"This just not my day..." - The low points of photography


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LifeInMacro

Senior Member
Aug 8, 2008
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Hi everyone

I was just wondering if any of you have the same experience as I do from time to time...

"Typically you start out the day with the camera + equipment, all geared up and mentally ready to shoot for the day. You tell yourself 'This is an excellent day for shooting.' After a few hours later you realise that there weren't many interesting things to shoot, and to make matters worse, you see that the pictures downloaded to your computer at the end of the day are so-so only, poor focusing/exposure/compositional problems...etc. *Delete*. You sigh in frustration...":cry:

Life is not a bed of roses, and "bad days" happen to anyone, even the well-prepared. Not sure how true is this, so please share...

Stay in touch. Cheers!
 

I sum it all up as "You need more practice".
 

lol this happens when i didnt get to touch my cam for like a month or so. have to start from low gear agn :sweatsm:
 

Hi,

I believe most of us will have these "days". You can try taking a thousand shots in order not to "waste" the precious time used for shooting yet none came out right. I sure am one of them and it could be down to my mediocre skills.

But the bottom line for me is, keep shooting, keep learning and keep improving with your own and other's experience. I believe the key is to see things in a different way and try to show your own style.
 

errmmm.if nothing to shoot then don't there are alot of other things to do other than photo taking..why force the shot and then lament the quailty?
 

If got nothing interesting, I won't even get the camera out of the bag.... :bsmilie:

Keep looking for interesting viewpoints. There's plenty when you know where to look
 

LifeInMacro said:
Life is not a bed of roses, and "bad days" happen to anyone, even the well-prepared. Not sure how true is this, so please share...

Yes this is very true sometimes. It happens to all of us one time or another so chin up and persists on :)

When I started my insect macros, I had many bad days like you but as I persisted, I began to see more and more details and subjects which I easily missed in the past. When it got too windy, I just took in the scenery or took the opportunity to observe the habits of the various insects. Who says you'll be able to always shoot at your best all the time?
 

shoot more and look more
with more practice and looking at pics of the more experienced ones
you'll find more viewpoints that you never thought of before
cheer up
everyone has a off day
 

Totally understand how you felt...
I had that same feeling sometime also too...

Went out for shotting for a day or hiking walk for many hrs..
carried all the heavy equipments...
come back with all the tiredness & sweat...
next day down loaded the pix... turn out all the pix taken was 馬馬虎虎。。。:(
Totally sian 1/2......

But I keep reminding myself... Just keep on going...
is not all the $$$ you had invested is gone to waste....

Just keep on going...!!!!
 

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Yup.. just keep going.

it happened to me as well, i remember...,
especially after I left the camera untouched for a couple months.

even the top professionals have had some bad days :)
 

Happens all the time.....

You should try walking inside MacRitchie Reservoir Park.... trying to get to the HSBC's Tree Top Walk.... after 2.5hrs of tracking..... it started to rain :sweat: Its either give up.... or risk your gears getting wet. :bsmilie:
 

You are Not Alone.............. :lovegrin:
 

Everybody has shoots that didn't turn out fantastic. I had one time when I had my P&S mistakenly set to ISO 800 for the whole day. All shots were artistically grainy.

There's also this outing after attending Cecil's class where it started to rain even before any one of us took a first shot.
 

Hi everyone

I was just wondering if any of you have the same experience as I do from time to time...

"Typically you start out the day with the camera + equipment, all geared up and mentally ready to shoot for the day. You tell yourself 'This is an excellent day for shooting.' After a few hours later you realise that there weren't many interesting things to shoot, and to make matters worse, you see that the pictures downloaded to your computer at the end of the day are so-so only, poor focusing/exposure/compositional problems...etc. *Delete*. You sigh in frustration...":cry:

Life is not a bed of roses, and "bad days" happen to anyone, even the well-prepared. Not sure how true is this, so please share...

Stay in touch. Cheers!

My case even more sian... took 18-200 out of dry cabinet, found the focusing jammed by the VR flex... ^$^... A week later, accidentally broke the LCD of my notebook.... ^$^ again... :sweat:
 

I feel that "bad days" can be minimised with more planning before the actual shoot.

Visualising what I might be shooting the next day, what settings I would probably be using (WB, ISO etc) and which lenses I should bring, kinda made my "bad days" don't feel as bad. When you're better prepared, you increase your "chances" of getting better shots (at least that's how it is for me).

But anyhow, nothing beats practice.
 

"A bad day with photography is better than a good day at Work!!"

Cheer up. There will be bad days and good days . Accept it,learn from it,deal with it and enjoy it.

kodkod
 

"A bad day with photography is better than a good day at Work!!"

Cheer up. There will be bad days and good days . Accept it,learn from it,deal with it and enjoy it.

kodkod

Hahaha... That's a nice quote. Permission to borrow for future uses? :p

There will always be those 'off form' days; and it could be because you yourself are not opening your eyes wide enough, and your brain isn't creative enough yet. Or maybe it was because of something unpleasant that happened the night before. Could be anything. Even sportsmen have problems like these.

That's also why a master of painting might leave a painting unfinished for weeks on end; he just doesn't have a feel of things.
 

i find digital a much more versatile medium than film, simply cus shooting is literally free (no film and developing) and the ISO can be adjusted in an instance.

shooting opportunities are more abundant.

also, with the instant preview, i am more willing to explore.

as a result, whenever / where ever i ve my camera w me, i am able to take a few "keepers".
 

Hey, who say bad days are really "bad"? Look from another perspective, "bad days" can be an opportunity for you to shoot great photographs. Nothing interesting? try viewing it differently! Rain? Find a shelter quickly or improvise and shoot something. Rain can add character to your picture. Remember, nothing is impossible. Its just how you think. If you think its impossible, then it really IS impossible.
 

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