What You Wish For

Just slightly blurred in the center...bummer

Today's post is a reflection on photography over the past 6 months with my new camera and lens. Of course there are many more shots out there that I haven't used for this post but I thought it would be "fun" to review several shots of pics that didn't quite turn out as I had hoped....and why I never chose them for the various series of writes.

Of course I wish these shots had turned out better.  I sometimes go with the idea of what I would like to capture on film and have high expectations to get those shots. I do some research online and look at what others have posted.  I don't exactly want their shots but I do take the challenge of trying to capture something similiar.  With the two shots above and below at the Whitewater Draw, I had wanted clear shots of the masses of Sandhill Cranes descending onto the fields below.  I used a new telephoto lens on this windy day and had difficulty getting very clear shots.

At first, I thought it to be a failure on my part.  Afterall, I took over 600 pictures!  On my small camera screen, the shots looked amazing.  But soon to find out once I got home.....only 10 or 11 of them turned out!!  As a fellow photographer told me on that day, it just means you need to go back again next year.  And I will:)

I love the legs here....but the shot is too blurry to be of any use:(

I would also discover that it is "normal" to take hundreds of pics and discover only a few good ones out of the batch.  The process of selecting shots is tricky and it works in 3 layers.  First, I delete all blurry images right away.  Second, I keep the ones that "may" have some saving quality.  And third, a few will be spot on perfection. The tricky part is in the second phase.  There are sometimes excellent shots hidden within the photo.  But it takes time and effort to spot where the picture may be.....and that is time consuming.  And I let them sit over a week so that I have time to process things again.  When I head back to the shots, I will have a fresh perspective.

Wildlife is tricky.  Another photographer said that it's all in the tracking.  For birds and mammals, this is correct.  But for butterflies, it is not:)  It takes great patience to capture these shots.  And when I did, there is disappointment by a random leaf in the photo or worse....a slighly blurred image!!! 

And then there is lighting!!!  This Western Bluebird below was a great catch.....but the sunlight was all wrong!  Disappointment happens and you hope that another opportunity will present itself.  But like this bluebird, it is too late to capture this magnificent bird as it is too hot.  I'll have to wait again for next year in Tucson.  Or will I?

I loved this shot so much but again, the lighting was all wrong.  Too much shade. 

Or this image below.  Looks great until you blow it up more.....slightly blurred.  Can't use.  Darn it!

And then there is tracking birds and the manual focus.  Automatic doesn't work with wildlife because the focus ends up being too slow.  So manual is the only way to go with moving objects.  The problem with manual is that you have to be quick and predict how something will move in flight, in water, or on land.  Some of the shots that I really loved turned out to be too blurred for any use. And that is where tracking is important....predicting how the bird or animal will move.  Many times photographers will set up tripods etc, but my best results have been from not having a stand tie me down. My hands have gotten better with the focus....and I'm not wasting as many shots on the memory card.  

And then there are the shots when just one of the focal points is SLIGHHHHTLY out of focus or cut off. 

.....like this shot here.  I loved the picture below but the feet were cut off!!!

.....or the landscape looks great but the owl is out of focus:)  And in wildlife photos, you only get one shot.

My final example is of this agouti in Panama near Gamboa.  Great shot of the animal carrying something but the darn tree gets in the way!!!  So my question to you all is....."What do you do with these types of shots?"  I'd categorize them in group two because they are in some sense "picture worthy" but not frameable.

So what I wish for, isn't what I always get.  But I do think it's worth striving for:)  Until tomorrow...