lousy photos

Frank Fusco

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Mountain Home, Arkansas
I have often wondered: Just where do folks brains go when they are taking pictures? :dunno: Example: My wife just returned from her trip 'up nawth' for her high school reunion. During the trip she had a chance to visit with her two sisters and brother. It is very rare that the four are all together at the same time. I told her it was important to get a picture since none was getting any younger and there may never again be such an opportunity. OK, they did it. Well, her brother-in-law sent the picture to me. He stood way back in a large room. The four are a small speck in the center and the shot is out of focus. :(He is normally a pretty intelligent guy, made millions in business.) But, why can't he think through enough to stand closer and allow the idiot proof digi cam to auto-focus for one-half second before pushing the button? I have taught my wife to overcome those things. But.....she tilts the camera up and cuts off heads about at the chin. I don't get it. :huh:
 
Because the brain sees the people, not the rest of the frame.

People concentrate on what they are taking the photo of. I bet 95% of the people do the same thing. Lots of background and little subject. Take some training to learn to think like a photographer.
 
Some people including the LOML just don't pay attention to detail. There are days when that has been to my personal advantage! That being said....I love digital. In the long run it's cheaper than film......My wife and the NRA.......Shoot more and shoot more often!
 
The biggest complaint of our crime lab photography guy was that the folks in the field taking crime scene photos just could not get it through their heads to fill the frame with the subject of the photo. Wasn't to bad when they were using medium format cameras as the large negative was fairly amenable to cropping and blowing up the important parts. When we switched to 35mm though, even with some of the high resolution films, it was a real PITA.

Guess if the digi pics are shot at high enough resolution, you could crop it in real close to the subject and really see the blur of the out of focus shot. :rofl:

The ones that get me are the close-up pics of kids taken from adult level.
 
Shoot more and shoot more often!

Amen to that! One photographer I used to work with had the same mantra. He always had beautiful work. He also used to say "Yes, film is expensive, but re-shoots are embarrassing!":D (if not impossible)

Sam was at a friends birthday party and I took around 200 pictures - most blah stuff, but a number of gems. The parents were thrilled with the CD because they took maybe ten pictures and from the sounds of it, they learned photography from Frank's BIL!:D:D:rofl:

Wes
 
I guess this is why I bought as high of resolution camera I can afford. As long as my wife gets the subject somewhere in the shot, I can zoom in and still have a decent picture from it.
 
And I'm betting there was only one picture taken taken of the group, instead of grabbing a few extras as safety shots. My sister has shot a lot of weddings, and I've helped her with several. Even in the "film days" we would shoot tons of pics in the effort to get a few dozen "keepers". Nowadays with digitals, it's even easier (and virtually free) to take a lot of extra shots.
 
And I'm betting there was only one picture taken taken of the group, instead of grabbing a few extras as safety shots. My sister has shot a lot of weddings, and I've helped her with several. Even in the "film days" we would shoot tons of pics in the effort to get a few dozen "keepers". Nowadays with digitals, it's even easier (and virtually free) to take a lot of extra shots.

My wife just told me she handed her camera to someone who took some shots. When I download them, we will see if family history is properly preserved.
 
And I'm betting there was only one picture taken taken of the group, instead of grabbing a few extras as safety shots. My sister has shot a lot of weddings, and I've helped her with several. Even in the "film days" we would shoot tons of pics in the effort to get a few dozen "keepers". Nowadays with digitals, it's even easier (and virtually free) to take a lot of extra shots.

A long time ago I used to do "candid" wedding photos on a pay for what you like basis. I would wander among the crowd looking like a guest and taking 400-500 non-posed shots at an average wedding. Many of them were unused but thats what was needed to get the good ones. It was a great way to exercise the photography muscles as well. With the advent of digital I am unable to understand why people don't get that the way to go is to take lots and edit for quality. That's pretty much what a pro does anyway.
 
I understand the concept of making sure. As a hard news photographer in a big city, I burned much-much film in a days work. And I didn't have motor drive.
Well, they got lucky. My wife handed her camera to someone with brains :thumb: and several centered, focused shots were on her card. I'm kinda big on preserving family history. The four siblings hadn't been together at the same time in many years. And, with advancing age, this may have been the last time it would happen. :)
 
Good to hear, Frank. If any of them need any additional cleanup (i.e., Photoshop to fix lighting or other issues), drop me a line. ;)

I wonder how many shot (on average) a professional photographer takes for each "keeper" shot he gets. 10? 20? More?
 
A long time ago I used to do "candid" wedding photos on a pay for what you like basis. I would wander among the crowd looking like a guest and taking 400-500 non-posed shots at an average wedding. Many of them were unused but thats what was needed to get the good ones. It was a great way to exercise the photography muscles as well. With the advent of digital I am unable to understand why people don't get that the way to go is to take lots and edit for quality. That's pretty much what a pro does anyway.
I've heard of couples giving low cost cameras to people attending the wedding on the condition that they send a copy of the photos to the bride and groom.

I did wedding photography when I was in college. I used to joke that all weddings were the same, the only thing that changed was the people. That is, you shoot the same shots for each wedding.

A friend of mine was getting married and I suggested that I only do a few posed shots and do the rest candid. Well, when time came to select the photos, she selected all the posed photos. People just have an expectation about what wedding photos should look like and it's hard to change that.

Mike
 
I've heard of couples giving low cost cameras to people attending the wedding on the condition that they send a copy of the photos to the bride and groom.

I did wedding photography when I was in college. I used to joke that all weddings were the same, the only thing that changed was the people. That is, you shoot the same shots for each wedding.

A friend of mine was getting married and I suggested that I only do a few posed shots and do the rest candid. Well, when time came to select the photos, she selected all the posed photos. People just have an expectation about what wedding photos should look like and it's hard to change that.

Mike

We did this with utterly bad results. The kids today are allowed to run amuck, and run amuck with our cheap cameras they did. Out of twelve cameras, we got NO good photos from the reception tables. Of course this was before digital cameras became cheap, so this meant we had to develop 12 sets of photos to find out, all were junk and taken by kids.

As for the photos, you guys can tar and feather me because I take lousy photos. I make some nice models but my pictures of them look like whale drool in my opinion. Now I have an even worse problem, my digital camera seems to be out of focus on every shot. I think the shutter speed got messed up somehow. I can't hold the camera steady enough in my hands to take a good shot. Its very frustrating.

Like drywalling, snakes and windstorms, I just am not into photography. For those that can, I respect you.
 
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