Stress = Rookie Mistake

[imagemaker46]

I've made mistakes all through my career, some I was able to re-shoot, others not so lucky. It happens, and it will happen again, don't stress over it. Stress kills.

 

[beckylynne]

Have you thought about a reshoot? You said that it was a mini session so they didn't pay for your best, but do you truly want subpar work being associated with your name?

No because she loves the images and they were for a 5x7 Christmas Card so at the end of the day the grain is a non issue.

It's not like I just gave her 1 image..the one posted above. She paid for 15 images and I gave her 30. She has been a long time friend and client.

 

[DB_Cro]

Have you thought about a reshoot? You said that it was a mini session so they didn't pay for your best, but do you truly want subpar work being associated with your name?

THIS caught my eye and was mentioned before.
I always (and think everyone else should) shoot the best that I can.

You never know who will see these shots as the first shots from you and might continue looking for another photographer
just because.. why.. because you didn't give all you had because you were paid less then usual? Not a good idea in my opinion.

I had 2 shoots today, one Jazz Quartet that I wanted to shoot and didn't charge anything, and one paid gig at a nightclub for
my "regular" fee. I did my best on both locations.

 

[charlie76]

Oh, man! I can totally feel how your heart must have sunk. We all have those moments, in all aspects of our lives. I have them constantly at my job as well. For me, one wrong measurement...could cost my company tens of thousands easy. I have one going on right now...just try to put it out of your mind....but always be honest. The only thing worse than screwing up...is lying about screwing up and getting caught in the lie.

 

[beckylynne]

Oh, man! I can totally feel how your heart must have sunk. We all have those moments, in all aspects of our lives. I have them constantly at my job as well. For me, one wrong measurement...could cost my company tens of thousands easy. I have one going on right now...just try to put it out of your mind....but always be honest. The only thing worse than screwing up...is lying about screwing up and getting caught in the lie.

Yes but clients don't get "technical" I can't help if people think she has a dumb smile....no I'm not doing a reshoot because of a dumb smile. The issue was the noise, which is no longer an issue. The images were for a 5x7 Christmas card. No harm no foul. She loves the pictures, she loves the Christmas card....so it is what it is. Live and learn!

 

[beckylynne]

Oh, man! I can totally feel how your heart must have sunk. We all have those moments, in all aspects of our lives. I have them constantly at my job as well. For me, one wrong measurement...could cost my company tens of thousands easy. I have one going on right now...just try to put it out of your mind....but always be honest. The only thing worse than screwing up...is lying about screwing up and getting caught in the lie.

Yes but clients don't get "technical" I can't help if people think she has a dumb smile....no I'm not doing a reshoot because of a dumb smile. The issue was the noise, which is no longer an issue. The images were for a 5x7 Christmas card. No harm no foul. She loves the pictures, she loves the Christmas card....so it is what it is. Live and learn!

Regardless of everyone's opinions about lighting, posing, smiles, blah blah blah....my concern was the noise. If I did a reshoot for every time someone had a stupid smile....I would go broke.

 

[Dillard]

Oh, man! I can totally feel how your heart must have sunk. We all have those moments, in all aspects of our lives. I have them constantly at my job as well. For me, one wrong measurement...could cost my company tens of thousands easy. I have one going on right now...just try to put it out of your mind....but always be honest. The only thing worse than screwing up...is lying about screwing up and getting caught in the lie.

Yes but clients don't get "technical" I can't help if people think she has a dumb smile....no I'm not doing a reshoot because of a dumb smile. The issue was the noise, which is no longer an issue. The images were for a 5x7 Christmas card. No harm no foul. She loves the pictures, she loves the Christmas card....so it is what it is. Live and learn!

View attachment 111389

Regardless of everyone's opinions about lighting, posing, smiles, blah blah blah....my concern was the noise. If I did a reshoot for every time someone had a stupid smile....I would go broke.

Wow, don't take things quite so personally, you seem rather defensive about the situation. I wasn't implying that your work was horrible and you needed to reshoot, or that you only provided one image. You're original post and subsequent posts made it seem as if you really shot yourself in the foot, and were going to give them subpar images because of the heavy editing that was needed. I'm glad they were happy.

 

[beckylynne]

Oh, man! I can totally feel how your heart must have sunk. We all have those moments, in all aspects of our lives. I have them constantly at my job as well. For me, one wrong measurement...could cost my company tens of thousands easy. I have one going on right now...just try to put it out of your mind....but always be honest. The only thing worse than screwing up...is lying about screwing up and getting caught in the lie.

Yes but clients don't get "technical" I can't help if people think she has a dumb smile....no I'm not doing a reshoot because of a dumb smile. The issue was the noise, which is no longer an issue. The images were for a 5x7 Christmas card. No harm no foul. She loves the pictures, she loves the Christmas card....so it is what it is. Live and learn!

View attachment 111389

Regardless of everyone's opinions about lighting, posing, smiles, blah blah blah....my concern was the noise. If I did a reshoot for every time someone had a stupid smile....I would go broke.

Wow, don't take things quite so personally, you seem rather defensive about the situation. I wasn't implying that your work was horrible and you needed to reshoot, or that you only provided one image. You're original post and subsequent posts made it seem as if you really shot yourself in the foot, and were going to give them subpar images because of the heavy editing that was needed. I'm glad they were happy.

Meh not defensive. Just interesting watching everyone go into critque mode. Not one person commented on the noise issue so I suppose that's good.

 

[tirediron]

The noise doesn't seem to be an issue; as you said, it's only going to be printed to 5x7, and can easily be "de-noised" if necessary (ISO 3200 - I remember the days when we thought were s**t-hot pushing Tri-X to 1600! ). What I do see as an area of concern is the over-bright backgrounds, especially in the family, standing full-length shot. You have a group with all blonde hair, posed next to pampas grass with bright sun... why?
The pose is great; I think that's a really nice family shot ('though I might have turned oldest daughter a bit more to her left), but the bright/blown background is a real concern. If they were dark-haird, it would have been less so, but as-is... Two more stops of strobe and this would all have gone away.

 

[beckylynne]

The noise doesn't seem to be an issue; as you said, it's only going to be printed to 5x7, and can easily be "de-noised" if necessary (ISO 3200 - I remember the days when we thought were s**t-hot pushing Tri-X to 1600! ). What I do see as an area of concern is the over-bright backgrounds, especially in the family, standing full-length shot. You have a group with all blonde hair, posed next to pampas grass with bright sun... why?
The pose is great; I think that's a really nice family shot ('though I might have turned oldest daughter a bit more to her left), but the bright/blown background is a real concern. If they were dark-haird, it would have been less so, but as-is... Two more stops of strobe and this would all have gone away.

I posed them in front of the grass because they insisted on it. I showed her the image and she loved it ans wanted it on the card.....client wants, client gets. I showed her variations without it but she said it was her favorite photo. It's my least favorite photo...but at the end of the day it's her card.

 

[tirediron]

Absolutely agree 100% - he pays the bill gets what he wants, but I think the image would have been a lot stronger if you'd knocked the background two stops.

 

[charchri4]

LOL well I bet you never put up a post like this again!

 

[desertrattm2r12]

A little paranoia about everything is not such a bad thing. What I don't understand is why you didn't know what shutter speed/f stop you were shooting at. I'm an olde film dude dragged kicking and screaming into digital. Is it so easy these days to just push the button and get on with it without having a clue what the camera is doing?

 

[Mr. Innuendo]

Why couldn't you tell because you would be shooting at a very fast shutter speed or small aperture, I used to always reset iso back to 100 after every shoot, if your shooting for money there is no excuse

And she didn't make any.

 

[JerryPH]

First... respect to you for having the guts to talk about your experience. Second, depending on what kind of camera you use, maybe only minor noise reduction will be needed. A little noise won't kill the experience, as you know by now.

Lastly... what are the chances that this will ever happen again? That is where the true lesson lies.

My friend once shot an entire wedding at ISO 1600. No biggie until you realize that his camera MAX was 3200, and each shot required a TON of work to correct for in post on his older camera. Sucked to be him that day... lol.

I am not patting myself on the back in any manner, but I have to thank all the people who have had such issues and I read about them. Thanks for letting me learn the easy way from your mistakes and never having to have to personally live through anything like this.