Have you ever taken a photo only to realize later that you had made a simple mistake that dramatically affected your photos? It’s amazing how one little detail can really make a big difference.
Several years ago a friend and I were in Rome. My friend had been taking some shots with black-and-white film, so she’d put an orange filter on her lens to increase the contrast and make the black-and-whites stand out. We’d already had a busy day, but we were headed to the Colosseum, our main focus for the day. With a quick change of film, we were ready. However, this was color film.
We went; we saw; we conquered the Colosseum. We both used the camera to take some well-aimed and special photos of that historic place (and us in it). Only later did we realize that the orange filter was still on. Needless to say, we had some very artistic orange memories that made scrapbooking a little more difficult (but we did it).
Another example was when I forgot to change my camera back to auto focus after manually focusing for a few shots. All of the sudden, I saw a great action series happening, and I instinctively swung around to capture it. While the photos turned out better than I expected, they aren’t super clear when they easily could have been.
I really feel like photography is an enjoyable hobby and that there will always be some shots that don’t turn out like you thought they would. That’s the nature of art, right? But when you put a little thought into what you’re doing, art becomes more deliberate and intriguing.
Just a little preparation goes a long way in getting your photos to turn out crisp, colorful, and beautiful. So next time you’re out shooting, remember what settings your camera is on, what you’ve been doing, and what you want to accomplish with the photos you’re taking. And by all means, if you want orange images, use the filter.