"Big Moment" Failed

<p>A friend hired me as her photographer for her sisters gender reveal party. The Mom-to-be set up balloons filled with paint and shot darts at them to see what color paint came out. This was my first "events" so I know I made some silly mistakes. The big reveal came and the way everything was set up I couldn't get a direct shot of the Mom and Dad's faces. Long story short I MISSED the shot!!! I only asked for $50 an hour and got great shots of the entire event but feel terrible that I clearly didn't get the one moment she was hoping for. TO make matters worse, all my images came out as clear as always until the reveal when over 8-% are poorly focused. I have to call and let them know soon but wanted to see how I should go about it. </p>

<p>Not sure what to advise, other than tell them the truth, and refund their money.</p>

<p>Hi,<br>

The truth always works the best. Tell them that you missed the shot. A white lie telling them it was an equipment failure might be in order here, mishaps do happen and it looks better for you.<br>

As for your out of focus shots, it depends upon what they are. Can they be sharpened in Photoshop to look not so bad? If you took more than one frame of the same subject, throw it away like it never existed. I'd rather miss a shot than turn over poor work.<br>

All said and done, offer them some kind of adjustment to your fee. Be sincere, when something like this happened to me I was more upset than the customer. Some will blow it off. The balloon shot is kinda unique or I'd tell you to offer to reshoot it.<br>

Handle it like a professional, be confident about your work, and speak as openly as you posted. <br>

regards,<br>

Rick</p>

<p>The learning curve is very painful....</p>

<p>If only 8% of the pics are off focus, that's not bad. Assuming you snapped 20 photos, that still gives you 18 good pics. Unless you meant 80%?</p>

<p>Were you hired as a professional, or as an amateur (friend)?</p>

<p>Seems to me that for real, not staged, events that often enough you don't get the shot you wish you got. Note that for weddings, it is usual to have a posed series after the actual ceremony.</p>

<p>Now ask yourself, if you were the customer, would you be happy enough with what you got? Life isn't perfect, you got what you got. </p>

<p>Note that a common effect with autofocus and people is that it will focus for the middle of the scene, right between two people, and at the background behind them. Make sure that there are always an odd number of people in the group. No, actually, watch the AF point. </p>

<p>You could just refund all the money, and consider it a learning experience. But as an amateur/friend, they might not want that.</p>

There's such a fine line between calling yourself a pro. There are jobs that you sometimes have to say NO to. Sounds

like your camera gear failed you and maybe the gear wasn't professional enough? A trick for the future. Sometimes it's

best to either spend money on expensive cameras that focus wicked fast and shoot at 6 to 10 frames a second so you

capture that moment. I think the fastest camera on the market is 14 frames per second.

 

The next thing you can do is set the lens to manual and pre-focus so you are ready and the the camera fires. You can

also set your lens to F11 and pretty much everything from 5 feet to 40 feet will be sharp enough. If you are shooting on

program mode you are pretty much dead and you've lost total control of the camera. You have to be in complete control

of the camera. I hope you and everyone reading this understand that a camera is just a tool and you have to be the boss

of the tool. Don't ever trust it unless you are not a pro and you know nothing about cameras. If you set the lens to F4

well pretty much everything will be out of focus except for the subject. I had a lens in the film days, a Hasselblad lens

that had an F64 setting! The lens was at least 2 1/2 feet long. Anyway, F11 should solve your future problems. F16 is

even better.

 

As for what to do, post a few shots and see if any of the photoshop wizards here can sharpen up the pictures a bit to be

presentable. Hope these ideas help.

<p>There are 3 things I stress when teaching assistants, second shooters, or new wedding/event photographers.</p>

<p>1) pre-plan.</p>

<p>2) pre-practice.</p>

<p>3) Prepare.</p>

<p>Obviously, you had talked with the client about expectations. The "missed" shot you mentioned was part of that discussion. At that point, you should preplan exactly how you intend getting that shot, even to the point of adjusting how it happens if necessary to assure you are part of it, and in a key position to accomplish it. Same with any other important image the client expects. The more you preplan, do a time-line/itinerary, and go over everything in your head repeatedly ... the more free you will be to creatively concentrate on the shots during the actual shoot day.</p>

<p>To avoid becoming flummoxed while shooting ... practice, practice, practice. The more familiar you are with "fluid" scenarios and what is coming next on the itinerary, and the more familiar you are with your camera and settings, the better you can adjust on the fly and respond to unforeseen situations.</p>

<p>Before setting off for the shoot, prepare any gear for easy access, make sure all batteries are fully charged, the memory card is cleared and ready for new images ... and do this the day before, not on the day of the shoot. </p>

<p>Preplan, pre-practice, prepare ... these are the hallmarks of all successful "Commercial Shoots". In fact more time and energy is spent prior to a commercial shoot then on the actual shoot day itself.</p>

<p>- Marc<br>

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