{"id":1638,"date":"2025-10-18T05:50:48","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T05:50:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.moviestarpoker.com\/?p=1638"},"modified":"2025-10-21T11:41:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T11:41:00","slug":"7-photographic-mistakes-i-still-make-subtitled-taking-pictures-seriously-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.moviestarpoker.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/18\/7-photographic-mistakes-i-still-make-subtitled-taking-pictures-seriously-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Photographic Mistakes I Still Make, subtitled: Taking Pictures Seriously, Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"
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You’d think by now I would have learned. I mean, when I began taking pictures seriously, my cellphone had a rotary dial, ISO was spelled ASA and image files were paper folders where sleeves of negatives were stored.<\/p>\n

About 10 years ago, I made a list of the mistakes I made photographically. I suggest you make a list, too. I hope yours is shorter than mine.<\/p>\n

Welp, time has passed and I’m still screwing up some of these basic steps\u2014not every time I go out, thankfully, and not even every week\u2014but often enough. Do you do these too?<\/p>\n

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July afternoon in Manhattan, 2016. Decent shot weirdly overprocessed HDR (I’ve stopped doing that). Fujifilm X-Pro1, 16-50mm zoom, f\/5 at 1\/120 sec, ISO 200. Terrific camera, BTW. If you can snag a used one for a reasonable sum, I recommend it. Copyright \u00a9 Jon Sienkiewicz<\/div>\n

1. Shoot one and think I\u2019m done.<\/strong>
\nI know better. I know that the \u201cback-up shot\u201d is often better than the first exposure. But I still do it sometimes: click once and move on. Maybe it goes back to the days when I had to spend each Kodachrome exposure with care and deliberateness, because film and processing were dear. Or maybe I\u2019m just a thick-headed schlub. For now, let\u2019s go with schlub.<\/p>\n

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2. Center the subject.<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s an easy trap to fall into. It\u2019s not the worst bad habit in the world, but it sure can make your photo gallery boring. Unfortunately, most camera designs encourage this by placing the AF target smackdab in the middle of the viewfinder. But that’s just a lame excuse.<\/p>\n

3. Be unkind to my three-legged friend.<\/strong>
\nI keep a tripod in the trunk of my car. Unfortunately, I usually keep<\/em> it there instead of putting it where it belongs\u2014under my camera. As a result, occasionally I get a shot that\u2019s too fuzzy to publish. I think it\u2019s a matter of laziness. I\u2019ll work on it, right after my nap.<\/p>\n

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A smarter photographer may have set the ISO to Auto. Panasonic Lumix GX8, 12-35mm f\/2.8 zoom, f\/4.5 at 1\/250 sec, ISO-200. Copyright \u00a9 Jon Sienkiewicz<\/div>\n

4. Distrust Auto ISO.<\/strong>
\nLow ISO may be the way to go in most cases, but today\u2019s cameras are capable of producing astonishing images even at very high ISOs. Many models, including my Fujifilm menagerie, allow you to put boundaries around Auto ISO by setting a maximum film speed level and a default. That\u2019s makes the Auto setting very useful and speeds up the workflow. But old habits are hard to break, and I still start each day with coffee and ISO 200.<\/p>\n

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Why would anyone carry their ancient 12-megapixel Canon 5D and leave their money cameras at home? Canon 5D, 70-200mm Canon lens, f\/4 at 1\/125 sec., ISO 100. Copyright \u00a9 Jon Sienkiewicz<\/div>\n

5. Leave my money camera at home.<\/strong>
\nOkay, I confess. Instead of packing a camera that I know is superb in nearly any situation, I often take a classic that’s, by today’s standard, technologically challenged. My Panasonic Lumix L1 is a great example. My other cameras can shoot rings around it ten ways to Sunday (after all, the venerable 7-megapixel DMC-L1 debuted in 2006) but the older L1 feels so good in the hand and is so much fun to shoot\u2026<\/p>\n

6. Wander around in oblivion; also called “one-track mind.”<\/strong>
\nCall it what you will, I lose track of time and just about everything else when I\u2019m in the zone taking pictures. I pretend it happens because I have the ability to concentrate very deeply, but nobody\u2019s buying that story. When I develop tunnel vision, it’s often accompanied by landscape blindness, and occasionally by bruises.<\/p>\n

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I can\u2019t pretend I intended this shot to be monochrome when I shot it; I\u2019m guilty of trying to rescue it in Photoshop. Fujifilm X-Pro1, 16-50mm zoom, f\/5.6 at 1\/150 sec, ISO 200. Copyright \u00a9 Jon Sienkiewicz<\/div>\n

7. Fall into the \u201cFix it in Post\u201d trap.<\/strong>
\nThis is the worst of these Maleficent Seven. It’s the equivalent of kicking the creative can down the road and dealing with artistic failures later.<\/p>\n

Don’t get me wrong: properly applied, Photoshop can work miracles, but there\u2019s nothing better than starting with a clean, sharp, properly exposed image. I truly enjoy using PS; it’s relaxing and fun. But it’s not to be used as a panacea. Avoid the \u201cI can fix it later\u201d mentality and you\u2019ll be a better photographer.<\/p>\n

Not ready for Photoshop yet in its full-blown Creative Cloud glory? Check out Photoshop Elements: Everything That’s New in Adobe Photoshop Elements & Premier Elements 2026<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Conclusion?<\/strong>
\nI’ve gotten better in 10 years. Marginally. I have a ways to go, and I know I can be my own worst critic.<\/p>\n

If you occasionally experience the same sort of bonehead blunders, you can fix things in three easy steps. Identify exactly what you’re doing wrong, articulate the problems, and devise countermeasures.<\/p>\n

Trial-and-error only works if you track the errors and don\u2019t repeat them.<\/p>\n

\u2014Jon Sienkiewicz<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You’d think by now I would have learned. I mean, when I began taking pictures seriously, my cellphone had a rotary dial, ISO was spelled ASA and image files were paper folders where sleeves of negatives were stored. About 10 years ago, I made a list of the mistakes I made photographically. I suggest you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1640,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.moviestarpoker.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1638"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.moviestarpoker.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.moviestarpoker.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.moviestarpoker.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.moviestarpoker.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1638"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.moviestarpoker.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1639,"href":"http:\/\/www.moviestarpoker.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1638\/revisions\/1639"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.moviestarpoker.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.moviestarpoker.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.moviestarpoker.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.moviestarpoker.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}