Lifelong Philadelphia resident, Marathoner, Photographer, Blogger, Muse.
You can contact me at midnightbluesays (at) gmail (dot) com 
Part 2: Everyone Has Bad Photo Days
UPDATE: Welcome Linkiest readers
Myself included.
I’ve compiled a list of photography goofs in order to enlighten and encourage the newbie photographers. I’ve attached my own examples for added emphasis and for your education.
Croptastick – bad cropping happens. Cropping is a fantastic editing tool for photographers. However, always be mindful of what message is being conveyed by photo. Ask yourself , does the crop add or detract from the photo’s message?
Focus- pocus - learn manual focus. Your owner’s manual provides instruction on setting your camera to manual. In the beginning there are several key skills you need to learn, an important skill is trusting your own eyesight. As with any new skill, confidence comes with practice. It’s perfectly fine to take an unfocused blurry photo; the more you are comfortable with the camera settings, the less instances of blurry photos.
Blow-out is not just for movies: Overexposure in photos results in a loss of highlight detail in the lightest area of the photo. This overexposure is frequently called ‘blown out highlights’ by photographers. In the photo below, the white windowsill is nearly invisible due incorrect metering. This lead to the blown out details of the windowsill.
Lens flare addiction: Lens flare occurs when stray light hits the camera sensor and is not image forming. This can happen with a bright sun just outside the image frame. Consistent use a lens hood can reduce the incidence of lens flare. If your lens does not come with a lens hood it is well worth the money to purchase one. The photo below was taken with the sun almost overhead, the lens did NOT have a hood, and there is blow out as well in this shoddy shot:
Flash bounce – Flash and its effect on shiny objects: This is quite self explanatory. Point a flash at a reflective surface and you will get bounce. Quite often, this can be a good thing (I will discuss this on a later post) with a little knowledge, flash can be your best friend. In the photo below, the on-camera flash was used quite close to the object; the light from the flash saturated the image and flattened the entire area. It looks quite cold and artificial. A better use of flash would have been to lower the intensity of the flash – see owners manual – before taking the photo.
Center syndrome – never, ever do this. Buster is NOT happy. His handsome profile is not being photographed at its best. Dead center is dead boring.
Tilting does not equal creative – ever: Tilting your camera only encourages neck cramps from those viewing your photos. So please think of the health and well being of your viewers and rethink ‘Tilting’.
Okay, I’m done highlighting my photographic failures for your benefit. As you can see, bad photos can happen to good people. No worries though, simply consider the photos as teaching tools for your future photographic projects.
Part 1 – Photography for Newbies
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I’ve done all these things myself, and many more. One of the fascinating things about photography is that it is a constant learning experience. Your own work, posted on your sites over the past few years, has shown constant improvement. You are starting to get good.
Thanks for the kind words. I’m just a geek girl at heart and am in love with Photography.
One of my favorite pictures of my children, I cut the top of my sons head off. One of my favorite pictures of my daughter, she was about 2 and she’s sitting on my motorcycle, with my wifes leg somehow appearing on the side. One display in the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum, it’s impossible to get a good picture because there is a reflective roadsign as part of the display. It reflects the flash back and screws up the light sensor.
But, photography is still fun. And is still the only way to preserve special moments.
Tania, a nice entertaining read, and I loved the OOF photo of Buster.