How to screw up a photoshoot

There haven't been many sunny days, but luckily, yesterday was. It also happened to be the only evening we had free to take some decent one year photos of our daughter. The plan was to take photos at the same location as we took our wedding photos and pregnancy photos. Our daughter was born the day before the anniversary so the time of year all fits for consistency's sake.

We didn't have a very big window. Between a million tasks and trying to time it for in the evening but before our daughter got too tired to stand, we had a maybe half hour chance. The location is also a bit of a drive away as it is in a farming area. I would have preferred to be able to take the photos a bit later when the sun was lower but in Finland, that makes it around 9pm at the moment, too late.

We arrive, I start unpacking my gear. Forgot the flash triggers. Ok, no worries, I can shoot without a flash as this is how we had done the wedding photos anyway. We change our daughter into her dress and I start shooting a few shots of her playing. After about 15 shots, the card is full. No worries, I have backups of course but, only one. Plenty of room on that one since I rarely use it. The shoot continues.

Setting up the tripod, I can shoot through WiFi on my phone so then we can get a family shot. A silhouette of us walking towards the sun. A repeat of a wedding photo. It is not as easy as it sounds with a phone trigger so I set up a timer with 6 shots and a 3 second delay. I take the first round, but for some reason, I cannot get the preview of the shots but, in a little bit of a rush, I shoot another few sets of these types to make sure we get one or two. I will review them when finished.

I go to review and, a corrupt card. This is why I haven't used it I now remember. So, I start deleting old images off the first card, a slow, one by one process and the sun is not being kind. I am not a very happy person by this time. The conditions are changing an I have to rush so I switch from RAW to JPEG to save space and start all over again. But, by this time, our daughter is getting too tired to remain standing or look at the camera. Oh well, there is always a chance for her second birthday.

These are some of the shots from the test period with a Lightroom 'aged-photo' automatic processing filter. I am not a huge fan but I do not have the time to process properly yet and surprise surprise, my wife likes these. I wish I had another afternoon to shoot again but it doesn't look like we will have that opportunity so, what I got is what I got. At least, there is a few lessons in the experience somewhere.

First lesson: Be prepared and check equipment before leaving home
Second lesson: Do not ever 'save' when buying cards (it was a cheap no name)
Third: When a card does fail once, throw it away
Fourth: Avoid shooting with tired children, tired wife and tired photographer
Fifth:Remain patient and calm as anger doesn't smooth situations
Sixth: Remember, they are just photos

Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]