Never Mess Up Another Shot

[Steve]

If there's one habit you should try to get into, it's looking at your settings each and every time the viewfinder comes to your eye. So many times in the excitement of the moment, we bring the camera to our eye and start shooting away, only later to realize we have the wrong shutter speed, F/stop, ISO, or Exposure Compensation set.

The solution?

Get into the habit of glancing at those settings in the viewfinder each and every time you bring the camera to your eye. I'm not gonna lie, it's tough, but it's worth the effort. The best advice may be to keep a camera handy where you work or while yours relaxing at night. Pick it up and look at the settings over and over. Eventually, it'll become habit and even in the heat of the moment you'll remember to look.

 

[emschmitt]

Good tip absolutely true. Thank you

 

[Charlie Lasswell]

'Never mess up another shot'? I think you greatly exaggerate my abilities. There are so many ways to mess up, but this is a good tip. I've been screwing up those setting a lot lately and this should improve my methods (or lack thereof).

 

[Steve]

'Never mess up another shot'? I think you greatly exaggerate my abilities. There are so many ways to mess up, but this is a good tip. I've been screwing up those setting a lot lately and this should improve my methods (or lack thereof).

 

[Ahmed Aziz]

Happens to me ALL the time. Great reminder Steve

 

[Palouse]

I do, I see, but my brain refuses to admit the settings are wrong—last fall I shot a whole bunch of seascapes at f/29.

 

[Steve]

I do, I see, but my brain refuses to admit the settings are wrong—last fall I shot a whole bunch of seascapes at f/29.

LOL

 

[billstek]

LOL

At least the diffraction was in focus...

 

[Rajba]

WoW! Really great tip, Steve! I increase the ISO one evening and then next morning forget to reduce that ISO 3200 and end up shooting grainy frames of once-in-a-lifetime wildlife moments! :( :(

 

[Steve]

WoW! Really great tip, Steve! I increase the ISO one evening and then next morning forget to reduce that ISO 3200 and end up shooting grainy frames of once-in-a-lifetime wildlife moments! :( :(

Been there, done that for sure!

 

[gaknott]

So true. I am very guilty of having settings for a shot and leave them there for the next series of shots without checking. It seems like I have to take my eye off the subject and look down to check them and it has been hard to get in the habit of doing it! Great tip!

 

[Steve Waycott]

I was, sadly, reminded of the importance of checking your settings only a couple days ago. I was photographing great hordes of migrating sandpipers and I wanted to use a lower shutter speed to capture some of the crazy motion, so I cranked it down and (without noticing that I was severely over exposing because even with the camera set to Auto ISO I had exceeded its capacity to adjust properly) fired away. I actually got a couple of really nice images, except they are so blown out that they are unrecoverable and look like crap, despite my best effort to salvage them in LR. I am not happy with myself.

 

[gbodave]

A fall back option is to save settings to "User setting 1" and "User setting 2" or assign regularly used settings to a button.

 

[gbodave]

In a number of FB Groups I regularly see people complaining that a certain setting wasn't right. Usually, it's when using AP or SP mode and the camera is choosing at least one setting which can often turn out to be wrong.

So, yes, continually check in the viewfinder and if the SS or F number isn't right there is an opportunity to correct it before wasting a shot.

 

[BorderBirder]

I was, sadly, reminded of the importance of checking your settings only a couple days ago. I was photographing great hordes of migrating sandpipers and I wanted to use a lower shutter speed to capture some of the crazy motion, so I cranked it down and (without noticing that I was severely over exposing because even with the camera set to Auto ISO I had exceeded its capacity to adjust properly) fired away. I actually got a couple of really nice images, except they are so blown out that they are unrecoverable and look like crap, despite my best effort to salvage them in LR. I am not happy with myself.

Bugger!

 

[geok]

Great reminder...I often leave the exposure compensation set when it shouldn't be.

 

[Steve]

Great reminder...I often leave the exposure compensation set when it shouldn't be.

If I'm going to make a mistake, that's usually where I do it too. I'm good about checking the normal settings, but in M + Auto ISO you don't see the amount of exp comp showing on the sidebar, just the little +/- icon. When I'm in a hurry, I sometimes miss it...

 

[Chrisjim]

Forgot to switch focus limiter to full from 6metres to infinity. A bird I had not seen before a Dartford warbler was happily flitting from branch to branch about 4metres away. The trash bin was on overtime that night :(

 

[copsoumik]

Great reminder . I shall try to Keep it in mind .

 

[Graham Clark]

Hands up if you ever changed from KM200 to Kodachrome 64 and forgot to turn the ASA dial

 

[Steve]

Hands up if you ever changed from KM200 to Kodachrome 64 and forgot to turn the ASA dial

 

[Leame]

'Never mess up another shot'? I think you greatly exaggerate my abilities. There are so many ways to mess up, but this is a good tip. I've been screwing up those setting a lot lately and this should improve my methods (or lack thereof).

Ditto!!

 

[Wng'Nt]

One thing I try to do, and I'll bet others do too, which has a similar goal in mind, is to reset my settings either at the end of a shoot or just before going out, to a baseline ISO, f-stop, aperture, and exposure compensation. That way I know where I'm at when I begin. This is especially helpful when shooting in the evening and then going back out the next morning before dawn or there are several days in between shoots. Doesn't mean I don't mess up during the shoot, done that enough, but it has certainly helped, particularly when I'm hyper excited about hitting the marsh before the light beats me there.

 

[Steve]

One thing I try to do, and I'll bet others do too, which has a similar goal in mind, is to reset my settings either at the end of a shoot or just before going out, to a baseline ISO, f-stop, aperture, and exposure compensation. That way I know where I'm at when I begin. This is especially helpful when shooting in the evening and then going back out the next morning before dawn or there are several days in between shoots. Doesn't mean I don't mess up during the shoot, done that enough, but it has certainly helped, particularly when I'm hyper excited about hitting the marsh before the light beats me there.

Yup, that's excellent advice!!

 

[sathca]

I made a label on my label maker that I out under the eye piece. It says simply "settings?" Do I look at it every time? No! But I look at the settings more often now than I ever did!