A photographers pet peeve - called - Epic Fail

As I sit to write this, the rains of South Florida continue to beat down on the windows of the house. This is the time of year that makes it difficult for pictures in this part of the world - continuous rainy days. So, I thought I'd devote this blog entry to the real pet peeve of a photographer -the Epic Fail pictures. In this day and age of digital photography, it's not so much of a problem as it used to be in the days of film shooting. There - you could not have the do-overs that we get in digital photography. But, they still are a pain when you think you have the perfect shot, only to find out later - the one you wanted is the Epic Fail. This really is a tongue-in-cheek poke at myself because the majority of Epic Fails can be avoided by really checking your location and conditions.

There are two main categories I place the Epic Fail pictures into - man made and nature. To start with the nature, the leader in this category is weather. While we know when the weather is bad and we don't go shooting, there is always the errant cloud or rain storm that can sneak into the picture and just when you think you have that shot....darkness - and all the editing in the world will probably not save the shot.





Just as clouds can be the cause of the Epic Fail, the lack of clouds and heat can be another cause. Heat distortion is the enemy of the photographer. It is really only discovered when you get back to edit the shots. There are the obvious heat distortion shots that you won't take - aircraft on an obviously heat distorted runway. But, those in the sky don't obviously show until editing, and then, when you think that you have the perfect shot....distortion lines everywhere...




The rest of my definitions of Epic Fail fall into the man made variety. This can be anything from an errant road sign to a tree, another aircraft in the way to equipment. Road signs are everywhere. Roads are all around airports - it's how we get to our photography locations. So, oblivious of location, you are panning some shots of an aircraft.....sign blockage...




In the same way that signs are on roads close to an airport, so equipment is all over an airport. This can range from baggage carts, to fuelers, or, and I hated this this week, machinery repairing runways and taxiways. Here I was, shooting the brand new jetBlue logojet, I get back to look at the pictures....and....Epic Fail....machinery.



The same goes for trees, that tend to shoot up around airports as well....



Finally, there are the two Epic Fails that are totally man and photographer made - but Epic Fails still. The cut off....



And the aircraft obstruction.....



The Epic Fail - something we always try to avoid, but sometimes can't.

There is one good bit of news for the photographers around the country - the first Continental retro colors jet is plying the airways of the country - we will all be out trying to get a decent non-Fail shot of her. All we need in South Florida now is the rain to go away....

Another week behind the camera lens over....