Why is it so hard...

[jul]

...to do it right sometimes?? I know the things I should and shouldn't do and yet when it comes time to taking a picture I do it all wrong!! It seems that I have more trouble taking pictures of people than any other thing. Over the holidays I got my husbands whole family to sit down together for a group shot. Everyone cooperated and was happy to do it. So I set the tripod at a bad angle, leave the camera on Program and get an aperature of f/4 so not everyone looks sharp and had problems focusing on top of all that. Yeah forgot completly about the focus confirmation light in the led. Also left the flash compensation too low so it looks dark. Looking over other pictures I took over the holidays the only ones I like are the lights downtown. None with people turned out to my likeing. Sigh...so frustrating. Of course they will all want to see the shots I took and I think they look awful. What's my lesson here??? Does anyone else struggle with "I know what I'm supposed to do I just cant seem to do it" syndrom?
Thanks for letting me vent!

[WVCoalMiner]

Yes every photo shoot I do I see/remember something I did/didn't do. And once the client sees the picture and absolutely LOVES it I realize that I am just being too hard on myself and to chill out but still be hard on myself because one day I will actually remember everything to do LOL.I have had photos that I just want to rip to shreds and not even give to the client because I just totally blew the shot and I feel it looks absolutely HORRIBLE and then I give it to them and you would think I took it in perfect conditions with a $20,000.00 camera in High Definition and that it is the MOST wonderful photo they have ever seen and I am just like Uhhhhh OK.

[jul]

It's just frustrating isn't it?! I see such great work on here and hope that some day I'll come close then I do something stupid and take some dumb shot and think wow I'm getting worse not better.

[Sterling]

That problem is solved by practice. If you do it enough times, the things you have to think about now will become automatic in time. Different people require different amounts of time.

[RustySterling]

Originally Posted by Sterling

That problem is solved by practice. If you do it enough times, the things you have to think about now will become automatic in time. Different people require different amounts of time.

I agree with my Bizarro World twin. Practice, practice, practice. The biggest thing that I slip up on is checking things in the background before snapping the shutter. But I'm getting better. And you will too.

[candidrachel]

Yes, its very annoying!! I forgot my tripod (we were staying at rellies) so I was trying to hand hold under impossibly slow shutter speeds just so that I could capture the cozy ambient light but of course there was slight camera shake or people blurred through movement. When I used the flash the whole exposure was so bright it totally lost the cozy atmosphere I was trying to acheive. Arrrgghhh!

Like the op said it just takes practice. You learn through your mistakes.

[jul]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I know it's just a matter of making things a habit and practicing. Still it's frustrating. Glad to see I'm in good company! :-)

[BryanC]

Actually, I think that you have the 'hard' part taken care of. You seem to have the knowledge of 'what' and 'why' certain things are wrong. Like you said yourself, it's a matter of practicing, making it a habit...applying that knowledge before shooting your images. It can be frustrating, sure...but you'll work through that.

[jul]

I guess that will be one of my photography goals for this year!! One of the best things about DPS is knowing that you can alwas find help.