Photographer failures

This page lists common mistakes done by amateur photographers, failure avoidance recommendations, and several basic photographic rules. Having comprehended these rules, you may start to break them, but only if you understand clearly for what you do so.

Some faults are correctable by minimal processing in Photoshop, especially if source RAW is available. Such faults are marked by the icon near to the arrow connecting wrong and right variants. Some other faults are SOMETIMES correctable during post-processing, however this processing is not minimal. They are marked by two icons . An arrow without icons means that erroneous picture can not be practically corrected without significant loss of its value.

	image presentation: low key (left) and high key (right)
	image presentation: effect filters (exemplified by Star-8) install a needed filter in front of the lens
	image presentation: "marble skin" in black-and-white increase a part of red channel during color to black-and-white conversion
	image presentation: "romantic blur" tune transparency of a layer blended with its blurred copy in "overlay" mode
	face perspective distorsion increase focal length, move away from a model (optimal equivalent FL is ~85mm)
	object dimension distorsion move camera up (reduce object) or down (enlarge object); photograph children from their eye level
	red eyes (flash photo) use a pre-flash or move a flash light away from camera
	chromatic noise decrease sensor sensitivity (ISO)
	chromatic abberation on the periphery remove abberation during RAW conversion or use a different lens
	white balance does not correspond to the subject set correct white balance before the shot or during RAW conversion
	inarticulate clouds use a polarizer filter
	unclear object volume rotate the object or move camera sideward
	flat object use side light
	skin defects use soft filters or remove spot defects during post-processing
	unwanted reflection in glass or water change illumination angle or use a polarizer filter
	foreighn object shadow remove a foreighn object (fingers, wires etc. in front of light source)
	foreighn object on the foreground remove a foreighn object (fingers, filter holder)
	photographer's shadow (sunlight photo) change shooting angle
	vignetting remove a hood and a filter holder; if unuseful, use a different lens
	oversaturation decrease saturation in camera settings or during post-processing, check color profile settings
	low resolution check camera and RAW conversion settings
	HDR artifacts do not overestimate the power of HDR technology:)
	poor dynamic range use a different camera (or set scanning options correctly)
	unwated flares use a hood, mask side light; if a light source is in a frame, locate it closer to the frame center
	wrong focusing (landscape) select another focusing sensor than default, or use an autofocus lock or manual focusing
	wrong focusing (portrait) focus at eyes manually or using an autofocus lock
	a part of object is out of focus (depth of field is too narrow) close the aperture or move away from the object
	background is not blurred (depth of field is too wide) open the aperture or move closer to the object, or place object further from the background
	no foreground (landscape) recompose a frame to include a frontground object
	frontground and background are unconnected (landscape) recompose a frame to include a front-to-background transition object (road, fence, river etc.)
a photo with three stages: foreground, middleground, and background
a photo with two stages (left to right): without a frontground, without a background, without a middleground:
geometrical (left) and tonal (right) stage transition:
	overexposed sky use gradient grey filter
	overexposed object on dark background use negative exposition correction or spot metering
	underexposed object on light background use positive exposition correction or spot metering
	flat face (flash photo) reduce or turn off the frontal flash light, use a ceiling as a flash reflector, use side light
	underexposed background (night flash photo) use slower shutter, set camera to a tripod or a monopod
	underexposed frontground (night flash photo) open the apperture, or use stronger flash light, or increase sensor sensitivity (ISO)
	underexposed object in back light use fill-in light (incl. a flash light)
	object inseparable from background enlighten a model or a background, reduce face-to-background contrast
	object on a dark background is too light enlighten the background or use lighter background, or use negative exposure correction
	object on a light background is too dark use darker background or positive exposure correction; keep in mind the face-to-background contrast
	inarticulate water use back light
	tilted horizon hold a camera straight (except for dynamic subjects with movement) or apply an image rotation during post-processing
	vertical lines converge hold a camera (its optic axis) straight or apply a trapezoid correction during post-processing
	nose shadow rotate a model so that a shadow either disappears or covers the whole cheek, or use a reflector (e.g. paper sheet) or fill-in flash light
	cropped sight line or movement line recompose a frame to leave at least a half of frame for a sight line
	unbalanced composition recompose a frame to unload its upper part; place a visual "gravity center" at golden section
	cropped object recompose a frame without cropping of legs and arms
	too much uninformative background zoom or crop (except for the subjects of huge wastelands, loneliness, being lost etc.)
	a frame is half-split by a line recompose a frame using a rule of thirds or a golden section (applicable both to horizontal and vertical lines)
	too much empty space crop the sky (wall, etc.)
	object scale is unclear (landscape) recompose a frame to include objects of known size (people, trees, tents, etc.)
	too much rubbish remove distracting objects, wait until there are no people on the middleground
	face interferred by a background object recompose a frame to exclude wires, trees, furniture etc. protruding from model's head or ears
	the frame expresses nothing, nor it makes any athmosphere, it is unclear why it is taken do not multiply photorubbish, think WHAT you want to express before pressing a button. And don't forget that product of quality by quantity of shots is constant.
	closed eyes wake a up a model and shoot again; make 2-3 shots of a group of people
	the object seems smaller than it is make a shot from the lower angle, decrease focal length, or recompose a frame to include a comparative object
	uneven outline remove bumps, smooth cloth edges, fix a cloth by pins at the model back side
	glazen eyes use weak front light or draw eye flares during post-processing
	camera shake use faster shutter or a tripod
	motion blur (movement) use faster shutter or ask a model not to move about
	frozen background (movement) use horizontal camera tracking to blur a background, exclude vertical camera shake by a tripod or a monopod
	frozen object (movement) use slower shutter depending on the subject; for runing water use ~1/30
	traces in front of the object (movement, flash photo) synchronize flash with rear shutter blind

Sample images marked by (c)-sign in the corner were found by Google image search. The other images were shot specially for this page or taken from my personal archive.

Home : Photography

Teaching : Digital photography

Tests : Amateur photographer

Last updated: 2013 Sep 26      Home