Oh well.

[jerrybro]

Sunday I'm sitting in the living room, my 3 yr old granddaughter is sitting at her little table in front of the picture window coloring. I get out the tripod and pick a position at her level, pop the blad on there and check the focus zone, note the aperture needed to cover the zone. I pull the dark slide and meter the view out the window to determine what shutter speed will be needed to get both inside and outside exposed correctly and set the flash to the correct output, bounce it off the ceiling so as not to reflect in the window connect it to the lens and commence working with the baby to get the expressions I want to capture. I grab 4 or 5 shots that really reflect her personality and the wife is very pleased. As I'm putting everything up I notice that I forgot to set the shutter and aperture on the lens.

 

[pentaxuser]

Bad luck. The bad news with 3 yr olds is that you have about as much chance of persuading them to re-sit for the scene as you have of herding cats. The good news is that of their own volition and left to themselves without any prompting they will do the scene all over again later in the day and the next day etc Having patience, enjoying each moment and being laid-back are the key elements

pentaxuser

 

[David Brown]

Danged manual cameras ...

 

[walbergb]

I feel your pain

 

[Moopheus]

Fix it in post.

 

[MattKing]

They made a song about that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8RhZDGLEXM

 

[BrianShaw]

I'm shocked that she was still there when you finally got ready to shoot!

 

[Rick A]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE4HGlmtOcg

Oops, I guess I should have read all the other posts before posting this--oh well

 

[TheToadMen]

It could always get worse. Watch this short film till the end and feel blessed: http://youtu.be/wzVNkypaNKQ

 

[TheToadMen]

Danged manual cameras ...

And you think the digital world doesn't know any problems? http://youtu.be/kAG39jKi0lI

 

[jerrybro]

I take it as meaning I'm out of practice. When I was shooting a lot I developed a routine that I followed that minimized these kinds of goof ups. Now, with only shooting when I can find the time on the odd weekend I am really, really, rusty.

 

[Gunfleet]

That one Ronnie sketch is brilliant

 

[frank]

I'm shocked that she was still there when you finally got ready to shoot!

That's what I as thinking too. In a situation like that, I'll set up the camera without the subject being aware. It's like the rangefinder way of shooting on the street.

 

[TheToadMen]

That's what I as thinking too. In a situation like that, I'll set up the camera without the subject being aware. It's like the rangefinder way of shooting on the street.

And then you make a bread trail with candy to lure the victim?

 

[frank]

Pre-visualize and pre-prepare!

 

[benjiboy]

The most useful accessory for child photography in my experience is a claw hammer and some six inch nails to fasten their feet to the floor .
I was shooting a three year old boy a couple of months ago who was digging in the local woods looking for pirate treasure and when his mother told him he wouldn't find any there , he said " that's O.K, I might find some dead people, I like dead people".

 

[blockend]

After too many misses, I got into the habit of leaving my cameras on average aperture, shutter speed and focal length before putting my cameras away. Not a panacea for every eventuality, but the best images are grabbed on the hoof, and something is better than now't.