5-10 seconds. Im thinking about how my Nikon warranty has just ended and I wont be able to replace the camera until next year.
After the dance is over, I pack up my stuff and we head home. I wasnt driving, so I was able to confirm that the camera was working normally once more. Overheating?
The fun continues during PP. I have these grand ideas for working the images. I wish Redsky made scripts for PSP. I got rid of the crap and ended up with 700 from my original 1200. I develop and convert. The next day I delete, make some changes to ASP and convert. I found out that I converted them to JPG and deleted them again, this time making sure to convert to TIF.
I should be finished with everything by next Friday at this rate.
Apr 11, 2012 13:49:16 #
MsJ
Loc: Northern Indiana
Boy...that was a definite "AW SH*T!" kind of day! Hope things are better now! :)
Apr 11, 2012 14:08:29 #
I have to give you serious PROPS for hangin-in there through all of that buddy. And give yourself the same because 700 keepers out of 1200 is pretty damned good if you ask me! :thumbup:
Apr 11, 2012 14:16:29 #
AVarley wrote:
I have to give you serious PROPS for hangin-in there through all of that buddy. And give yourself the same because 700 keepers out of 1200 is pretty damned good if you ask me! :thumbup:
Well there are keepers and then there are keepers. I won't delete any of the 700, but most will never be seen by anyone.
Some are good exposures that don't really tell a story to me, or too similar to others.
Some are just too embarrasing--for them not me.
Apr 11, 2012 14:58:13 #
GrandmaJoy
Loc: North Carolina
You definitely sound professional. Congrats on staying through the entire ordeal. 'One of those days will be your best day yet"
Apr 11, 2012 15:09:15 #
Nice work on keeping it professional at a hard time like that. The more photos you take, that harder you're going to become on yourself during p/p. It helps you become a better photographer. I am the same way at times when evalutating my photos.
Apr 11, 2012 15:36:43 #
What a great experience, Henry! And what a great experience to have Behind you!
Sounds like your camera battery may have been overheating some. It's just a guess, but maybe after all that shooting and then starting to use the pop-up flash it may have just been too much!
Sounds like you carried on like a pro and made the best of the situation. Good goin' buddy!
Sounds like your camera battery may have been overheating some. It's just a guess, but maybe after all that shooting and then starting to use the pop-up flash it may have just been too much!
Sounds like you carried on like a pro and made the best of the situation. Good goin' buddy!
Apr 12, 2012 08:53:46 #
hlmichel wrote:
Have you ever had one of those days? A friend had a 40 year anniversary partyI was asked to photograph.
That's why I do landscapes - movement is on a geological scale, and that doesn't bother me.
Apr 12, 2012 08:56:04 #
rayford2
Loc: New Bethlehem, PA
Sometimes a serenity prayer helps in these type of situations.
Glad to see you didn't panic and made do with what you had to work with.
Glad to see you didn't panic and made do with what you had to work with.
Apr 12, 2012 09:05:34 #
jerryc41 wrote:
That's why I do landscapes - movement is on a geological scale, and that doesn't bother me.
hlmichel wrote:
Have you ever had one of those days? A friend had a 40 year anniversary partyI was asked to photograph.
That's why I do landscapes - movement is on a geological scale, and that doesn't bother me.
When I bought the camera, I told myself that I would never point my lens at a human--except for my kids. Wildlife and Landscapes were going to be my thing.
Found out later that I have no talent for landscapes, but I keep trying.
Apr 12, 2012 09:07:33 #
I learned a version of the serenity prayer that I'd like to share (hopefully not offend anyone):
Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to hide the bodies of those I had to kill because they ticked me off!
Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to hide the bodies of those I had to kill because they ticked me off!
Apr 12, 2012 09:13:18 #
oldmalky
Loc: West Midlands,England.
If taking photographs ever bores you turn your hand to writing i was taking the pics with you all the way through and was hoping for a TO BE CONTINUED at the end, well done for sheer effort.
Apr 12, 2012 09:21:17 #
Here is one of the shots from that night. I haven't done much other than RAW processing. The subject is almost lost in the background, but I may keep this one for myself.
No flash 1/80 800 ISO f2.2
No flash 1/80 800 ISO f2.2
If I had opened up to 1.8 I may have been able to stop the action better, but what would be the fun in that?
Apr 12, 2012 09:22:45 #
hlmichel wrote:
When I bought the camera, I told myself that I would never point my lens at a human--except for my kids. Wildlife and Landscapes were going to be my thing.
Found out later that I have no talent for landscapes, but I keep trying.
Found out later that I have no talent for landscapes, but I keep trying.
I'm the exact opposite, I do NOT get people at all ... so landscapes are my thing. As to talent for those landscapes, I'm not so sure either ... but I keep trying too.
Apr 12, 2012 09:23:36 #
oldmalky wrote:
If taking photographs ever bores you turn your hand to writing i was taking the pics with you all the way through and was hoping for a TO BE CONTINUED at the end, well done for sheer effort.
Writing is actually my first love. Fantasy mostly, though I do have a small selection of light horror short stories. I do have a book that I was working on--put it aside for awhile.
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