# Stress = Rookie Mistake



## beckylynne (Nov 12, 2015)

Yesterday was a total **** show.  It was Remembrance Day here and my husband is in the Canadian Forces so it's always kind of a big deal.  However, I had a photoshoot booked.  He promised that he would make the time in the day to watch the kids so I could go.  Well he forgot.  Last minute I had to chuck my little guy in the car and tear off to my shoot.

I was right on time but man was I stressed. I jumped out of the car and right into shooting.  For some reason my settings seemed off but the images coming off the back of my camera seemed ok so instead of taking a breath and stopping to see what the issue might be I kept making adjustments as I powered through.

As I was packing up my gear I caught a glimpse of something I hadn't before and I almost threw up all over myself.  I had made the most rookie of mistakes.....a mistake that in my last 15 years shooting I had never done....ever.  I shot the entire family shoot at 3200 freaking ISO.  3200. ISO.  I've never felt like such a giant newb.  It was a very humbling experience actually.

I was able to salvage for the most part....but it's the first time I've ever crossed my fingers and hoped they don't want an enlargement.  Poop.


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## mmaria (Nov 12, 2015)

ok... here's a


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## SquarePeg (Nov 12, 2015)

Ugh - that stinks.  BTDT.  Do you have the Topaz Labs DeNoise plug in?  It's really incredible.


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## beckylynne (Nov 12, 2015)

SquarePeg said:


> Ugh - that stinks.  BTDT.  Do you have the Topaz Labs DeNoise plug in?  It's really incredible.


No, I shot it in raw thankfully which means I was able to smooth it out.  It makes everyone's face look like plastic so I left some of the noise in.  At the end of the day I know they will be happy with them. It's just frustrating when you KNOW you screwed it up.  Makes me feel like they didn't get the best me.  That being said it's just a mini session so they aren't paying for the best me either lol


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## DB_Cro (Nov 12, 2015)

Ouchie. :-/


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## Dave442 (Nov 12, 2015)

The wife looks to be thinking, "is she shooting at 3200"? And the one dog has a serious look as he already told you twice that your shooting at 3200 (I had a golden retriever, they know these things).


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## gsgary (Nov 12, 2015)

Why couldn't you tell because you would be shooting at a very fast shutter speed or small aperture, I used to always reset iso back to 100 after every shoot, if your shooting for money there is no excuse


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## charchri4 (Nov 12, 2015)

Ouch!^

Agreed the wife is reading your stress level like a book.  The wife always knows...


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## Derrel (Nov 12, 2015)

This summer I bought a tank of gas at the Union 76 gas station near my house, then drove the 9/10 of a mile to the freeway and drove about 12 miles thinking about how great the gasoline was, and how peppy the car felt. Turned out I'd been driving in third gear... Do'ah!!!! Even with a floor-mounted shifter indicating 3, not "D", even with the on-dash LED reading "3" and not D, even with the tachometer reading an extra 700 RPM...I was blissfully driving 65 MPH in third gear, stereo blasting, AC running full bore...

I guess the moral of the story is, when you're not paying attention to the displays, Sh!+ happens!


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## beckylynne (Nov 12, 2015)

Derrel said:


> This summer I bought a tank of gas at the Union 76 gas station near my house, then drove the 9/10 of a mile to the freeway and drove about 12 miles thinking about how great the gasoline was, and how peppy the car felt. Turned out I'd been driving in third gear... Do'ah!!!! Even with a floor-mounted shifter indicating 3, not "D", even with the on-dash LED reading "3" and not D, even with the tachometer reading an extra 700 RPM...I was blissfully driving 65 MPH in third gear, stereo blasting, AC running full bore...
> 
> I guess the moral of the story is, when you're not paying attention to the displays, Sh!+ happens!


This was it.  I was mad at my husband for remembering the dead and forgetting the living....my kid was running around.  I was being paid and I delivered a product worthy of what I was paid for.  I've never shot anything at 3200 ISO in my life.  All I can think was maybe one of the kids grabbed my camera and was playing.  It was also set to video mode and I've never shot a video with it....had I not been so preoccupied with my little guy running around and how horribly awkward this family was I would have caught it.  All you can do is learn and move on.  Honestly a mistake that will NEVER happen again.

To the ass who said it's unacceptable for people taking money to mess up.  Pot. Kettle. Black.  Either that or he hasn't been in a business long enough.  My grandfather has traveled the world as a famous professional photographer.  He's photographed the queen upon her invitation on 8 separate occasions.  Once he shot the first half of a wedding with no film in his camera.  He says the same thing....it doesn't even feel the same with no film in it.  He was just so stressed it happened.  His ONLY advice to me when he handed me my fist camera many moons ago was "At some point you will mess up someones wedding, can you live with that and move on."


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## snowbear (Nov 12, 2015)

I've done that.  I did that with film, back before DX canisters and cameras.  I've since gotten into the habit of setting ISO back to 200 when I finish shooting.

Everybody messes up something at least once.  Like Marija, hope this helps.


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## charchri4 (Nov 12, 2015)

I'd like to commend you for posting this and reminding us all we are only human.  Things happen no matter how professional and careful our approach is and it's just the way it is.  It could have just as easily happened to your clients to cause just as much tension to the shoot.  One of them could have forgot to be there, the dog could have puked or whatever.   Had it been a storm you wouldn't have gotten the shot and no one would say it was inexcusable. 

But I have a question if you don't mind on how you handled it from here.  In this situation should one fess up?  I ask because we paid WAY TOO much for a session this summer that any teen with a cel phone could have gotten better shots.   Perhaps your clients don't know those shots are not your best work and they love them and I hope that is the case.  But I really doubt your stress level or distractedness went unnoticed by the couple or the dogs.  Either that or mom and dad are both badly constipated in that shot.  So as a pro how to do approach that?  I'm sure you apologized for having your kids along but did you offer any sort of discount unexpected extras to wow your clients after this?  Did they comment or give you any kind of feedback yet?


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## Dillard (Nov 12, 2015)

Have you thought about a reshoot? You said that it was a mini session so they didn't pay for your best, but do you truly want subpar work being associated with your name?


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## beckylynne (Nov 12, 2015)

charchri4 said:


> I'd like to commend you for posting this and reminding us all we are only human.  Things happen no matter how professional and careful our approach is and it's just the way it is.  It could have just as easily happened to your clients to cause just as much tension to the shoot.  One of them could have forgot to be there, the dog could have puked or whatever.   Had it been a storm you wouldn't have gotten the shot and no one would say it was inexcusable.
> 
> But I have a question if you don't mind on how you handled it from here.  In this situation should one fess up?  I ask because we paid WAY TOO much for a session this summer that any teen with a cel phone could have gotten better shots.   Perhaps your clients don't know those shots are not your best work and they love them and I hope that is the case.  But I really doubt your stress level or distractedness went unnoticed by the couple or the dogs.  Either that or mom and dad are both badly constipated in that shot.  So as a pro how to do approach that?  I'm sure you apologized for having your kids along but did you offer any sort of discount unexpected extras to wow your clients after this?  Did they comment or give you any kind of feedback yet?


I've known the couple for over 16 years 3 of my kids are best friends with their three kids.  They had actually originally asked me to bring ALL my kids to the shoot and stay after for dinner after.  They weren't bothered in the least the my little one was there.  I was calm as a cucumber because that's how I roll.  I laughed and posed and did my thing.  The mother has a massive fear of having her picture taken.  She has a large port wine stain covering the entire left side of her face that she has covered with makeup.  I was battling her anxiety more than anything....I broke out my best jokes but getting a reaction out of her was tough.  She just kept gritting her teeth in a fake smile. She wouldn't hold the smile either....she kept getting distracted by the dogs...her kids pushing and shoving...and I had to repeatedly bring her attention back to me.  I'm no posing genius so I suppose I failed in this area then.

To answer your question she loved the whole session.  She did it for the Christmas Card I was offering with the session.


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## beckylynne (Nov 12, 2015)

Dillard said:


> Have you thought about a reshoot? You said that it was a mini session so they didn't pay for your best, but do you truly want subpar work being associated with your name?


No because she loves the images and they were for a 5x7 Christmas Card so at the end of the day the grain is a non issue.


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## imagemaker46 (Nov 12, 2015)

I've made mistakes all through my career, some I was able to re-shoot, others not so lucky. It happens, and it will happen again, don't stress over it. Stress kills.


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## beckylynne (Nov 12, 2015)

beckylynne said:


> Dillard said:
> 
> 
> > Have you thought about a reshoot? You said that it was a mini session so they didn't pay for your best, but do you truly want subpar work being associated with your name?
> ...


It's not like I just gave her 1 image..the one posted above.  She paid for 15 images and I gave her 30.  She has been a long time friend and client.


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## DB_Cro (Nov 12, 2015)

Dillard said:


> Have you thought about a reshoot? You said that it was a mini session so they didn't pay for your best, but do you truly want subpar work being associated with your name?



THIS caught my eye and was mentioned before.
I always (and think everyone else should) shoot the best that I can.

You never know who will see these shots as the first shots from you and might continue looking for another photographer
just because.. why.. because you didn't give all you had because you were paid less then usual? Not a good idea in my opinion.

I had 2 shoots today, one Jazz Quartet that I wanted to shoot and didn't charge anything, and one paid gig at a nightclub for
my "regular" fee. I did my best on both locations.


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## charlie76 (Nov 12, 2015)

Oh, man!  I can totally feel how your heart must have sunk.  We all have those moments, in all aspects of our lives.  I have them constantly at my job as well.  For me, one wrong measurement...could cost my company tens of thousands easy.  I have one going on right now...just try to put it out of your mind....but always be honest.  The only thing worse than screwing up...is lying about screwing up and getting caught in the lie.


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## beckylynne (Nov 12, 2015)

charlie76 said:


> Oh, man!  I can totally feel how your heart must have sunk.  We all have those moments, in all aspects of our lives.  I have them constantly at my job as well.  For me, one wrong measurement...could cost my company tens of thousands easy.  I have one going on right now...just try to put it out of your mind....but always be honest.  The only thing worse than screwing up...is lying about screwing up and getting caught in the lie.


Yes but clients don't get "technical"  I can't help if people think she has a dumb smile....no I'm not doing a reshoot because of a dumb smile.  The issue was the noise, which is no longer an issue.  The images were for a 5x7 Christmas card.  No harm no foul.  She loves the pictures, she loves the Christmas card....so it is what it is. Live and learn!


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## beckylynne (Nov 12, 2015)

beckylynne said:


> charlie76 said:
> 
> 
> > Oh, man!  I can totally feel how your heart must have sunk.  We all have those moments, in all aspects of our lives.  I have them constantly at my job as well.  For me, one wrong measurement...could cost my company tens of thousands easy.  I have one going on right now...just try to put it out of your mind....but always be honest.  The only thing worse than screwing up...is lying about screwing up and getting caught in the lie.
> ...





 

Regardless of everyone's opinions about lighting, posing, smiles, blah blah blah....my concern was the noise.  If I did a reshoot for every time someone had a stupid smile....I would go broke.


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## Dillard (Nov 12, 2015)

beckylynne said:


> beckylynne said:
> 
> 
> > charlie76 said:
> ...



Wow, don't take things quite so personally, you seem rather defensive about the situation. I wasn't implying that your work was horrible and you needed to reshoot, or that you only provided one image. You're original post and subsequent posts made it seem as if you really shot yourself in the foot, and were going to give them subpar images because of the heavy editing that was needed. I'm glad they were happy.


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## beckylynne (Nov 12, 2015)

Dillard said:


> beckylynne said:
> 
> 
> > beckylynne said:
> ...


Meh not defensive.  Just interesting watching everyone go into critque mode.  Not one person commented on the noise issue so I suppose that's good.


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## tirediron (Nov 13, 2015)

The noise doesn't seem to be an issue; as you said, it's only going to be printed to 5x7, and can easily be "de-noised" if necessary (ISO 3200 - I remember the days when we thought were s**t-hot pushing Tri-X to 1600!  ).  What I do see as an area of concern is the over-bright backgrounds, especially in the family, standing full-length shot.  You have a group with all blonde hair, posed next to pampas grass with bright sun...  why? 
The pose is great; I think that's a really nice family shot ('though I might have turned oldest daughter a bit more to her left), but the bright/blown background is a real concern.  If they were dark-haird, it would have been less so, but as-is...  Two more stops of strobe and this would all have gone away.


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## beckylynne (Nov 13, 2015)

tirediron said:


> The noise doesn't seem to be an issue; as you said, it's only going to be printed to 5x7, and can easily be "de-noised" if necessary (ISO 3200 - I remember the days when we thought were s**t-hot pushing Tri-X to 1600!  ).  What I do see as an area of concern is the over-bright backgrounds, especially in the family, standing full-length shot.  You have a group with all blonde hair, posed next to pampas grass with bright sun...  why?
> The pose is great; I think that's a really nice family shot ('though I might have turned oldest daughter a bit more to her left), but the bright/blown background is a real concern.  If they were dark-haird, it would have been less so, but as-is...  Two more stops of strobe and this would all have gone away.


I posed them in front of the grass because they insisted on it.  I showed her the image and she loved it ans wanted it on the card.....client wants, client gets.  I showed her variations without it but she said it was her favorite photo.  It's my least favorite photo...but at the end of the day it's her card.


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## tirediron (Nov 13, 2015)

Absolutely agree 100% - he pays the bill gets what he wants, but I think the image would have been a lot stronger if you'd knocked the background two stops.


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## charchri4 (Nov 14, 2015)

LOL well I bet you never put up a post like this again!


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## desertrattm2r12 (Dec 24, 2015)

A little paranoia about everything is not such a bad thing. What I don't understand is why you didn't know what shutter speed/f stop you were shooting at. I'm an olde film dude dragged kicking and screaming into digital. Is it so easy these days to just push the button and get on with it without having a clue what the camera is doing?


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## Mr. Innuendo (Dec 25, 2015)

gsgary said:


> Why couldn't you tell because you would be shooting at a very fast shutter speed or small aperture, I used to always reset iso back to 100 after every shoot, if your shooting for money there is no excuse



And she didn't make any.


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## JerryPH (Dec 26, 2015)

First... respect to you for having the guts to talk about your experience.  Second, depending on what kind of camera you use, maybe only minor noise reduction will be needed.  A little noise won't kill the experience, as you know by now.

Lastly... what are the chances that this will ever happen again?  That is where the true lesson lies.  

My friend once shot an entire wedding at ISO 1600.  No biggie until you realize that his camera MAX was 3200, and each shot required a TON of work to correct for in post on his older camera.  Sucked to be him that day... lol.

I am not patting myself on the back in any manner, but I have to thank all the people who have had such issues and I read about them.  Thanks for letting me learn the easy way from your mistakes and never having to have to personally live through anything like this.


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## JerryPH (Dec 26, 2015)

tirediron said:


> Absolutely agree 100% - he pays the bill gets what he wants, but I think the image would have been a lot stronger if you'd knocked the background two stops.


2 stops would have been way too much.  1 stop would have improved the shot a little, but not everyone has knowledge of flash photography nor the equipment.  

And we should be a little careful... when comes to lighting.  After a while, we develop a style and everything looks like a nail for us to pound on with our hammers.  It's important to not fall into a technical routine all the time, and to change things up to keep things fresh and interesting.  Basically I am saying that unflashed photos are not the work of satan... lol.


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## JerryPH (Dec 26, 2015)

desertrattm2r12 said:


> A little paranoia about everything is not such a bad thing. What I don't understand is why you didn't know what shutter speed/f stop you were shooting at. I'm an olde film dude dragged kicking and screaming into digital. Is it so easy these days to just push the button and get on with it without having a clue what the camera is doing?


They said it... The stress of i all, the pressure and all, and they just overlooked the obvious and went by their LCD screen.  That is something that an old film shooter never lived through, and perhaps thats why it is a touch more difficult to understand.  There is no instant gratification when using film.


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## desertrattm2r12 (Dec 26, 2015)

No instant gratification using film? Back "in the day" a lot of cameras were big and heavy and when a perp takes a swing at a news photog and he uses that big, tough Speed Graphic or 10-ton Nikon F with motor drive and attached battery pack to deck the dude -- that's instant gratification.
Seriously, I honestly wondered how that situation got by her. Okay, I understand.
By the way, I just ordered another DSLR Nikon from KEH today. My old one won't work on autofocus with my 80-200 f2.8 Nikkor but my olde film N70 will.


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