A trouble shared

[Bruce Williams]

Needed to air my frustration and disappointment in the hope of reducing blood pressure and regaining sense of proportion. First off - it was entirely my fault!

This morning I spent the best part of three hours looking for and photographing insects with my Nikon D80 and 105mm VR macro lens. It was one of my most productive sessions this year and I returned home with a real sense of excitement and expectation. In all I took 214 photos.

I loaded the camera card onto the computer and started to review my images. After viewing half a dozen very blurry pics I did a quick check on aperture. It was f/3.8 (For insects I ALWAYS use aperture priority with aperture set to f/18). At this point I knew that all my remaining pics would be impossibly blurry due to the minute depth of field at f/3.8. Ultimately I managed to get one halfway decent image by merging 2 pics see this posting: Help to identify unusual insect

....but the rest had to be consigned to the bin.

So hopefully lesson learned (maybe) - always check that the settings haven't been accidentally changed before each session.

Bruce

[BruceP]

.... and keep checking the display especially the histograms.

[matt_xyz]

that's a shame Bruce, I can understand your disappointment and frustration. In the past I've made similar mistakes such as accidentally leaving the camera on ISO 1600.

Matt

[Chris_Johnstone]

At the risk of sounding old and wizen... If I had a penny for every time I'd done something like that...

Luckily, I have realised my mistake before 20 odd images. Sorry to hear you had a productive day spoiled.

Chris

[Ollie]

Sorry to hear that Bruce.

On a very similar note to Matt's reply, last time I went out I spent at least two hours with the camera set at ISO 100 instead of the usual ISO 400 I would use for insect photography.

I thought the shutter speeds were rather slow but even then I didn't twig or look at the IS0 setting. Just thought it was because it was rather overcast.

I did get a few decent shots but many were consigned to the bin as they were blurred due to the slow shutter speeds. Sometimes the obvious has to smack me in the face before I wake up.
Roger

[Wild-Woman]

Very frustrating Bruce-but you have the consolation knowing the fact that you have loaded some absolutely stunning images to the gallery, have had us all running around in circles with things we've never clapped eyes on before and knowing that next time-you'll check!
Chin up mate-if I took pictures half as good as yours, I'd be a very happy bunny.

[Bruce Williams]

Thank you all for your kind words and for sharing some of your own head-in-hands experiences....and Jules, your words are most generous and yes, you can be sure I'll pre check my settings in future.

By way of an update on this mornings experience, I decided to revisit the same site in the hope of recapturing some of the lost pics. Maggy (my dog) couldn't believe her luck having two long walks in one day.

Of course I didn't get the same photo opportunities but I did photograph two separate mating pairs of Liancalus virens. I also got to watch one very persistent male court a female for a full 10 minutes without success. Actually he did manage to mount her at one point but within seconds she had shrugged him off. I was ready with my camera of course but sadly he won't get a place in the WAB Gallery.

Bruce

[mh68]

My main one is forgetting to turn off mirror lockup/self timer when i`ve been out taking pics at dusk.....then the next day I`ll go outside into the garden to photograph something and end up cursing

Mark H

[pressld2]

Originally Posted by mh68

My main one is forgetting to turn off mirror lockup/self timer when i`ve been out taking pics at dusk

Yep, I've done that. And the ISO 1600 one and also forgotten to reset after using exposure compensation. In fact it's a bit surprising I ever manage to get any "keepers" at all!

Dave P.

[Hobjob]

Forgetting to take out a CF card is my commonest booboo.
Nowadays I carry a spare in my wallet !

But I've done all the above

[ron1863]

I've did the ISO thing a few times, mostly due to the Sony A100 having a very sensitive control when changing it. Very easy to move the cursor on the menu system to 1600 ISO when you actually want 100 IS0. I always check when changing now.