Hi

I have been asked loads of times what my most common mistakes are. And to be honest, I make loads. I’m an amature Photographer after all, so its ok right?

Yes and no.

Mistakes are the best way to learn as long as you learn from them. The whole point of being creative is to be fearless and embrace mistakes like dear old family member. But some mistakes I am almost too embarrassed to admit too! But I will just for you…:-)

Mistakes I make:

1. Poor composition
2. Wrong depth of field. Easy to resolve by knowing the lens you have and how it works with DOF. Some lenses will have everything in sharp focus at F/9, others need to go all the way to F/22 etc…
3. Wrong shutter speed. This usually happens when things change too fast. Or a street scene presents itself from out of know where.
4. Wrong lenses for the image. I find I wish I carried two cameras: One with a 50mm and one with a wide lenses when in places like London. Surrounded by Cityscape and people. But I am not a big lover of all purpose lenses. Like a 18-55mm. They are never as sharp as I would like. This could be me being picky. I bet a lot of people would disagree with that opinion. I just like primes most of the time.
5. Did not bring a specific lens. I have found so many times that I wished i’d take my 135mm.

Worst mistakes I should not have made

1. My all time worst mistake was travelling 150 miles into a very desolate place to then find i had left my pouch of memory cards at home. And no card in my camera.
2. I did it again 1 year later…Forgot my memory cards.
3. All of my batteries were flat.
4. Forgot my tripod bracket for a family event recently!!! I thought it was in my bag.
5. Forgot my bracket again, after travelling to London to do some late night long exposures. I ended up carrying my tripod around for nothing.

There are more and i am going to update this Blog entry.

But i would love to hear what mistakes you guys are making. I think to bring awareness helps to avoid some of them.

Things i do to avoid mistakes:

1. I have a check list to make sure i have everything i need.
2. I’ve customised buttons on my camera to help me get to the correct setting faster.
3. I try to make a plan.