Am I the only stupid - - - - out there

[geoff_foale]

My duties at the local Regatta include Chief Gofor and taking photos of the

events for use in next year's programme. Usually not too onerous but this year

. . .

 

In the fishing boat race I let my crewhand 'drive' the boat so that I could

concentrate on photography. Worried about spray, I kept putting the camera

inside the wheelhouse for safety but somehow, after about 6 shots I

accidentally turned the switch from TV to manual without realising it and

everything afterwards was useless. I asked a friend, who had come along to try

out his new point & shoot, to let me have some of his images. Despite helping

to decorate the boat he failed to notice that it was covered in bunting so had

some lovely images of flags with all the action out of focus.

 

But in the Air Display of WW2 aircraft (Spitfire, Hurricane & Lancaster)I

really goofed up what could have been the photo of a lifetime simply by bad

framing. All the other images were perfectly centred and I did get some useable

photos, particularly of the Lancaster.

 

The shutter speed was 1/250 and, as an insurance, 1/1000. All of the 1/250

images I rejected due to lack of sharpness but the 1/1000 stuff was reasonably

sharp except that the propellors were frozen, as I had expected. Canon 10D with

70-300 lens at 300mm, partial metering plus half a stop, handheld.

 

Firstly, anybody else want to join in a group confession and admit to doing

something silly recently?

 

Secondly some questions. The planes were moving from right to left so would IS

Mode 2 have helped with the 1/250 rejects or was it simply the planes being too

fast for that shutter speed? To improve the propellor problem I used a low

opacity clone brush to reduce them to a very faint image then added some motion

blur. I am reasonably happy with the result but what would more experienced

people do in this circumstance.

 

Sorry if this seems a bit of a ramble. Geoff.

 

ps. When I get more time I will have a go at rebuilding the wing tip, possibly

using the lower wing, but it is a slightly different tint so will require some

careful work with curves, etc.<div></div>

[charles_stobbs3]

Probably WWII cameras wouldn't have done any better. So you provided atmosphere (a stroke of genius).

[ronald_moravec1]

I can tell it`s a Spitfire.

[ronald_moravec1]

I must admit I have blown more pic by a factor of 10 with my Nikon D200 than I have with manual cameras in 50 years.

 

Switches get bumped usually or you forgot to make some setting change. Usually I turn off auto focus `cause it screws something up and forget to turn it back on. Blessed are cameras with 3 controls all manual, focus, shutter, and aperture.

 

Auto everything is proving a serious problem as it is too complicated. Maybe it`s me?

[petemillis]

You're not the only stupid ____ out there! A few months ago I went on a ski holiday and took a Fujifilm S602 with me. I took loads of of photos on the last day when it had snowed beautifully. At end of day we went to put them on the PC for all to see, and 99% of about 250 shots were out of focus. The camera has this stupid MF-AF switch that is really easy to accidentally know to MF when pulling it from the case. I usually check this before shooting, and can usually tell from looking at the poxy LCD display in the viewfinder if an image is OOF. But this time I was using the dull screen on the back and loking at it through goggles and didn't notice anything wrong :(

[sandysocks]

I accidentally cranked my aperture ring over when I put on a teleconverter this morning. It took me quite a while to figure out why nothing was working right. I was a bit groggy at that hour. Anyway, the later stages of the eclipse worked out OK.

[ellis_vener_photography]

Spitfire Mk. 12 judging by the propeller but no cannons.

[ronald_moravec1]

See it`s not me with the auto focus. Bump the switch and it stops and you may not notice.

 

Never missed focus with manual focus Leica glass on the Nikon D200, not one time.

[colin carron]

I think by the colour and the five blade prop this will be a Photo Reconnaissance Spitfire type PR19 (a variant of the Mk 15). Various marks of Spitfire were used for photo recce work. The early types used two 5 inch lens Williamson cameras one in each wing for a stereo shot at low level. Later marks used a 5 or 8inch lens camera facing obliquely out across the wing. The camera port can be seen in these types just behind the canopy. The high altitude PR Spitfires had two 36 inch lens Williamson F52 cameras mounted vertically in the fuselage behind the cockpit. The film was 9 inch wide in these bigger cameas and was fired automatically at five second intervals once the photo run at 36000 feet was started. These Spitfires had additional fuel tanks to get them to their targets and could just about reach Berlin and back from southern UK. The Luftwaffe created a special flight of nitrous boosted ME109's to try to catch them but in most cases the PR planes could outrun them.

[matt_mccarthy3]

Most likely a 12, Ellis - five bladed prop, and the humps of a Griffon engine.

[jennifer_durand]

Geoff - its always when we really want the images. We all do it! I have gone home thinking I

had film in my camera to find I had nothing. My digital cutie tells me before I make a fool of

myself now.

[James G. Dainis]

Well, one time when I was second shooter at a wedding I didn't realize that I hadn't put film in the camera until the 40th shot. Does that count?

[stp]

If you're interested in stupid mistakes, take up large format photography; so many more

opportunities (speaking from personal experience).

[dangoldman]

Shooting an airshow. Had left my camera bag with extra memory and film with my old man who was talking at a booth. Feature flight comes on, magically out of memory and nearly out of film. Then with what film was left i managed to under expose nearly all of it. I wasnt happy. I wouldnt call that a shot of the lifetime though. There will be many chances to do that over, and the light wasnt that fantastic etc or anything anyway.

[johnw436]

I once spent nearly two hours shooting long exposures. People walking past, watching me throw a black cloth over the lens, remove it, replace it. Ha! They don't know how great this shot is going to be!

 

I was so happy! I just KNEW I had some great shots. Dusty recollections of some minor bragging even come to mind. I got back to the car and as my friend and I were stowing our gear I smiled contentedly while rewinding my film. Hmmmm... why don't I feel any tension?

 

Oh yeah. Big giant "L" on my forehead for LOSER. Lots of fun at my expense for months afterwards. My favorite jab that never ended, "Bring film this time, genius?"

[abu_bakr]

Everyone makes mistakes.

[petemillis]

I took my Canon Sureshot A1 snorkelling in Greece last year. I checked the soundness of the camera back seal - all good. Managed to take 2 shots underwater and it pack up. I got out the water, unscrewed the battery cover and the "o" ring was totally perished. Camera wrecked - rinsed it in fresh water, dried it for days and still dead!

[jim_e.]

You also missed the 109 behind it.

[colin carron]

Geoff, no, not an idiot :-) photography is a percentage game. I had a quick go to see how difficult it was to recover. The main problem is to reverse the wing tip as it is not just rotated but also the opposite habd to the port wing. I transformed it to the opposite hand then rebuilt the aileron lines, roundel etc. I found the best way to keep the sjy the same is to remove the plane from the sky then stretch the lower blank part to then replace the lane on.

 

I did a bit of research on your plane. It is part of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and is a PR19 recce Spitfire. Here is another shot of it if you scroll down to the bottom.<div></div>

[colin carron]

Forgot the link .....here it is

 

http://spyflight.co.uk/pr19.htm

[amirali]

NO friend, I am stupid too.

[Farside]

Oh no, not the only dumb photographer out there at all. When I was but a lad my pal asked me to photograph his wedding with my first SLR - a Zenit E. Trouble was, I'd only just got it and had hardly run any film through it so wasn't yet totally in the habit of stopping down before pressing the shutter. You can guess the rest.

 

Luckily, they didn't stay married for long, so it wasn't that big a deal.

[geoff_foale]

It's comforting to think that if younger people can also make silly mistakes this might not be the start of senility after all.

 

My first digital camera was a Canon Powershot G2, one of the more userfriendly pocket cameras. The trouble was that everytime I put it in my pocket all the settings got moved, then I had to do the spectacles shuffle before reuse; on to see the settings, off to take the shot, on again to see what the results were. Where did I put my glasses and what is that crunching under my feet? Now, I only buy supermarket spectacles. How does anybody actually use those minute point & shoot cameras? I can't hold them without getting my fingers in front of the lens and many don't have basic controls so you have to find the correct mode settings.

 

My 10D was so much easier, something to get a grip with and I can see most of the controls without glasses (at arms length). Now the trouble is that I want results like the pros get and when it goes wrong I blame myself - which is correct most of the time.

 

Using Colin's information about the Spitfire I find that, if my maths is correct, at shutter speed of 1/250 the plane moves around 2ft. which helps to explain why those images were a little blurred. I was uncertain if it could work but it would have prevented frozen propellors.

 

This, and failing to notice that the settings had moved is understandable, sloppy but understandable. However, failing to get the image centred, even at speed, is still unforgivable. In future I must remember 'Think before you click'.

 

ps. I've finally had a serious go at rebuilding the wing tip. Not sure that it is quite right but maybe I'm being ultra critical.<div></div>

[colin carron]

That looks completely convincing to me at this resolution. Maybe a little less blur on the prop? Great job on the wingtip!

 

Reminds me of the Charlie Brown cartoon where Lucy is consoling Charlie Brown about some horrible error he has just made.

'We learn by making mistakes, Charlie Brown'.

Charlie Brown reolies, 'That must make me the smartest guy around'.