Lessons Learned

[Diane Margetts]

This is one of my favorite photos of Dakota. And now ONLY because we are here to learn and improve photography, I must share the comments of the photographer that critiqued this photo because it was a lesson learned for me that I would like you to learn from me rather than through your own experiences. I got a thumbs up in composition. I was told that this was a good photo and if only I had of focused my camera on the dog, it could have been a great photo. Sigh!! It's true. If you blow this photo up, you will see that Dakota is soft and I was focused on the center of the frame. You know, it's just plain carelessness. Dakota and I were coming back from a long romp. He was sniffing around the tall weeds and I told him to lie down. He did and I stepped back and took the pic. I didn't think much about it at the time but when I opened it on the computer, I loved it! After my negligence was pointed out to me, I tried several times to replicate that photo and do it right, but it just never comes out the same--it was a special moment. I have since tried to sharpen it in post processing with some success but not enough to make it "great". My lesson learned is every photo is a once-in-a lifetime click of the camera. ALWAYS prepare as though it's the best picture you will ever take!!!!!

[Mandy&Bailee]

if you have photoshop, and want to try to "save" this image...try this trick. it only works in these types of situations where the subject is slightly soft.
Go to Filters - Sharpen - Unsharp Mask - then change the settings to amount 65% Radius 4 Threshold 3 and see if that works!

[Diane Margetts]

Thanks Larry! That makes a lot of sense! I have the custom function option; I just haven't been confident enough to try it!!!

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

Maybe I meant it looks real....either way, you know what I mean!!! It's great!

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

This photo is so great it looks fake.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Let me know after you take your photos this weekend.

[GBK]

Nancy, I don't think I ever autofocus before I take my action shots. I've never really paid attention to what I do, I just take the picture as they are moving. I will try to pay attention this weekend, you better not make me over think this!

[F, Calla & Luca]

I meant --- you may NOT ask all the questions because it's hard to imagine all these cameras can do--in the post below.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Noooooo, don't bring out the dreaded manual again, noooo. Actually, sometimes I ask a question, post it and then once someone responds, I realize that I do something so automatically, I didn't realize I did it. But it gets me to thinking and that is always good! I do wonder if I have autofocused and then moved while waiting for the object of my affection to appear in the frame.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Nancy, once again it's not stupid and you should ask. BUT even I knew this because I read the manual on my old film SLR. Eventually I will read the whole manual on my new camera because a lot of these things are not intuitive and you may ask all the questions because it's hard to imagine all that these cameras can do. You might not, and I certainly won't, remember it all but at least you may remember enough to know there's a way to do something and then you can look it up.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Actually, I did know that. Now I feel really stupid! But I had an epiphany! Perhaps that is why my action shots are often a bit blurry. I pre-focused perhaps, then the focal point changed. Hmmmmm