Journal

Missing the Shot

​Rebecca Flambe

A few months back, my wife ran in the Spartan Race here in Charlotte. ​ For those of you unfamiliar with the race, basically you run, crawl, walk, and climb through mud and obstacles. It was her first time running. I thought cool. Practice photography. Get some cool shots.  I forgot one thing.

I don't shoot sports.​

The type of photography I do is mainly shooting beautiful women ​in glamorous settings that move in a controlled fashioned or landscapes that don't move at all.  I have very little experience shooting moving things.  Looking at this picture I see several things that I have done wrong.  Rebecca is out of focus is the big one. My buffer kicked in on my camera and I missed her jumping over the flame itself. But it is still an interesting shot. The flames look great. The smoke and heat impart an almost water-color look to the photo.

So what did I learn from this? Take your time. Anticipate your shots. Pre-focus and pre-visualize your shots.  Know your aperture and depth of field.​ Slow down. Know the limitations of your camera. Consider JPEG for sports shots, so the buffer doesn't fill up.

What did you learn the last time your shots didn't turn out so well?  I would be interested in hearing from you about this.