Once again the same lesson !

 

Yesterday, for thanksgiving I was tasked with taking the family photo.  We had relatives in from other states and it is a big, fun family event.

I was excited, and in my excitement, I flubbed several things, though luckily not all of them ! LOL

I was using on camera flash fill with a Lumiquest reflector to get it off axis.  I set up the flash, the camera was already on the tripod, and put the flash onto the camera.  I carried the tripod, camera, flash assembly to the steps where the family would gather and the flash fell off and broke the sensor front cover.  Although broken, I could set it back in place.   I had forgotten to lock the flash in place; my mind must have been elsewhere !

The family gathers, I turn on the timer, but am only able to select the 2 second timer, and not the 10 second timer making it difficult to get back into the picture!  My son in the first row was nimble enough to succeed.  Ah the picture was captured.  I went to check the image and histogram, and the camera said No Compact Flash.    Usually I put a flash card back in after loading it onto the computer, but not the previous time, and I had not checked that.  I had checked the exposure with flash in test pics, but since I didn’t go look at prior shots the camera didn’t report it.  This is why I need to use the option to require compact flash to be in place to press the button.   So off to the car to grab a card, back and now the picture ! Hurray !

There are several morals to all of this, particularly since I will likely always have opportunities to get excited  🙂

• Have a regular pattern of what I do (this is mandatory when flying a plane)
• Learn the camera  to know how to set the timer more easily
• Check the setup, and then recheck it !

I hope that this saves you or an associate from some heartache.

 

<This post cross posted from Patrick Lynch Photography.com >