Owning up to our most serious photography mistakes !
Feb 25, 2016 10:32:26 #
Good morning wishes and greetings to all UHH members !
Day in and day out, many among us will post messages wanting to talk about our cameras, our lenses, our tripods, and even the post processing software that we like best. Then, every now and then, others will post a string of nicely captured photos hoping for positive feedback from other members who are best known for saying, "nice job", "great photos", etc, etc, but none of us have ever taken a moment in time to admit to others and or to talk about the most serious photography mistake we have ever made ! :)
Today, I propose to all of us that we share with our fellow forum members the worst mistake that we have ever made with our photography.
Come on guys & gals, you can do it and join in on the fun ! :):):):)
Ok, I will be the very first to admit and share with all of our forum members my most serious photography mistake and here it is:
Back around 1971, a time when the Mamiya RB67 had first come upon the market, a close friend of mine who was a professional wedding photographer had mistakenly overbooked a wedding shoot that he was to take on a Saturday afternoon. It was a time when I was in my late twenties, but I had already made a name for myself by winning top honors in local competitions and by winning medals in the Photographic Society of America's salon competitions ~ many of which were not only in the lower 48 states, but some were in foreign countries as well. Knowing this about me, my friend had asked me to fill in for him and shoot the wedding that he had overbooked on a particular Saturday afternoon and he had even loaned me one of his Mamiya RB67 cameras to do the shoot. (Of course, many of you already know that the RB67 was a very popular film camera in its day which took roll film in a 2-1/4" x 2-3/4" format and when using the camera to shoot vertical shots, the camera's back had to be rotated so that the film would be phased in a vertical position). Well, I am sure that you know what happened thereafter ! YEP, when taking many of the wedding shots which were required, I had neglected to rotate the camera's back when I thought that I was taking vertical shots and the outcome, (OH, MY), was a slew of horizontal photographs which were supposed to be vertical shots, and the results were a whole lot of photographs with headless people ! :(:(:(:(
Luckily, my friend was able to salvage enough photos to fill an album and he was such a nice guy whereby he didn't tell me what I had done until several years later !
Ok, guys and gals, it's now your turn ! Tell us all about your most serious photography mistake, and if you are like me, just tell yourself that if whatever it was that you had done didn't kill you, it had made you much stronger and far, far wiser ! :)
~ Doug ~
Day in and day out, many among us will post messages wanting to talk about our cameras, our lenses, our tripods, and even the post processing software that we like best. Then, every now and then, others will post a string of nicely captured photos hoping for positive feedback from other members who are best known for saying, "nice job", "great photos", etc, etc, but none of us have ever taken a moment in time to admit to others and or to talk about the most serious photography mistake we have ever made ! :)
Today, I propose to all of us that we share with our fellow forum members the worst mistake that we have ever made with our photography.
Come on guys & gals, you can do it and join in on the fun ! :):):):)
Ok, I will be the very first to admit and share with all of our forum members my most serious photography mistake and here it is:
Back around 1971, a time when the Mamiya RB67 had first come upon the market, a close friend of mine who was a professional wedding photographer had mistakenly overbooked a wedding shoot that he was to take on a Saturday afternoon. It was a time when I was in my late twenties, but I had already made a name for myself by winning top honors in local competitions and by winning medals in the Photographic Society of America's salon competitions ~ many of which were not only in the lower 48 states, but some were in foreign countries as well. Knowing this about me, my friend had asked me to fill in for him and shoot the wedding that he had overbooked on a particular Saturday afternoon and he had even loaned me one of his Mamiya RB67 cameras to do the shoot. (Of course, many of you already know that the RB67 was a very popular film camera in its day which took roll film in a 2-1/4" x 2-3/4" format and when using the camera to shoot vertical shots, the camera's back had to be rotated so that the film would be phased in a vertical position). Well, I am sure that you know what happened thereafter ! YEP, when taking many of the wedding shots which were required, I had neglected to rotate the camera's back when I thought that I was taking vertical shots and the outcome, (OH, MY), was a slew of horizontal photographs which were supposed to be vertical shots, and the results were a whole lot of photographs with headless people ! :(:(:(:(
Luckily, my friend was able to salvage enough photos to fill an album and he was such a nice guy whereby he didn't tell me what I had done until several years later !
Ok, guys and gals, it's now your turn ! Tell us all about your most serious photography mistake, and if you are like me, just tell yourself that if whatever it was that you had done didn't kill you, it had made you much stronger and far, far wiser ! :)
~ Doug ~
Feb 25, 2016 10:47:50 #
It would be far quicker to enumerate successes! So much has fallen in the trash over the last 55 years.
I remember developing a roll of film for a friend when I was ten years old. I had just mixed the developer, and forgot to cool it to 68F. The emulsion slid right off the film!
That was one of thousands of object lessons...
I remember developing a roll of film for a friend when I was ten years old. I had just mixed the developer, and forgot to cool it to 68F. The emulsion slid right off the film!
That was one of thousands of object lessons...
Feb 25, 2016 10:55:08 #
Shot my sister's wedding (my first) with a Mamiya C-330.
I had an 80mm and a 55mm wide angle.
It was an indoor evening wedding, so I used electronic flash.
The MVX sync switch was notorious for slipping.
Every photo taken with the 55 came out great.
With the 80, the switch had moved to "M" so the flash fired before the shutter even opened.
They are still married but she jokes with me about not getting very good photos.
Years later, I shot a high school football game with my RB-67 and a Braun RL-515 flash. I remembered the recycle time was incredibly fast but thought nothing more about it until I processed the film later that evening. I got only 2 or three images and they were lit pretty dramatically......by another photog's flash. I had forgotten my sync cord!!!
The paper ran the dramatically-lit shot of a touch-down from the end zone. :oops:
I had an 80mm and a 55mm wide angle.
It was an indoor evening wedding, so I used electronic flash.
The MVX sync switch was notorious for slipping.
Every photo taken with the 55 came out great.
With the 80, the switch had moved to "M" so the flash fired before the shutter even opened.
They are still married but she jokes with me about not getting very good photos.
Years later, I shot a high school football game with my RB-67 and a Braun RL-515 flash. I remembered the recycle time was incredibly fast but thought nothing more about it until I processed the film later that evening. I got only 2 or three images and they were lit pretty dramatically......by another photog's flash. I had forgotten my sync cord!!!
The paper ran the dramatically-lit shot of a touch-down from the end zone. :oops:
Feb 25, 2016 11:08:35 #
GoofyNewfie wrote:
Shot my sister's wedding with a Mamiya C-330.
I had an 80 and a 55 wide angle.
It was an evening wedding, inside, so I used electronic flash.
The MVX sync switch was notorious for slipping.
Every photo taken with the 55 came out great.
With the 80, the switch had moved to "M" so the flash fired before the shutter even opened.
They are still married but she jokes with me about not getting very good photos.
I had an 80 and a 55 wide angle.
It was an evening wedding, inside, so I used electronic flash.
The MVX sync switch was notorious for slipping.
Every photo taken with the 55 came out great.
With the 80, the switch had moved to "M" so the flash fired before the shutter even opened.
They are still married but she jokes with me about not getting very good photos.
I had several TLR experiences like that!
Feb 25, 2016 11:15:15 #
burkphoto wrote:
I had several TLR experiences like that!
I taped the switch down after that!
Feb 25, 2016 11:19:23 #
GoofyNewfie wrote:
I taped the switch down after that!
I had a friend who soldered the damned thing on his Yashicamat 124G...
Feb 25, 2016 11:20:05 #
paulrph1
Loc: Washington, Utah
I try not to dwell on my mistakes they are too painful. And one could also call a so-so photograph a mistake if push comes to shove. I have seen many professional photographers that I would consider their best as not good enough.
That being said I think my most glaring mistake was I was shooting a building at night so I adjusted the camera for a different light source. I forgot to reset the camera back so the next day during daylight we made and extensive trip and all of the photographs were shot under the wrong light. It would not have been so bad if I could have returned.
That being said I think my most glaring mistake was I was shooting a building at night so I adjusted the camera for a different light source. I forgot to reset the camera back so the next day during daylight we made and extensive trip and all of the photographs were shot under the wrong light. It would not have been so bad if I could have returned.
Feb 25, 2016 11:31:39 #
paulrph1 wrote:
I try not to dwell on my mistakes they are too pai... (show quote)
I think this has probably happened to most of us. We shoot one setting in the evening and get everything just right for low light shots and then forget to reset for bright sunlight the next morning.
Feb 25, 2016 11:46:35 #
I have two. One with which ended up being beneficial. I was able to work around the other.
The work around was the result of the leader not being caught by the take up spool. This was at a dragstrip for which I worked. The result a complete roll of film never being exposed. I didn't realize this until after I developed the film.
Fortunately, this was not an event weekend. As a result, it was mostly local guys racing. I had a good supply of former weekend sessions and used some of those for the weekly submission to two drag racing publications.
I then learned tricks to make sure the film was advancing in the camera. This was also around the start of doing photography seriously.
The second mistake, which proved beneficial, was years later. I was just testing some exposure processes. I took about 6 photographs and headed into the darkroom to develop the film. I wasn't paying complete attention to which chemical I grabbed and proceeded to process the roll of film.
The results were almost opaque rectangles where images should have been. Although most would have simply cursed and thrown the film out, I was curious as to what happened. So, I did the experiments again. This time paying attention to where I stood and what I grabbed for the processing. Ah ha. that was it. I grabbed the wrong bottle.
OK, so now let's look at those ruined negatives. They had images on them, only they appeared terribly over exposed. As a result of this, I was able to shoot Tri-X at something over ASA6400. This proved useful in several future assignments, one with a local police dept., the other with a private investigator.
--Bob
The work around was the result of the leader not being caught by the take up spool. This was at a dragstrip for which I worked. The result a complete roll of film never being exposed. I didn't realize this until after I developed the film.
Fortunately, this was not an event weekend. As a result, it was mostly local guys racing. I had a good supply of former weekend sessions and used some of those for the weekly submission to two drag racing publications.
I then learned tricks to make sure the film was advancing in the camera. This was also around the start of doing photography seriously.
The second mistake, which proved beneficial, was years later. I was just testing some exposure processes. I took about 6 photographs and headed into the darkroom to develop the film. I wasn't paying complete attention to which chemical I grabbed and proceeded to process the roll of film.
The results were almost opaque rectangles where images should have been. Although most would have simply cursed and thrown the film out, I was curious as to what happened. So, I did the experiments again. This time paying attention to where I stood and what I grabbed for the processing. Ah ha. that was it. I grabbed the wrong bottle.
OK, so now let's look at those ruined negatives. They had images on them, only they appeared terribly over exposed. As a result of this, I was able to shoot Tri-X at something over ASA6400. This proved useful in several future assignments, one with a local police dept., the other with a private investigator.
--Bob
Feb 25, 2016 12:58:13 #
Had a film poorly inserted in a RB67. Did not advance, shot all the formals with it at a wedding...
Realized the error while driving to the reception.
Reposed everything is different setting w/o saying a word, no one saw the difference!!! (tightly cropped so as the surroundings became nearly invisible).
----
Intimate portrait of a mother and daughter, flash did not fire. Turned out to be the best seller and I used it as 'wallet business card' for a while.
----
Went to the wrong location, same name, same city, different area (East vs West)...
Realized the error while driving to the reception.
Reposed everything is different setting w/o saying a word, no one saw the difference!!! (tightly cropped so as the surroundings became nearly invisible).
----
Intimate portrait of a mother and daughter, flash did not fire. Turned out to be the best seller and I used it as 'wallet business card' for a while.
----
Went to the wrong location, same name, same city, different area (East vs West)...
Feb 25, 2016 13:03:43 #
Rongnongno wrote:
Realized the error while driving to the reception.
Realized the error while driving to the reception.
Talk about distracted driving!
----
Rongnongno wrote:
Went to the wrong location, same name, same city, different area (East vs West)...
Went to the wrong location, same name, same city, different area (East vs West)...
Woops!
I went to an event last fall...one week early.
(better than a week late...)
Feb 25, 2016 13:06:03 #
GoofyNewfie wrote:
Talk about distracted driving!
More like panicky wife!!!! :shock: :lol: :lol: :lol:
She was my assistant at the time.
Feb 25, 2016 13:07:19 #
Rongnongno wrote:
More like panicky wife!!!! :shock: :lol: :lol: :lol:
She was my assistant at the time.
She was my assistant at the time.
Brave man!!! (and wife)
Feb 25, 2016 13:31:46 #
Deja Vu! I did exactly the same shooting a wedding with an RB67. Forgot to rotate the back after taking a horizontal shot and took the top off all the heads (DESPITE the red lines in the viewfinder). I was saved because I had my trusty Canon F1 on another tripod next to it as a redundant camera. Knowing I was new at weddings (I had shot about 6 at the time) and the consequences of screwing up, I always used redundant cameras for the posed group shots. Advice: leave weddings to the pros, or risk serious retribution if you make a mistake! My youngest is getting married in October, and we're hiring a pro.
Feb 25, 2016 13:37:37 #
Ever shoot Kodak CPS color film? It couldn't be pushed beyond 800 ASA without color shifting.
I was shooting rock concerts in the early 70's, usually shot with Tri-X pushed up to 3200. I mistakenly loaded CPS. Color was so poor under any of the varying lighting nothing on that roll was usable. Even tried printing B&W, but nothing worked. Shot two other rolls of Tri-X, so had something to print, but missed some spectacular shots of the Marshal Tucker Band.
Editor was not happy.
I was shooting rock concerts in the early 70's, usually shot with Tri-X pushed up to 3200. I mistakenly loaded CPS. Color was so poor under any of the varying lighting nothing on that roll was usable. Even tried printing B&W, but nothing worked. Shot two other rolls of Tri-X, so had something to print, but missed some spectacular shots of the Marshal Tucker Band.
Editor was not happy.
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