Duh moments

So, I usually shoot in AV or TV. Tonight I was doing some practice shots and working on getting proper exposure in complete M, with OCF.

I've also recently switched to back button auto focus.

So in part of my experimenting tonight after I felt I had really nailed exposure, and could see differences when adjusting flash outputs, bouncing off various surfaces, difusing, etc, I decided I wanted to practice a little bit with with the different types of metering, and seeing how my shots would be impacted by different metering, and really getting drastic with exposure lock and focus/recomposing...

Well... I sat here for a good 5 minutes, wondering WTF was going on, because I really could not get my exposure to be any different, even with spot metering right on the white teddy bear that was my subject, or the dark red shirt that the bear wears.

It took several minutes, to finally hit me.... M doesn't care how my camera meters.

So, felt like it's something I really shouldn't have gotten stumped on, but... there I was. Made me curious what sort of duh moments other people have had.

Taking about 10 minutes of B-Roll video for a friend wondering why my video was so damn blue. AWB! Got some good footage after changing my WB T_T

I once spent two hours shooting, and then realized I'd forgotten to put film in the camera.

HAha oh no! I remember when I was in about fourth grade, my parents had let me take some very cheap SLR on a school vacation (if I recall this was a free camera given to them when they signed up for 1 year of film processing). Well, I got the overview on how to use it, and was given one roll of 24 exposure film. I remember my dad telling me "When the winder won't move anymore, then you're at the end of the roll." Well, I ran out of film much sooner than I wanted too. Being curious, I noticed this little button on the camera, that if I pushed it, I could get one more picture out of it! I kept pushing this button and exposing over and over... had no idea that button was meant to allow for a dual exposure, well that last bit of film probably got 15 or 20 exposures, and was a very interesting looking mesh of mostly white when the film came back from processing hahaha

When I was about 7 years old, my folks gave me my first camera - a Brownie Holiday Flash camera which used 127 roll film. My folks helped to show me how to load the first roll of film. I went all over the place taking pictures. Then, I really wanted to see my pictures so I simply opened up the camera. That was the beginning of my first real lesson about film.

Ephur wrote in post #14581256
So, felt like it's something I really shouldn't have gotten stumped on, but... there I was. Made me curious what sort of duh moments other people have had.

one time I noticed things weren't focusing right, accidentally left the active AF point on the corner

While trying to get into back button focus, which I'm not sure I will stick with for the T3, I've often found myself forgetting that I've made this change the first time I pick up the camera for the day. "What is going on? Why isn't it focusing... oh, wait..."

I remember the first time I saw a car shot in a studio. None of the lights were aimed at the car. They were all on something else, like a big white "flat"that reflected in the body. That was a big "D'oh moment!" for me.

Shooting a show a couple of years ago, was still pretty green and didn't have my workflow down or my gear organized. I had recently gotten a couple of new memory cards and a Pelican case for them. Well, during the show my memory card got full, so I went to swap out cards, and couldn't find my memory card case. Panic! It's not in my pants pocket, it's not in my wife's purse. I must have left it in the camera bag in the car. So I leave the show, go out to the car, search through the camera bag and the trunk. It's not there. Go back in.. are you SURE it's not in your purse? Nope, it's nowhere. Well, I must have left it at home.

So I spent the second half of the show scrolling through the memory card to delete any non-keepers, and being VERY careful with what shots I took so I could make the best use of the little space I had remaining.

When I got home, I go looking for the memory card case. Can't find it. It's gone, lost... oops, nope, here it is! Right in the inside pocket of the jacket that I wore to the show. Right where I put it so it would be handy and easily accessible during the show.

Well, that's one of many mistakes that I will not make again.

That's the nice thing about "duh" moments. You bungle something exactly once, and then you never make that mistake again. Here are a few others from which I have learned the hard lesson:
- Using Tv mode without bothering to check what metering mode it was on (oops)
- Formatting the memory card without triple-checking to make sure the photos are uploaded to the computer (OUCH)
- Leaving the camera bag un-zipped (DOUBLE OUCH)
- Doing paid work without a signed contract (oohhhh nooooooooo)

PhotosGuy wrote in post #14582832
I remember the first time I saw a car shot in a studio. None of the lights were aimed at the car. They were all on something else, like a big white "flat"that reflected in the body. That was a big "D'oh moment!" for me.

Now that's a really nice studio you linked.

My "D'oh!" moments include forgetting to change white balance setting on camera, taking shots without the memory card (not for long, but still), forgetting to change ISO, etc.

Haha these stories bring a smile to my face, not because I enjoy the misery of others but because it's nice to know I'm in good company!

Re: leaving the camera bag unzipped... I had some of my lenses in my bag on a counter while taking some headshots for a friend of a friend. Then my friend in effort to be helpful decides to move my bag from the counter (okay not sure why) and my 50/1.4 and 85/1.8 lenses both took three foot falls to the hard tile floor. The thunking sound was one of the worst I've ever heard. They both seem okay, except the metal mount on the 50mm is slightly bent so it's a little 'extra' snug when mounting now.

Ephur wrote in post #14582938
Haha these stories bring a smile to my face, not because I enjoy the misery of others but because it's nice to know I'm in good company!

Re: leaving the camera bag unzipped... I had some of my lenses in my bag on a counter while taking some headshots for a friend of a friend. Then my friend in effort to be helpful decides to move my bag from the counter (okay not sure why) and my 50/1.4 and 85/1.8 lenses both took three foot falls to the hard tile floor. The thunking sound was one of the worst I've ever heard. They both seem okay, except the metal mount on the 50mm is slightly bent so it's a little 'extra' snug when mounting now.

Ouch!

SkipD wrote in post #14581796
When I was about 7 years old, my folks gave me my first camera - a Brownie Holiday Flash camera which used 127 roll film. My folks helped to show me how to load the first roll of film. I went all over the place taking pictures. Then, I really wanted to see my pictures so I simply opened up the camera. That was the beginning of my first real lesson about film.

Yup! You can't chimp film!

Loading the backing paper from a roll of 120 Tri-X onto a Paterson tank spool and processing that.


Here's another one. I used to work for the photographic unit of a large industrial plant. I had a habit of unloading my film from the camera, slipping the film into my pocket, whilst walking back to the car. I had just finished a shoot in one of the mills, a real rush job. Walking briskly back to the car and unloading my camera, I dropped the film and instinctively stuck my foot out and kicked the roll of FP4 about 10 metres, the roll landing on the point of the spool. Canister popped open fogging the film. Went back and reshot, made deadline though.