Tonight was one of 'those' nights.

Phil Young

Phil Young

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Was photographing an event tonight where I just cane away thinking "Phil... you are a bit rubbish".

Exposures were all over the place, OOF shots, couldn't balance my flash properly, compositional disasters...

End result feeling like I should stick to my landscapes where I can take my time.

Sigh... better get cracking on the computer to polish up these turds.

Anyone else get those days???
 
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Spookily - I've just finished processing 980 images from a party last weekend and I feel exactly the same way!

However, thank goodness for RAW.
Flipping back through the keepers to check for consistency in exposure and white balance I can tell a few have been pushed a bit too hard, but nobody other than another photographer will ever notice.
They aren't technical masterpieces, but I've managed to capture the mood and energy of the evening, and as a bunch of shots I'm actually quite chuffed with them. :)

Go and process them, then report back.
I bet they aren't as bad as you are thinking right now :)
 
I think that it happens in most occupations!
 
Happens to me!!

Have times when I just cant seem to focus or get any decent lighting - but then the next day will be getting great images. I think sometimes you are 'in the zone' and other times you lack inspiration. Working with people though I think you do bounce off the people. If there is no vibe or interaction then it can be tough.
 
cambsno said:
Happens to me!!
Working with people though I think you do bounce off the people. If there is no vibe or interaction then it can be tough.
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100% relate to this.

It was a party with a bunch of actors and I work really well with candids and directed portraits...not so much when I have to go round sucking up to people and seem like I really want to take their portrait whilst they continue their discussion during my shot. Stressful work but I just didn't really want to be doing it to be honest. All I could think about was making sure I got everyone there in good light without people looking funny in the background etc and that meant I wasn't clear thinking about my exposures.

I can safely say...I dislike this kind of Photography and next time I will definitely do it with someone else so we can take turns sucking ass lol.

Having had a look back at the shots, they aren't as bad as I thought - I can work with about 40-50 of them.
 
I get this feeling most times When i see my results lol!

It must be so stressful though when you are taking shots of people at events but hey! you now have plenty of good ones to work with so very well done!
 
Did a day at Brands Hatch a couple of weeks ago, left the IS in Mode 1 on my 100-400, ended up with a couple of cards full of garbage. Schoolboy error :-(
 
I had a day like that today, can usually come back from a day out with the camera with sharp and well exposed shots and with a bit of pp 1 or 2 great shots (imo) and a couple of really good ones for keeps...

Today, everything was soft, flat light and pushing my kit lends to it's full 55mm for most of the day can't have helped, but just one of those days!

A
 
I have them all the time. My 550d is my first DSLR, I'm still learning and have far to go, but I do have my good days. I shot some water drops for the first time the day I got my yongnuo 560iii flash and triggers and I was damn chuffed with what I got. I have tried a few times since then and they were sh**e to say the least lol. I'm always coming home with crap pictures thinking "why the hell did I do that" or "for **** sakes!" :lol:
 
Duncan - finished processing them.

Like you said, they weren't actually as bad as I thought...was all RAW and always shoot RAW for times like these.

I'll post some below to give an idea of the night. Not my best work by far but I don't think they'll be unhappy...hopefully anyway.

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Phil Young said:
Duncan - finished processing them.

Like you said, they weren't actually as bad as I thought...was all RAW and always shoot RAW for times like these.

I'll post some below to give an idea of the night. Not my best work by far but I don't think they'll be unhappy...hopefully anyway.
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The B&W bloke with the scarf should be very happy, that's a lovely moody image and the PP suits it.
 
Color seems a touch overexposed but the B&W shots work quite well!
 
Phil Young said:
Was photographing an event tonight where I just cane away thinking "Phil... you are a bit rubbish".

Exposures were all over the place, OOF shots, couldn't balance my flash properly, compositional disasters...

End result feeling like I should stick to my landscapes where I can take my time.

Sigh... better get cracking on the computer to polish up these turds.

Anyone else get those days???
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EVERYDAY Phil, it will pass mate- get on with it lol :D

Les :thumbs:
 
Lez325 said:
EVERYDAY Phil, it will pass mate- get on with it lol :D

Les :thumbs:
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Cheers Les.

You know what, I had both my bodies, one with an f4 wide the other with a f1.8 and prime.

I had to bounce my flash and everything was manual. The lighting was good I'm some parts of the room and near black in others and I had people asking for their photo all the time. I'd be on manual set up for a dark scene and someone would call me over from the light part expecting a shot in under 5s so as you can imagine, my brain was all over the shop.

Anyway, I took 275 shots and processed 126 of them so given the above, I don't think it was as as bad as I initially thought.

Very tough night.

Would anyone had done anything differently? Remember my flash doesn't TTL when bouncing.
 
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