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The picture I hate
6 years ago
General
So let me tell you a story about a photo of mine that I just absolutely hate, and why I hate it.
Some background - photography can be quite difficult to get right. The chief problems being focus, white balancing, color expression, light levels foreground and background, etc. Managing all those things is difficult enough during controlled settings, and a nightmare when you're running around hallways and rooms with radically different light and color levels every few meters. Since I've gotten into photography, I've developed a deep appreciation for those who get it right. Many of the posts on Twitter I "like" are for that reason - a photograph that is extremely well composed or otherwise very difficult to pull off under even the best of circumstances.
Now, liking those photos...I've often hesitated and sometimes had to pass on doing so. That is because some of them are a bit..risque. I try to be cognizant of the fact that my page is SFW, and people following me expect it to stay that way. Sometimes, however, I forget. I'll "like" a photo that is perhaps a bit more suggestive than PG (which is what I try to adhere to), and I've noticed I've lost a few followers because of it. Sometimes I forget that Twitter will pop up those tweets of "hey this post was liked by <x>". But I respect that people have to curate their timelines. I lament it, and I try my hardest to keep adhering to that PG rating, but sometimes I'll forget or not notice a perhaps grander context of the photo in question that moves it over into the PG-13 realm.
So what does this have to do with a picture that I hate? Well, I once took a picture that had amazing technical quality to it. The light levels are exact and perfect, the target is in perfect focus, the colors come through true, there's no color bleed, no excessively bright highlights, no dark splotches of overly-shadowed area. It's basically perfect. There's only two things wrong with it. 1: It was a "shot from the hip" and not anything I was trying to seriously capture. So I can't even claim that this photo is an expression of skill I possess; it's merely a lucky shot. 2: it's deep into that PG-13 realm, so it's not something I'm particularly proud of or tend to highlight often.
So how did this picture come to be?
Back during Anthrocon 2015, I was taking photos of some friends in the concourse/hallways in the convention center. We did a few rounds of photos there, then one of them (Leo, if memory serves correctly) suggested that we take the escalators up to the DLCC roof and take more photos there. So he led the way, followed by Frazzles, and myself following them. Frazzles was right in front of me on the up escalator, and the curly tail on his fursuit was almost in my face. So I said in a really joking tone, "Oh Frazzles I see your butt!!" He turned around and pantomimed a cutesy embarrassed expression and started wagging his butt. Then I said, again in a joking tone, "Well if you wag your butt in my face I'm going to take a picture of it!" Well he kept wagging, so I picked up my DSLR in my right hand, and held it about chest high and one-handed the shot. I didn't adjust any of the settings for aperture, ISO, or shutter speed since the prior photos in the darker hallway area. I just picked up that camera, hit the shutter release, which of course made a sound, and we had a chuckle about it. That's it. We continued to the roof, took more photos, and continued on with the rest of our day.
Heck, I didn't even remember taking it.
Weeks later, as I was sitting down in front of my computer, I found the photo in the timeline. I chuckled as I remembered the circumstances of it, and I was about to delete it, when I noticed that it came out dang-near perfectly. Minimal processing would be required to bring it up to my posting standard. And the more I looked at it, and realized how well it came out, the more annoyed I got with it. Here it was - finally a photo I took really well. A photo that had all the technical quality I wish I could bring out with all my photos. But it wasn't something I set up or planned. It was merely a lucky shot. And with that, proving once and for all, that my camera was not at all holding me back, and I just sucked that much at everyday photography.
Worse yet, here was a photo that I'd still, despite that, want to display and show off to everyone. That if it were something a tad more appropriate I might print it off in a 8"x10" frame and hang it on my wall as an achievement I could reflect upon. But it was a fursuiter's butt. It gnaws at me like some spiteful instance of good fortune.
So what is this photo? This one: https://www.flickr.com/photos/99893.....n/photostream/ All the technical everyday quality I wish I could get so easily on all my photos. Granted it's not like the spectacularly difficult shots a lot of people post on Twitter (like getting a fursuiter fully lit against a setting sun, stuff like that). But it's the baseline level of photography skill I wish I always had.
Some background - photography can be quite difficult to get right. The chief problems being focus, white balancing, color expression, light levels foreground and background, etc. Managing all those things is difficult enough during controlled settings, and a nightmare when you're running around hallways and rooms with radically different light and color levels every few meters. Since I've gotten into photography, I've developed a deep appreciation for those who get it right. Many of the posts on Twitter I "like" are for that reason - a photograph that is extremely well composed or otherwise very difficult to pull off under even the best of circumstances.
Now, liking those photos...I've often hesitated and sometimes had to pass on doing so. That is because some of them are a bit..risque. I try to be cognizant of the fact that my page is SFW, and people following me expect it to stay that way. Sometimes, however, I forget. I'll "like" a photo that is perhaps a bit more suggestive than PG (which is what I try to adhere to), and I've noticed I've lost a few followers because of it. Sometimes I forget that Twitter will pop up those tweets of "hey this post was liked by <x>". But I respect that people have to curate their timelines. I lament it, and I try my hardest to keep adhering to that PG rating, but sometimes I'll forget or not notice a perhaps grander context of the photo in question that moves it over into the PG-13 realm.
So what does this have to do with a picture that I hate? Well, I once took a picture that had amazing technical quality to it. The light levels are exact and perfect, the target is in perfect focus, the colors come through true, there's no color bleed, no excessively bright highlights, no dark splotches of overly-shadowed area. It's basically perfect. There's only two things wrong with it. 1: It was a "shot from the hip" and not anything I was trying to seriously capture. So I can't even claim that this photo is an expression of skill I possess; it's merely a lucky shot. 2: it's deep into that PG-13 realm, so it's not something I'm particularly proud of or tend to highlight often.
So how did this picture come to be?
Back during Anthrocon 2015, I was taking photos of some friends in the concourse/hallways in the convention center. We did a few rounds of photos there, then one of them (Leo, if memory serves correctly) suggested that we take the escalators up to the DLCC roof and take more photos there. So he led the way, followed by Frazzles, and myself following them. Frazzles was right in front of me on the up escalator, and the curly tail on his fursuit was almost in my face. So I said in a really joking tone, "Oh Frazzles I see your butt!!" He turned around and pantomimed a cutesy embarrassed expression and started wagging his butt. Then I said, again in a joking tone, "Well if you wag your butt in my face I'm going to take a picture of it!" Well he kept wagging, so I picked up my DSLR in my right hand, and held it about chest high and one-handed the shot. I didn't adjust any of the settings for aperture, ISO, or shutter speed since the prior photos in the darker hallway area. I just picked up that camera, hit the shutter release, which of course made a sound, and we had a chuckle about it. That's it. We continued to the roof, took more photos, and continued on with the rest of our day.
Heck, I didn't even remember taking it.
Weeks later, as I was sitting down in front of my computer, I found the photo in the timeline. I chuckled as I remembered the circumstances of it, and I was about to delete it, when I noticed that it came out dang-near perfectly. Minimal processing would be required to bring it up to my posting standard. And the more I looked at it, and realized how well it came out, the more annoyed I got with it. Here it was - finally a photo I took really well. A photo that had all the technical quality I wish I could bring out with all my photos. But it wasn't something I set up or planned. It was merely a lucky shot. And with that, proving once and for all, that my camera was not at all holding me back, and I just sucked that much at everyday photography.
Worse yet, here was a photo that I'd still, despite that, want to display and show off to everyone. That if it were something a tad more appropriate I might print it off in a 8"x10" frame and hang it on my wall as an achievement I could reflect upon. But it was a fursuiter's butt. It gnaws at me like some spiteful instance of good fortune.
So what is this photo? This one: https://www.flickr.com/photos/99893.....n/photostream/ All the technical everyday quality I wish I could get so easily on all my photos. Granted it's not like the spectacularly difficult shots a lot of people post on Twitter (like getting a fursuiter fully lit against a setting sun, stuff like that). But it's the baseline level of photography skill I wish I always had.
Personally I stopped caring about not liking anything above a PG rating on Twitter. If people wanna unwatch me for liking a saucy pic now and then oh, well.
Much as we like to play with our exposure settings, sometimes just putting the darn thing on automatic can surprise us with the results. Just be glad you are in the digital age where exposure issues can be "fixed" in post production. Film is not as forgiving.
That being said, your efforts are always appreciated!