Don’t you hate it when….

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I was shooting some musk lorikeets in a suburban street when an elderly woman approached me and threatened me. Abused me for taking photos of people without permission and demanded to see my authority to take image . I pointed out that my 500 lens was pointed into a tree with birds feeding and that in Australia it is legal to take pictures in public, and nobody needs a photo licence. She went off to call the police. I promised to wait right on that spot to talk to them, but after another hour or so they hadn’t come. I figured they thought bank robbers and muggers were more important . Nobody else has ever threatened me before or since.
 
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IainD said:
I was shooting some musk lorikeets in a suburban street when an elderly woman approached me and threatened me. Abused me for taking photos of people without permission and demanded to see my authority to take image . I pointed out that my 500 lens was pointed into a tree with birds feeding and that in Australia it is legal to take pictures in public, and nobody needs a photo licence. She went off to call the police. I promised to wait right on that spot to talk to them, but after another hour or so they hadn’t come. I figured they thought bank robbers and muggers were more important . Nobody else has ever threatened me before or since.
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One of the tin foil hat brigade.....
 
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geoawelch said:
…you have a flock of geese flying over and crank up your shutter speed to 1/2500 or higher to catch them in flight and then forget to change it back when you resume your Warbler photography?
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It still happens to me especially with EC :cautious:.
That said, it was amazing to observe that it got better after I started using only pro bodies, where I have to reset adjustments manually, compare to my times with U1 and U2 available on my cameras. The reason turned out to be that in the beginning I considered some settings as an exceptional operation that is only required in rare cases. The more I understood that the logic behind exposure metering (thanks to @Steve 's input and recommendation of some people here in the community) more or less "depends" on this kind of manual adjustment and it thus should be part of the normal procedure of shooting an image, the more I remember to do it, and even if I forgot to reset it after taking some images I - in most cases - discover this wrongdoing PRIOR instead of AFTER taking more images requiring a different setting...

But as with many other things I am still miles away from perfection - and thus have to make more intensive use of the post processing tools that I would like to. :D
 
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Have been in Dauphin Island, Alabama, for a couple of weeks and it's been a wonderful trip with lots of birds.

A few days ago we went to photograph shore birds. Had to hike through wet, marshy terrain for 30 minutes to get to the area but there were so many birds, including 200 skimmers, that the messy hike was worth it. It was along the shoreline. As we walked, we were aghast when we saw a woman and her child shooing all the birds away! By the time we got there, almost all the birds were gone.

The few birds that remained were 11 avocets (rare for that area) so it was still worth the effort. While I was lying on the ground photographing them, 2 fishermen asked if they could walk between me and the birds. I replied yes, as long as they weren't walking toward the birds. I told them about the 2 people and the guy said to me "well, you have to share." I kept my mouth shut but I wanted to scream "how does one share if there are no longer any birds?????"
 
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I was out at one of my favorite NWRs last Saturday when a Bald Eagle came flying over the treetops towards me. He then veered off, and as he passed another copse of trees, another Bald Eagle burst out of the trees and flew up to join him. After getting what I thought would be decent shots I noticed that my ev was set to +1 from the day before! The shots weren't totally ruined by this oversight, but they could have been better. (It could have been worse, I've had this happen on other jaunts and the ev was set to +3!)

So now, I pledge that I will ALWAYS check my ev settings whenever I pickup my camera!
 
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geoawelch said:
…you have a flock of geese flying over and crank up your shutter speed to 1/2500 or higher to catch them in flight and then forget to change it back when you resume your Warbler photography?


Any oops moments you care to share?

Cheers,

George
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Being in the middle of a really good shoot with a subject you’ve been tracking for months & the battery runs out & you’ve left the replacements at home as you weren’t expecting to be out long 🤬🤬
 
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markymark said:
Being in the middle of a really good shoot with a subject you’ve been tracking for months & the battery runs out & you’ve left the replacements at home as you weren’t expecting to be out long 🤬🤬
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Had battery in the grip getting weak, checked the battery in the camera showed that it was at 100%, went to 0 as soon as camera switched batteries. Battery just completely died. Last time I have ever used a non Nikon battery. So much for the eagles coming in and out of the nest.
 
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...you're lining up a pretty decent landscape shot of the fall leaves with a stream winding just perfectly away from you, and you're looking through that wide angle lens when a young eagle flies right down the lane toward you...and your 500mm PF hangs from its strap at your side...

True story, happened to me this morning, not more than 3 hours ago.
 
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Funny story about eagles- I travelled to Haines in Alaska to shoot eagles, about ten years ago. The trip director told us about a lady at Haines the week before who had an unfortunate experience. An eagle landed nearby and posed for portraits, but she had a 500mm lens on. Quickly went to change lenses, and the eagle turned and "lightened the load", as one might say, and the "load" splashed into the inside of her lensless camera. I didn't see it happen, but there you go. My source is not known for making up gossip!
 
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I'm on my stomach photographing shorebirds close up, lying completely still, and someone comes walking right next to me scaring off the birds when there is 100' of beach to our left or right but they can't be bothered to not walk in a straight line.
 
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geoawelch said:
…you have a flock of geese flying over and crank up your shutter speed to 1/2500 or higher to catch them in flight and then forget to change it back when you resume your Warbler photography?
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What's also bad is when you are shooting landscapes and see a hawk flying around, so you change your lens but forget to up your shutter speed. This happened to me last week. :( I have some real nice shots of a blurry hawk.
 
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When you're laying prone on the edge of a duck pond with your gear mounted on your homemade groundpod, and it gets mistaken for a rifle. Yes, this actually happened to me. A guy showed up with his girlfriend to feed the ducks and said "Hey I thought you were holding a rifle". I laughed a little and said "Nope it's a camera". I can't see how this setup can be mistaken for a rifle especially with such a wide barrel, but I guess some people are just unfamiliar with telephoto lenses.
 
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Turberticus said:
When you're laying prone on the edge of a duck pond with your gear mounted on your homemade groundpod, and it gets mistaken for a rifle. Yes, this actually happened to me. A guy showed up with his girlfriend to feed the ducks and said "Hey I thought you were holding a rifle". I laughed a little and said "Nope it's a camera". I can't see how this setup can be mistaken for a rifle especially with such a wide barrel, but I guess some people are just unfamiliar with telephoto lenses.
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I had something similar happen. Manfrotto used to make a monopod ball head with an extension that could be used to lean it against a tree or wall, or on the ground to make a makeshift tripod. It was great for travel, but shaped like the folding stock on some rifles. I was walking around Forest Park in St. Louis on a business trip when a police car started to go past me. Suddenly he slammed on his brakes next to me. When he saw there was a camera attached he left, but it was a tense moment for sure.
 
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