Post your best "my assistant ruined my take" pictures.

I don't know if there's a thread covering this but hoepefully you'll realize what i'm talking about by looking at what happened with this take.

Oh! my good 'ol assistant's been a good nice friend of mine for so long but sometimes he makes mistakes he he....

This is my first ever topic started and i'm proud of this forum and the fun and expert people from whom i've learned so much and not only that but this forum gave birth to the photographer i'm now...

Just living a gorgeous dream when i'm taking photographs...

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Sorry, I may be being dense here (quite possibly, in fact) but I don't see anything spoiling that shot which would appear to be the fault of an assistant. I was expecting to see a second shooter getting in the background, or the edge of a reflector, held by the assistant, being moved into shot.

Everything in that shot looks to be the responsibility of the photographer, not the assistant. What did they do to ruin the shot?

I'd probably miss the stuff on the table too. I'm so bad at clearing out the shot.

you know man not that i'm trying to pick on my assistant as he's so much a nice friend of mine, but s ometimes he tends to place our stuff where he's not supposed to... sometimes he might get in the way while he's in the background and not being able to move out of the frame in time... but i thought it'd be a nice idea...

Photogny i know what you're saying, it is not that we suck at clearing out the shot but you know sometimes you can't adjust the shot in the very moment....

claudiopiedrola wrote in post #14620658
you know man not that i'm trying to pick on my assistant as he's so much a nice friend of mine, but s ometimes he tends to place our stuff where he's not supposed to... sometimes he might get in the way while he's in the background and not being able to move out of the frame in time... but i thought it'd be a nice idea...

Photogny i know what you're saying, it is not that we suck at clearing out the shot but you know sometimes you can't adjust the shot in the very moment....

This doesn't look like a "catch the moment" shot though. Of course you can't shift stuff around when something is happening right now and if you don't grab it, it's gone forever, but this is a posed shot. It would take a few seconds to get your assistant to nip in and move your stuff, that is what assistants are for, you spot what needs changing and get them to change it, while you concentrate on the shot.

OK, the assistant might have left the gear there, but did they know that you were going to do that shot? It seems like a good out of the way corner to put things, otherwise. At the end of the day, it's down to the guy behind the viewfinder to spot stuff in the way and get it moved, or hidden better. To be honest, I find the vertical bars and small blue blob (right next to her hip) far more distracting and obtrusive than the camera bag. I would have tried to hide that behind her, either by adjusting her position slightly, or mine.

Sandpiper thanks for your feedback, it wasn't that posed as you might think as she was so shy and did not want to be alone in the frame.. here's a second shot that happened 2-3 seconds later...i don't do a lot of posing but prefer the espontaneous look... as you can see her girl friends were kinda of laughing making fun of her dear friend...

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The bag is not that obvious, removing the red mark could make it less obvious with very limited work.

I didn't work out what was going on till post 6

But you, as the professional, did take that shot without noticing the bag either, no? I get what you are saying but it's not all on your assistant. Part of being a professional is to notice these things before you shoot. Just sayin'...

definitely agree with you nicksan, but sometimes you know everything happens in a nick of time.. not that i blame it on my assistant but i thought it would be a nice idea for you to post pictures like that.. maybe i did call the thread wrong, it is not that he messed it up, i should have called it post your pictures where your gear happend to make the frame, or whatever you know...

claudiopiedrola wrote in post #14624496
not that i blame it on my assistant

claudiopiedrola wrote in post #14624496
"my assistant ruined my take"

???

Similarly confused.

i'm sure i have some shots where my other shooter was in the way, but it's your job to tell them to move, or crop them out.

claudiopiedrola wrote in post #14624496
definitely agree with you nicksan, but sometimes you know everything happens in a nick of time.. not that i blame it on my assistant but i thought it would be a nice idea for you to post pictures like that.. maybe i did call the thread wrong, it is not that he messed it up, i should have called it post your pictures where your gear happend to make the frame, or whatever you know...

Agree! Often in the heat of the moment, we overlook those things!

I definitely sympathise - I wish people put their bags and rubbish OUT OF the way!

Nicksan nailed it. It was exactly what I was thinking. It is my job as the main photographer to make sure the background is clean. If it is not,I will move it or my assistant will.

Don't blame it on the person who is not pressing the shutter button.

that white dot on her pant leg is more distracting then the OOF gear in the back ground. Both would take 2 seconds in photoshop to remove. A better thread to start is when your shooting an event and there is always that one guy who just got his new dslr from Best Buy and wants to get in the action of every shot at the event trying to convince himself that he is just as good as you. Now that I hate. If you don't want something in the background - ask your assistant to remove it (that is what they are there for) then wait for them to get out of the shot then shoot.