Share a silly mistake with us!

[photo_chick]

Seeing some of the other threads where people are talking about photography mistakes they have made, makes me wonder if some of yo uout there have done things as silly and borderline stupid as me. Ok, maybe not really borderline stupid, I think this one was well over the line.


I had my Rebel XT for a while but had not really used it (LONG story there) anyhow this was the first week I was really using it. I went to take a picture of my DD and pushed the button, nothing happened. I looked a the settings, looked good.. then click, I hear the shutter. Ok, I am trying to figure out what just happened. Maybe it is the battery. I swap for a fresh one. Push the button...a few seconds later I hear the shutter. Wait, why is it beeping and flashing. Why the heck is it beeping and flashing at me before it takes the picture???

OK. I am at this point starting to freak out. OMG, My CAMERA IS BUSTED! AGHHH.... The last thing my Dad gave me and I broke it. Can someone please get me a Xanax now? Make it stop beeping and flashing NOW!

I sit down. very upset. Then it hits me. I was using the delay the night before. Somehow when I "checked" the settings I failed to notice the giant clock in the corner that now looked so obviously apparent. DOH! Ok, so that is why it was beeping and flashing. oh. gee. I can look back now and laugh, but at the time I was so humiliated. I am supposed to know at least basically what I am doing, right? What was all that education for? The sad thing is that I used to use the delay on my Rebel G, which does pretty much the same beeping and flashing, all the time. What, when they did the c-sections did they also take part of my brain or something?

Whatever silly thing anyone has ever done with their camera, I have probably done them one better!

 

[ktulu]

My biggest mistake so far with my 400d was when I went shooting with a friend for the first time and forgot that I had the exposure down two full stops. I kept looking at the pics wondering why they were so dark. Got them on the laptop, and was dumbfounded. Looked at the settings and there it was! That's what I get for playing around at work and not resetting it back to a "default" state.

I did get a few useable pics though

 

[mabas9395]

Photo mistakes? You are kidding, right? Who around here makes those?

I follow the old adage, "If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you ever tried".

 

[Furgus]

I was taking some pictures of some family and I could not for the life of me figure out why I was shooting 1/5000 of a sec in complete sunlight. I later found out after downloading 100 pics to my HD and looking at the EXIF data, that was shooting in ISO 1600. (was at a hockey game the night before and forgot to change it) Luckily some of them came out pretty good, so it was ok. I now check my ISO before shooting anything, so I guess that taught me a lesson.

 

[jann1033]

well you mean other than taking a whole roll of film( long time ago thankfully) with the lens cap on and not knowing till they all came out black? this was for a photography class in high school none the less my only excuse was it was with a loaner camera, yeah that was why, i just wasn't familiar with the camera
(oh and i did the same thing with my rebel xt and the timer)

 

[Master Mason]

I too have had the why isn't may camera working and finding it was in timer mode. It is apperently easy to hit the button.

biggest mistakes are always not setting the ISO/WB when I have changed them... I usually check it everytime when I pull it out, but sometimes your in a hurry or what ever and forget..

 

[DVC Jen]

I took a pic of the grass last Thursday. At least it was in focus.

 

[jann1033]

I took a pic of the grass last Thursday. At least it was in focus.

my stepfather takes pictures of his grass all the time...on purpose, he's a lawn fanatic..and i thought my subjects were boring

 

[Lizziejane]

I took a pic of the grass last Thursday. At least it was in focus.

This one really made me laugh, because I'm guilty of something similar - last night, I took about a dozen photos of the screws on the ceiling light. Why? Because I could!!!!

Much like you Photo chick, I also got very concerned about my brand new camera that appeared to be broken right after it came out of the box. I had no clue what I was doing, but I did know that it only partially clicked when I took a shot, and I wasn't able to push the button again. What I failed to notice was that it was dark, and I was on manual with no flash, and the shutter speed was set to something like 10 seconds!! The pathetic part is that I kept doing it, time after time, and after half an hour was ready to throw the thing out the window! Especially when I saw how crappy the pictures were!! (actually, I can't believe I just admitted that on this board...!)

 

[photo_chick]

My biggest mistake so far with my 400d was when I went shooting with a friend for the first time and forgot that I had the exposure down two full stops. I kept looking at the pics wondering why they were so dark. Got them on the laptop, and was dumbfounded. Looked at the settings and there it was! That's what I get for playing around at work and not resetting it back to a "default" state.

I did get a few useable pics though

I have done that one too! I was playing late one night then picked it up the next day and started shooting. Took me a few shots to realize something was up!

 

[photo_chick]

I was taking some pictures of some family and I could not for the life of me figure out why I was shooting 1/5000 of a sec in complete sunlight. I later found out after downloading 100 pics to my HD and looking at the EXIF data, that was shooting in ISO 1600. (was at a hockey game the night before and forgot to change it) Luckily some of them came out pretty good, so it was ok. I now check my ISO before shooting anything, so I guess that taught me a lesson.

Done this one too! When I first got my 50mm a few weeks ago. Of course I opened the aperture up all the way, that 1.8 was why I wanted it. I was like "whay is the shutter speed flashing at me, it is not that bright!"

DOH!

Been there, done that, won't do it again!

 

[photo_chick]

well you mean other than taking a whole roll of film( long time ago thankfully) with the lens cap on and not knowing till they all came out black? this was for a photography class in high school none the less my only excuse was it was with a loaner camera, yeah that was why, i just wasn't familiar with the camera
(oh and i did the same thing with my rebel xt and the timer)

I dd smeothing similar to this with my first 35m SLR. I did not load the film quite right so it never advanced. I got to what I thought was the end and it kept going. It too was for photography class. I had time to reshoot though!

From then on I always wasted the first few frames making absolutely sure the film was properly advancing in that camera!

 

[jann1033]

I too have had the why isn't may camera working and finding it was in timer mode. It is apperently easy to hit the button.

biggest mistakes are always not setting the ISO/WB when I have changed them... I usually check it everytime when I pull it out, but sometimes your in a hurry or what ever and forget..

i do this all the time, and then when i see it on the desktop wonder where all that noise came from on a nice sunny day

 

[ktulu]

Then there was the time I borrowed a friends camera way over 10 years ago and loaded the film wrong and it didn't advance. My and a buddy went to see Stan Lee (creater of Spiderman), we had the best shot setup, me and my friend with Stan Lee in the middle, arms around each other like old buddies and big smiles.

I get the film back, and there is one picture

 

[allyn]

i did the same thing as ktulu. i took 195 photos of a trip to disneyland (california adventure, actually) that were all underexposed by 1 stop because i had been playing the night before and had forgotten to reset.

luckily, i was able to find the right parameters to give to a batch program (ImageMagick's convert) to brighten up all of the images without losing highlight detail. now it is basically impossible to tell they were originally underexposed. what a sigh of relief that was!!