Have you ever screwed up on a photo shoot?

I'm reading many of your post as I'm transitioning into paid work and the thought is always in the back of my head "what if you screw up". Do I pretend it didn't happen and work around it or do I be honest with the client and tell them I screwed up and hope they respect my honesty? But then again that same honesty could be the sword too?

Well what do you mean by screwing up?

You left some camera gear at home? Don't have an extra battery, to which your current battery died and can not fulfull the agree upon session? Trip and fall over a rock? Do not understand how to acheive the correct exposure while shooting, so it will take you awhile to figure out the settings, so in the mean time the client is getting bored?

Or

After the shoot, when you get home and see the photos you taken, that you realize they all look like crap?

Depending what it is, some things are best not to tell the client, especially if that "screw up" determends if the client sees you as a professional or not.

I have to bring out my soap box for this reply...

Photography is a combination of art and technology. New cameras have made it so we don't need to know all the technology, and can still get a good shot now and then. That doesn't make you a "pro" photographer. It means you've taken plenty of pictures and gotten lucky with a few.

A pro should be able to work in the worst conditions and STILL come up with a good image (or at least something the client likes). If you don't have that confidence yet, you do a diservice to our "trade" when you market yourself. You either undercut the prices of the pros and/or present lower quality work.

Please. Don't do that!

The way to get into the professional photography market is to begin portfolio building. Present yourself as what you are - a beginner. Say because of that, you will do pictures at a discount, without any promise of stellar work.

In time, you will established policies and get better in the area of photography you work in. Soon you can be charging FULL prices and have the confidence you need to justify them.

</soapbox>

Matthew

PS you can take this with a grain of salt, as I make a living teaching people to be professional photographers, and therefore I have a dog in the fight.

I guess what I was talking about was like taking a photo where perhaps you used a super shallow DOF when you should have used something higher. As result only small portion of the photo is in focus. Or let me think... how about it's dark our and you should have used a flash but you didn't and photo is dark. Basically you fumbled.

PPS there are people who have been shooting 20 years or more and still are "hobbyists". The may have won an award or even been published, but they aren't working full time as a photographer.

We call those people "photo enthusiasts", and they often take beautiful photos.

Running a "photo business" full time (i.e. making a living with your camera) is a whole 'nother ball game.

MLKstudios wrote: PPS there are people who have been shooting 20 years or more and still are "hobbyists". The may have won an award or even been published, but they aren't working full time as a photographer.

We call those people "photo enthusiasts", and they often take beautiful photos.

Running a "photo business" full time (i.e. making a living with your camera) is a whole 'nother ball game.

So have you made a error during a live photo shoot before? Did you try to cover it up or just redo the shot?

I've made many mistakes in my time. And I'm always honest about it. Whether you get a chance to "redo" a shoot is not always guaranteed. Sometimes, you only get one chance.

Matthew

Martha wrote: I guess what I was talking about was like taking a photo where perhaps you used a super shallow DOF when you should have used something higher. As result only small portion of the photo is in focus. Or let me think... how about it's dark our and you should have used a flash but you didn't and photo is dark. Basically you fumbled.

Everyone makes mistakes, and sometimes they can turn out to be happy or lucky mistakes if the resulting photo is interesting in a way you hadn't thought of. There was a recent article at Strobist where he talks about how the portrait from the shoot that he ended up liking the most was the one where not all of his lighting set-up was functioning properly. Sometimes I admit happy accidents. Sometimes I play it off as pure genius!

In general I try to always present an attitude that everything is going great. Yikes I just dropped and broke a $500 light! No problem. Yowza because everyone is running late our 1/2 hour portrait session is now just 5 min! No problem. The sound man is clearly blind, and refuses to let us adjust the lighting so it looks halfway decent! I'll make something work. Worrying the client rarely makes things better.

If the photos don't meet the requirements/expectations of the client I don't know how you are going to keep that from them. I would think that out of focus and under-exposed would be hard to play off as artistic license. In these days of digital gear with instant preview and histograms there isn't much excuse for leaving the shoot without making sure you've got the shots you need.

Once I had just finished shooting the formal portraits of the bride and her attendants. I sent them back to their room, and the groom and guys were on their way out (B & G weren't seeing each other before the ceremony). As I was reloading the film in my Hasselblad backs I realized that somehow I had loaded the previous roll backwards! What a dumb-ass mistake (and one I only ever made once ) !!! I had no choice but to send the guys back to their room, go get the ladies, and explained that I had screwed up the entire roll (thankfully that's only 12 shots, 4 or 5 poses). I was extremely embarrassed, but not as embarrassed as I would have been to deliver the wedding photos, and not have the portraits of the bride and bridesmaids.

Loading the film backwards... pshaw. I once pulled out a handfull of 4x5 holders from the fridge to later realize they hadn't been loaded. I had lights set up and the whole shebang. It was for a group that traveled far to be in the shot, for that one moment.

Oops.

I did a shoot at a nursery, 80 children approx 800 photos, set up was as planned, photos in rear screen were coming out looking fine.b
Back home loaded the photos onto my computer panic, what the heck, bright pink skin, it was early days in my career so I was shooting jpegs.
result was a re shoot, honesty with the nursery paid off, any parents who were away from the nursery on the day of the shoot I promised to do a home shoot.
Honesty alweays pays off.

We all have horror stories from the film days like the time I set up a sports team for individual portraits and a team pic and the film didn't advance in the camera so I had to re-shoot the whole thing or the time a wedding assistant shredded a roll of film trying to rewind it.( Luckily I had all of the really important shots on my camera bodies.) But in the digital age with instant review and all you should be able to get your shots and ensure that all is well.

In any industry honesty is the best policy, mistakes happen as a part of life, we can only try to minimise the amount of mistakes we make. If you make clear to the client what has happened and what you are going to do to recitfy the problem 9 times out of 10 you'll be fine.

The biggest problem I come accross is people trying to blag their way out of trouble.

Tonight I was held up in the office by one one of my sales team not checking a car over and realising when the customer was present no radio code in a brand new car, the customer was initially very angry but a few reassurances and truths he was quickly settled and happy to wait the hour it took to reset everything, get the code and get him on his way....

Don't be scared of mistakes, use them as a learning tool, just try not to make the same one twice

MLKstudios wrote: PPS there are people who have been shooting 20 years or more and still are "hobbyists". The may have won an award or even been published, but they aren't working full time as a photographer.

We call those people "photo enthusiasts", and they often take beautiful photos.

Running a "photo business" full time (i.e. making a living with your camera) is a whole 'nother ball game.

I guess you are not a pro photographer, as I assume you don't make a living as a photographer. You make a living teaching photography.

You are correct. I was a pro for 30+ years, and now make most of money teaching others to be professionals. It's something I'm good at and enjoy doing. I do occasionally sell my work, but only as fine art. It's nice, I don't have to do what the client wants me to do anymore. I can shoot what I like and am my own boss.

Matthew

Oh many times, seriously who hasn't screwed up. wrong white balance, equipment malfunction due to me