13 Jun
5 Most Common Digital Photography Mistakes
Posted in News & Current Events, Photography by JimI’m a bit reluctant to add “5 Most Common Digital Photography Mistakes” to the blog as it speaks to things that are for most common sense. Regardless it’s fair to say that most everyone has made these mistakes even if we’re too proud to admit it. So for the experienced photographers I apologize in advance if these mistakes bring back bad memories or spur flashbacks. For those new to photography take note and learn from the mistakes of others:
5. Not Having A Second Battery
There are two things that can frustrate a photographer to no end while in the field, both will stop you from taking a single photo. Not having a spare memory card did not make the list, but not having a second battery did. Digital SLRs require power and not planning around this can be a tragic mistake. As most probably know colder temperatures will shorten the life of a battery. When in the field keep those batteries warm and always have a spare. In general, temperature aside, it’s best practice to always have a spare battery on hand. Choosing not to take a photo is far better than not having the option to when out of power.
4. Not Double Checking Your ISO Setting
One of the most painful experiences is taking photos and then realizing that you never set your ISO setting back from say 1600 to 100 between shoots. If you’re lucky your exposures will be fine and you’ll have more grain than normal. If you’re unlucky you’ll suffer exposure problems. Over time I’ve become so methodical in my approach when in the field that before shooting I’ll always verify my ISO setting. None-the-less there are always times that I get so caught up in the moment that I forget to do this.
3. Not Reformatting Your CF Cards Between Use
This is so simple to do, yet so often overlooked. Over time a CF card can corrupt files if consistently erased versus reformatted after downloading ones images. Corrupt files translate to unreadable or irrecoverable photos. Reformatting unlike erasing will uncover damaged or unusable internal data sectors and not allow files to be written to the bad sectors on your CF card. Avoiding the prospect of corrupt files should be a priority and the solution is an easy one… reformat your card instead of erasing it.
2. Not Cleaning Your Sensor
It’s easy to give in to laziness and not clean your sensor. Unfortunately the cost of being lazy in this way translates to the loss of data on each photograph. Sure you can use a clone or healing tool in Photoshop to remove spots, but you’re ultimately filling in gaps of data that your sensor was unable to record. Going into a shoot with a clean sensor will not only avoid this problem it will save you a lot of work during post-processing.
1. Shooting JPEG Versus RAW
Of all the setting changes that can go wrong, accidentily shooting JPEG versus RAW can be the most disasterous. RAW files, a digital negative if you will, provide a photographer the greatest latitude in post-process. RAW converters support nondestructive editing where by color temperature, exposure, contrast, etc. can be adjusted with out ever impacting the source file. JPEG files on the other hand do not afford such benefits. When I discover that I’ve made this mistake my stomach usually goes in my throat. For me if I’m not shooting RAW I might as well not be shooting.
Technorati Tags: digital, photography, mistake, dslr, RAW, JPEG, sensor, cleaning, CF, card, reformat, ISO, setting,
Ilse
on June 13 2007
Thanks for this blog! It is very helpful. Until now I always had a spare battery, but running out of memory cards was a bigger risk. That is also the reason that I shooted JPEG instead of RAW part of my trip to India, which ofcourse I regretted again afterwards (I brought a small external harddisk, but I was afraid also there was not enough space and I couldn’t check properly which photos I could delete immediately).
Then ofcourse nr 4 happened to me several times.
Thanks for nr 3: I didn’t know that yet!
And nr 2: last year I let my sensor clean for about 60 euros (=80 USD?) and after a few days in India it had to be done again. But I don’t know how exactly. They always warn you that you shouldn’t do it yourself. So, how can I do this?
Ilse
jim
on June 13 2007
Ilse glad you enjoyed the write up. Cleaning your sensor is actually a pretty easy thing to do. You might want to look into the following site.
http://www.copperhillimages.com/index.php?pr=products
They provide instructions with their product. Also an air blower will address clearing the majority of dust on a sensor.
5 Most Common Digital Photography Mistakes at Imaging Insider
on June 13 2007
[...] Read More… [...]
Richard
on June 13 2007
Oh man. Yesterday alone I did 2, 3 and 4. I intentionally shoot jpegs when I need the speed and bigger buffer. usually for fast moving birds or event shooting. on my camera I think the buffer is like 8 RAW v.s. 24 jpegs.
jim
on June 13 2007
Richard… too funny. Amazing how these things trip up even the most experienced photographer.
Mark
on June 13 2007
Hmmm, a few of these sound a bit familiar!
I might add not backing up is one of the biggest no-no’s of all.
ABC
on June 13 2007
4. Not Double Checking Your ISO Setting & WB
Guilty for this now & then but I am getting better.
I now have a list to ovoid these mistakes.
ABC
jim
on June 13 2007
Mark I was thinking in terms of camera related versus post-production related. Although your comment gives me a new idea for a blog post.
ABC best of luck. Even knowing these things I still succumb to them from time to time.
Mike
on June 13 2007
#4! i really hate that. if only camera makers put iso reading in the view finder.
Большой 40-ваттный Светляк… » 5 наиболее частых ошибок цифро-фотографа
on June 14 2007
[...] На днях, Джим Голдстейн опубликовал в своем блоге заметку об ошибках, наиболее часто совершаемых фотографами. Ни одно из этих правил не касается ни техники съемки, ни композиции, ни обработки фотографий. Конечно, такие ошибки совершают скорее по неопытности. Пробежавшись глазами по списку, я заметил и за собой несколько “грешков” [...]
Five more common digital photography mistakes | In Photos
on June 14 2007
[...] Jim posted his 5 most common digital photography mistakes and I knew I could come up with a further five, so here goes: [...]
Brian Auer
on June 14 2007
I’m guilty of all but number 1, especially the ISO thing and the sensor cleaning bit. I’m getting better about formatting my cards though. Also, I rarely forget my 2nd battery, but I sometimes forget to charge it — talk about killing a day of shooting.
DVPhoto » Blog Archive » Formatting those CF cards
on June 14 2007
[...] JMG-Galleries has an interesting article on the 5 Most Common Digital Photography Mistakes. An interesting selection, and I have been guilty of all 5. Of course I am very careful when changing lenses, so #2 hasn’t really effected me at all. Yet the one that I have heard many times and still don’t believe is “3. Not Reformatting Your CF Cards Between Use”. [...]
Richard
on June 14 2007
I’ll add another to the list. Forgetting a memory card on your computer desk at home.
Andrew Ferguson
on June 14 2007
I’m the most guilty of sensor cleaning. I really need to get on that, but I’m nervous about doing it.
jim
on June 14 2007
Andrew cleaning your sensor the first time is pretty nerve racking, but you’ll find it’s really easy. It’s not like you’re going into your camera with a chisel or iron wool. The equipment used to clean sensors is well made and when used properly is quite safe to use. Start slow with a blower bulb to see if you can remove dust that way, then move on to swabs and solutions. You might be surprised how effective a blower bulb can be.
Sherri Meyer
on June 17 2007
Hi Jim,
Great list! Thanks for sharing and thanks also for visiting my blog.
Sherri
expatraveler
on June 17 2007
Kool list.
I’ve heard many pro’s and con’s on raw vs jpg. I guess it boils down to what you are doing, who your audience is and what you will do with the photo as an end result…
Andrew Ferguson
on June 19 2007
@Jim: yeah, everyone tells me that it’s really easy once you get the hang of it.
I guess I just need to get over it and go pick up a blower. Probably sometime this week; we’ll see.
5 наиболее частых ошибок цифро-фотографа | Блог Большого 40вт Светляка
on August 27 2007
[...] На днях, Джим Голдстейн опубликовал в своем блоге заметку об ошибках, наиболее часто совершаемых фотографами. Ни одно из этих правил не касается ни техники съемки, ни композиции, ни обработки фотографий. Конечно, такие ошибки совершают скорее по неопытности. Пробежавшись глазами по списку, я заметил и за собой несколько «грешков» :) [...]
Landscape Photography and Nature Photography by Jim M. Goldstein - JMG-Galleries - Los Angeles City Lights & Maximizing Your Battery Life
on December 5 2007
[...] This weekend I was back in Los Angeles visiting family and couldn’t help myself in going out to photograph some areas I’ve long been meaning to. Being a little rushed before flying out I forgot to bring freshly charged batteries for my camera. The result was a weekend of shooting on a batteries 1/3rd fully charged and another 1/8th fully charged. Yes, I’m embarrassed to say I fell prey to a variation of #5 of the 5 Most Common Digital Photography Mistakes. [...]
Landscape Photography and Nature Photography by Jim M. Goldstein - JMG-Galleries - Introducing A New Member of the Family
on January 21 2008
[...] Many of you know that I wrote an article titled 5 Most Common Digital Photography Mistakes. As of Friday we can add another item to the list. Friday was my first opportunity to test my camera during the day. After configuring my camera tethered to my computer I threw things together quickly to bring my camera along while I walked my dogs. Finding a decent subject to photograph I snapped the shutter and quickly went to review my image via the LCD screen. The result… an embarrassing revelation that I did not have a CF card in the camera and even worse my spare CF cards were in my other camera bag. Given this experience you can guess how paranoid I’ve been since in making sure I have CF cards with me. [...]
Eliya
on January 29 2008
Inherent to Flash memory technology is the fact that sectors will inevitably fail eventually. According to wikipedia, “most commercially available flash products are guaranteed to withstand 100,000 write-erase-cycles for block 0, and no guarantees for other blocks… a typical user using a commercial device, such as a camera, with a flash drive will probably not wear out the memory for the effective life of the camera”
Of course, we may not be “typical” users, and the heavy use of the card increases the risk of data loss. Formatting the card regularly will instruct the card to find and skip over failed blocks.
çiçek
on April 23 2008
I know list to these mistakes now.
çiçek
on June 11 2008
Inherent to Flash memory technology is the fact that sectors will inevitably fail eventually. According to wikipedia, “most commercially available flash products are guaranteed to withstand 100,000 write-erase-cycles for block 0, and no guarantees for other blocks… a typical user using a commercial device, such as a camera, with a flash drive will probably not wear out the memory for the effective life of the camera”
tshirts
on July 11 2008
Hmmm… I’m still debating the whole RAW thing with regards to true photography. In otherwords, back in the day you would have to get the settings right on the camera to get a good photo. We didn’t have photoshop or RAW (or even JPEG) but had to take the photo right. The best photos are still, in my opinion, those that are taken via tweaking the camera correctly at the right time when you take the shot. RAW is a lazy way to take bad photos and simply ‘add’ or ‘touch up’ later. It means anyone can really be a photographer – get the angle right, and don’t worry about the colour filtering etc. because software can do it for you later. I’m not so sure I really subscribe to this view.