Mistakes Photographers Make—Example V

Common mistake;  Not looking at all parts of your viewfinder, including the corners for
unwanted subject matter before pressing the shutter

In the continuing series on common mistakes we photographers make, another one that I still, on occasion, make is not looking at all parts of the viewfinder or LCD, , especially the corners, before you press the shutter.

It is not uncommon, in the heat of the moment or when emotionally involved with the scene we are photographing, to press the shutter button too quickly instead of first really looking at what is in or not in the viewfinder.

Not carefully looking carefully at the contents of your viewfinder or LCD can be a mistake of commission or omission.  You can find things in the image that you didn't see, as in the image to the right, or you can find that you inadvertently cut off or cropped out something important while not meaning to.  Once you are away from the scene, usually the first example can be fixed in editing, but if you inadvertently crop out or improperly crop something important to the scene, it cannot be later fixed.

Looking at the image above, in the top left corner, as well as on the left edge just above the tree tops, you will see some branches from nearby trees.  Also, in the top middle of the image is a lone, bare branch, hanging down into the frame of view.  These elements are distracting to the image and take away from its main subject, the cannon.  They annoy me, to be frank.  I should have carefully looked at all parts of my viewfinder, especially the corners, to see if there was anything unwanted showing.  In this case I failed.

The leaves and branches on the left corner and side could have easily been avoided by either me moving to the left a half step, then pointing my camera to the right just a bit to accomplish essentially the same composition.  Also, I could have zoomed in just a bit tighter or even taken a step closer to the cannon. The branch in the center, is pretty much unavoidable in this particular composition.  However, I might have been able to hold my camera high above my head, tilted the LCD down and recomposed which would have pointed the camera somewhat down, maybe eliminating the lone branch.

No big deal, you say?  Its not, but attention to detail is paramount when trying to make the best images you can.  But you can remove them in software, you say?  Yes, you can and I have "fixed" the image in the version below.  But it took me about 5 extra minutes to fix this image, first editing it in Lightroom, then exporting it into Photoshop, then back to Lightroom.  I removed the three elements.  (I didn't like the way Lightroom's cloning/healing tool did the removal so I went to Photoshop to use its tools) What if you had to do that for tens or hundreds of images?  Think of the time it would take to "clean up" your image within your editing process, rather than "get it right in the camera" in the first place.

Same image but the offending content in the sky has been
edited out

Simple things can be the difference between a professional level image and an amateur level one.  The devil is in the details, as the old saying goes.

Thanks for looking. Enjoy!

Dennis Mook

Many of my images can be found at www.dennismook.com.  Please pay it a visit.  I add new images regularly.  Thank you.


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