p.1 #1 · Do You Ever Just Totally Blow It? I Did.....Missed BIF Opportunity
i wasn't sure where to put this 'vent'..so i hope this is ok.
i'm wondering if i am the only one who occasionally blows a shooting opportunity. i'm a bit aggravated at myself after what happened yesterday, am trying to figure out what i've just learned. here's the story...
so i was running out late yesterday afternoon to meet my daughter at the giants playoff game. i get outside, and as i always do, as i'm walking to the car i look at the top of our neighbor's big trees. as some of you have seen from my wildlife photo posts, we occasionally have hawks and/or owls that hang out up there as these are the best local vantage points if you are a big, predator bird. anyway, on top was a really big red tailed hawk. so i run back inside and quickly grab my new d4 and strap the 500 on....and run back outside. i took a couple of shots and then the bird flies off...right overhead! and he/she proceeds to do a few low level laps above our neighborhood. what a great opportunity to get some good bif pix of this beautiful raptor! so i quickly snap off several shots and put the camera away. after the game (giants were wiped out), i come home and take a quick peek....and yuck!! i think i had the shutter set high enough, but i forgot to spot meter (difficult but pretty late day light against a bright blue sky), didn't have the camera on continuous focus, and i am still not quite up to speed on moving the focus point around on the d4 (i had it set on single point). so the pix were lousy even by my meager standards.
i was pretty bummed, but i guess i also will take a few lessons learned. i need to play with the d4 more, and i need to have some settings become more second nature, especially for wildlife as you just don't always have the time to get all set up. probably need to have a 'wildlife' shooting bank set up, maybe that would save some time. sometimes you have to 'point and shoot' and i blew that yesterday.
p.1 #2 · Do You Ever Just Totally Blow It? I Did.....Missed BIF Opportunity
I am way off worse I have something like a short-term memory problem (nothing like Memento though) and I have custom settings on my D300 for portrait, sports, HDR and off flash. I always forget to switch the custom setting when I change my shooting situation! Sometimes my HDRs go as high as ISO 1600 (yuck!) because I forget to switch from sports to HDR. Imagine the frustration after coming back home excited to bracket your exposures on Photomatix only to realize they are junk... My gf, on the other hand, finds this very amusing
p.1 #3 · Do You Ever Just Totally Blow It? I Did.....Missed BIF Opportunity
Not sure what to tell you. Sometimes you just don't get the photo that you want. Either way, you should feel lucky to own a D4 and a 500. I'm stuck doing BIF with a D300 and 85 thats all I can afford at the moment.
p.1 #7 · Do You Ever Just Totally Blow It? I Did.....Missed BIF Opportunity
Ever? C'mon. IMO if you want to photograph BiF you have to be like a relief pitcher: have a short memory when things don't go right (but still learn form your mistakes).
p.1 #8 · Do You Ever Just Totally Blow It? I Did.....Missed BIF Opportunity
Being a person who also has left ISO set high and other unspeakable transgressions, the only thing I can suggest is to develop certain habits like checking settings.
Also what I have found useful is learning the controls without looking. There are times when speed is important and / or when the camera is on the tripod. Not all the controls (like mirror lockup) show in the rear display. I've gotten pretty good at centering my focus point and resetting f stop between shots when walking in the woods.
p.1 #9 · Do You Ever Just Totally Blow It? I Did.....Missed BIF Opportunity
don't know your age but I'm 72 and find you really have to keep the mental list going of I will blow some shots,, the DW keeps telling me to make a list but have not YET
seems the more complex the photo the better I will do but for those quick snaps in a variety of settings I can sure miss a few good ones,,
p.1 #10 · Do You Ever Just Totally Blow It? I Did.....Missed BIF Opportunity
You don't always have to shoot everything. One of the great things about being a photographer is realizing that there is an "off" switch as well. If you live life thinking you need to capture every moment, you will often be disappointed.
p.1 #11 · Do You Ever Just Totally Blow It? I Did.....Missed BIF Opportunity
ben, you are obviously right. it was cool to see that majestic bird sitting on top of the tree staring down at me, it's been a while since i've seen them hanging out there. it was even cooler to have it take off towards me and circle above our little cul de sac for a couple of minutes, it was almost as if he was checking me out...
but i had my camera, and still wish i had gotten some decent images.
p.1 #12 · Do You Ever Just Totally Blow It? I Did.....Missed BIF Opportunity
Also, if it helps ease your pain at all, I spent the last 2 weeks in northern michigan. I saw 20+ bald eagles. I live in south florida, I haven't seen a bald eagle in 15 years. To top it off, not only did I miss countless photos, but I didn't have any photo gear with me at all.
p.1 #13 · Do You Ever Just Totally Blow It? I Did.....Missed BIF Opportunity
One of the few times I have shot at a high ISO, I forgot to change it back. Didn't realize until I got back from shooting in a somewhat remote location. The WHOLE day was shot at ISO 800 (on my 1Ds) during peak fall colors. The waterfall pic that shows up on my website is where I shot this.. Luckily, I live close by, so I went back and re-shot this.
A learning lesson for sure! At least it was at your house, and not some 2 hour hike in a creek to get the shot
p.1 #14 · Do You Ever Just Totally Blow It? I Did.....Missed BIF Opportunity
i'm usually pretty careful, but this was a bad combo of a new camera and a situation that was unplanned and rushed. i have to better figure out how to minimize the possibility of messing up again. some of that is setting up the camera better (shooting bank for wildlife for example), some is from using the new camera more, and some is just thinking better.
p.1 #15 · Do You Ever Just Totally Blow It? I Did.....Missed BIF Opportunity
I quite understand your frustration and could list you a good few examples of my own! However Ben is quite right - you can't capture everything, though our first instinct may be to try to do so! I remember chancing upon an otter and her 2 cubs off the west coast of Scotland some years back. We crawled our way over some rough ground to get a view looking down on them swimming. Best sighting to date... I resisted the temptation to take my eyes away and get the camera out immediately. Very glad I did as, moments later, a motor boat came by and they were gone. No photo but enough time spent watching to appreciate and remember - which is even more important!
p.1 #16 · Do You Ever Just Totally Blow It? I Did.....Missed BIF Opportunity
You arae not the only one who has screwed up like this. Hell, deer hunting friends of mine call this "buck fever" and blow easy shots in the excitement.
I flushed a ringneck pheasant 4 feet from me. By the time I got up off the ground it was nowhere to be seen.
p.1 #17 · Do You Ever Just Totally Blow It? I Did.....Missed BIF Opportunity
! You don't want to know how many times I've missed an opportunity. Just today I couldn't figure out why my new D800 wasn't AFing on a Great Blue Heron in flight...until I realized I had accidentally changed to AF-S instead of the usual AF-C after messing around with the (new to me) AF control. Duh! Missing opportunities is a routine thing for me....though it's always maddening.
But I have to say if you're expecting to actually nail a BIF using spot metering and (moving) single point AF you're a much better at this that I am!
Manual exposure and expanded CP AF is always the best for BIF.
p.1 #19 · Do You Ever Just Totally Blow It? I Did.....Missed BIF Opportunity
I'm worse than you.
for my 12 days west trip (yellowstone, etc) I used my 7D for landscape after selling 5DII and most of my lens. I forgot to even care to set it up for raw. When I put the camera in M mode, all the settings went back to factory setting. I had different settings on my 5DII and I used 7D in the same way during the trip. 70% of my photos shot in jpeg.. yuck! in the noise hell with mushed details..maybe I'll go back in 5 years..
I find birding to be the most difficult category to shoot. So don't feel bad.. lol
I have something like a short-term memory problem (nothing like Memento though) and I have custom settings on my D300 for portrait, sports, HDR and off flash. I always forget to switch the custom setting when I change my shooting situation! Sometimes my HDRs go as high as ISO 1600 (yuck!) because I forget to switch from sports to HDR. Imagine the frustration after coming back home excited to bracket your exposures on Photomatix only to realize they are junk... My gf, on the other hand, finds this very amusing 
! You don't want to know how many times I've missed an opportunity. Just today I couldn't figure out why my new D800 wasn't AFing on a Great Blue Heron in flight...until I realized I had accidentally changed to AF-S instead of the usual AF-C after messing around with the (new to me) AF control. Duh! Missing opportunities is a routine thing for me....though it's always maddening.