[spiralcity]

How many folks have experienced what you perceive to be a wasted roll of film due to the fact that you failed to take your time, and or may not have been as inspired as you should have while shooting a roll of film? I bring this up because this happens to me on occasions. I just had a roll of Ilford FP4 exposed, and I was quite disappointed with my efforts. Of course, the problem rest simply with my lack of taking the time and care to capture what I was envisioning. I even noticed a lack of crispness through-out this roll. I didn't want to take the time to set up my tripod, so I handheld every shot; yes, I paid a price for my laziness.

So, I post this thread just to see how others cope with such situations and if others may also deal with this film shooting syndrome.


This photo definitely has its problems. 1. Not crisp ( I would like to blame the film, but it was me hand holding on a windy day) 2. Composition (Once again my fault for rushing, I'll blame the cold windy weather on that )
Out of 36 images I found maybe 5 that were acceptable. Not a good percentage rate when considering the price to develop a roll.

This was the best of my failures; the others are too embarrassing to post.

---

Last edited by spiralcity; 07-28-2022 at 08:43 AM.

[pres589]

It seems like you have your take-aways. I think the composition is fine although I'm curious what you had in your mind vs. what you got. A tripod and a long exposure to take some of the edge off of the waves (hope this makes sense) might have been an improvement and you'd probably get slightly sharper results as well. I'm wondering if a colored filter, like a blue or a red, might have helped, though I have no direct experience with them and would like to learn about them myself.

I've had some frustrations lately with film photography, more from an equipment/development issues standpoint (I think an odd light leak was the cause, still investigating to see if I've fixed it) and my solution is to walk away from it for a few days and get myself more calm about it before charging back in. I have the luxury to do this because photography is still 'just a hobby' for me. I think some try-again is good but when it starts getting frustrating leaving it alone for a bit and doing something else for a while is my solution of choice.

[photoptimist]

Me too!

Photography definitely rewards patience and meticulous diligence and it penalizes slap-dash snap-shooting.

I find there are five big challenges to patient photography:

1. Double checking the exposure settings: How fast or slow do I want the shutter to be to stop or blur the scene? How much sharpness or DoF do I want or not want? And is this scene really middle gray or should the exposure be adjusted up or down?

2. Checking the focus: Is the subject sharp? Are the foreground and background object appropriate sharp (or blurred)? Do I need to tweak the aperture for slightly bias the focus in front or behind the subject to center the DoF range on the range of distances in the scene?

3. Carefully studying the frame: Is background junk erupting from the subject's head? Do the leading lines lead anywhere? Are the geometric elements of the frame nicely sized and spaced? How do the edges and corners of the frame look enhance the image or create distraction? Should I move the camera (and tripod) up, down, left, or right a few inches or feet to get a better juxtaposition of foreground, subject, and background objects?

4. Waiting, waiting, waiting: Waiting for the lighting to be right. Waiting for the clouds to compose themselves artfully. Waiting for moving objects to leave or arrive at a nice point in the frame. Waiting even more when the clouds looked good but a distraction wandered into the frame.

5. Knowing when to quit: Sometimes the most important act of patient photography is in realizing that the image, the conditions of the day, the angle of the lighting, or unavoidable things in the frame just are not conducive to a good picture. Sometimes the best photograph of the scene just is not that good. Sometimes a place needs to be revisited in a few hours, few days, a few months, or a year. Sometimes moving on to search for the next image can be the better option.

[spiralcity]

It seems like you have your take-aways. I think the composition is fine although I'm curious what you had in your mind vs. what you got. A tripod and a long exposure to take some of the edge off of the waves (hope this makes sense) might have been an improvement and you'd probably get slightly sharper results as well. I'm wondering if a colored filter, like a blue or a red, might have helped, though I have no direct experience with them and would like to learn about them myself.

I've had some frustrations lately with film photography, more from an equipment/development issues standpoint (I think an odd light leak was the cause, still investigating to see if I've fixed it) and my solution is to walk away from it for a few days and get myself more calm about it before charging back in. I have the luxury to do this because photography is still 'just a hobby' for me. I think some try-again is good but when it starts getting frustrating leaving it alone for a bit and doing something else for a while is my solution of choice.

The rule of thirds lands pretty solid with the composition. I just wish I would have given more consideration to the second beacon and perhaps had more of a 45-degree angle and a few feet closer in. As I said, this is the best of my failures, the others are not worth posting.

And yes, a tripod would do wonders here. I know this yet I ignored the tripod and went for speed. I was cold, but that's truly no excuse.

[pres589]

I've never been that hot on the rule of thirds although I do use it sometimes. Hard to know how to make things better with regards to that second beacon on the right. Maybe better if it vanished completely? Was further away? You could go shoot that scene once a day, every day, for a year and play around to really figure out how to make that scene as likeable to your own ideas as possible.

[AAlfano]

I think you're being too hard on yourself. I quite like your picture. The composition is good—you've establish a nice leading line in the foreground, leading directly to the main subject, with the second lighthouse (or whatever it is) in the background and then a nicely exposed cloudy sky. As to crispness, it looks fine to me on my screen. Maybe it would have been a little more "crisp" if you used a tripod. It would also have been a lot more crisp if you had used an 8x10 view camera, or a 100MP medium format digital camera. So what? Your photo perfectly conveys the feeling of being by the water on a cold, cloudy, windy day. Not sure that was what you were trying to accomplish, but having a sharper or more detailed image would have taken away from that feeling rather than added to it, in my opinion.

Sharpness is highly overrated (unless you're trying to sell someone a new camera or lens).


I deal with disappointing pictures mostly by remembering mostly by just remembering that this is a hobby for me, something I do for fun and for the pure enjoyment of it. I work in a very high stress profession where the consequences of making mistakes is very high. If I make a bad exposure on 35mm film, I figure I'm out a total of maybe 75 cents between the costs of the film and processing, even at today's high prices. Nothing to worry about. Just learn from the experience and figure out what I can do better.

[AfterPentax Mark II]

How many folks have experienced what you perceive to be a wasted roll of film due to the fact that you failed to take your time, and or may not have been as inspired as you should have while shooting a roll of film? I bring this up because this happens to me on occasions. I just had a roll of Ilford FP4 exposed, and I was quite disappointed with my efforts. Of course, the problem rest simply with my lack of taking the time and care to capture what I was envisioning. I even noticed a lack of crispness through-out this roll. I didn't want to take the time to set up my tripod, so I handheld every shot; yes, I paid a price for my laziness.

So, I post this thread just to see how others cope with such situations and if others may also deal with this film shooting syndrome.


This photo definitely has its problems. 1. Not crisp ( I would like to blame the film, but it was me hand holding on a windy day) 2. Composition (Once again my fault for rushing, I'll blame the cold windy weather on that )
Out of 36 images I found maybe 5 that were acceptable. Not a good percentage rate when considering the price to develop a roll.

This was the best of my failures; the others are too embarrassing to post.

Apart from being a bit grainy (but that is me) there is nothing wrong with the picture. I doubt that you would have gotten a better result with A) get things a bit more steady and B) taking time in composing. You saw something and recorded it for posterity. I like the Lighthouse being balanced with the tower on the right and that small pole on its left side, it makes it look "being the boss". With more care in taking the photo you would have missed this/that, the light and the clouds, that moment has such an atmosphere and it is exciting what you see. And all of it is enhanced by it being monochrome....

[spiralcity]

Thanks for the comments, folks, it is much appreciated.

All the comments lead me to another question: Are we too critical with our own images? I know it is truly a subjective matter, one's eye may perceive things different than another's. In my mind I see things I would like to convey on film, but when the images arrive sometimes the photos do not match the image I had in my head. When this happens, it leads me to question the image.

[titrisol]

hurrying and then dissapointment..... way too many times.
Especially when I havent shot in a while and trying to get back in the groove

[LesDMess]

There are many tangible and intangible reasons that make an image something for ourselves as well as for others. The technical ones of course are the easiest to address.

For instance my first SLR was a Canon EOS3 which I thought then had all the whiz bang features incorporated from decades of development. I figure I can just point and shoot and the results will come out perfect. But if not, I can just work on it in post.

Hoover Dam at night, Fuji RVP100F, EOS3, aperture priority EF50mm f1.4



Was really dark and I thought wide open exposure will be fine. I didn't notice the viewfinder was trying to tell me the results will be underexposed. I learned later that all Canons with aperture priority mode can only hold the shutter open a mximum of 25 seconds which was clearly not enough for this scene, film speed and lens wide open.

Well many years later - and many many cameras bought and tested, I find out that the Pentax LX can supposedly take a much longer aperture priority mode shot even though the manual only states 125seconds.

So I revisit that scene but this time with the LX using Kodak Ektar100 and got the result below. This time, the LX aperture priority mode was able to keep the shutter open for > 30minutes



Of course looking back on all this I've learned many other ways I could have worked this out. But the one thing that stood out for me is read the manual and learn how to use the tools you have or get the right tool for the job . . .

Another thing I learned very early in like, if you make a mistake, quickly look around to see if anyone saw it . . .

[tuco]

Some rolls are good and some are bad for me too. My mood plays a large part I suspect. And it seems I have to due diligence on each and every shot; otherwise, I'll be also looking back in retrospect mumbling to myself why didn't do this or that kind of thing.

[aldo taddia]

A wise photographer said that: of a 36-frame film you will only have to save 3 photos. You have passed this rule by saving 5 of them. So we have to congratulate you. The one you published is great!

[MossyRocks]

The last time I really wasted a roll of film was when I got the bright idea to try astrophotography for the first time on something other than the moon. That was an expensive lesson in failure. There my solution was to go buy a digital camera. I could probably do film astro shooting now but that is after lots of learning with digital. However there I would probably not waste the film as reasonable astro shooting requires lots of shots. Now that I think about it I may want to be dumb some night and put my spottie on my equatorial and then stack 24 or 36 scanned film negative images for S&Gs. Time to buy some cheap non color 100 or B&W 50 speed film.

[Alex645]

Out of 36 images I found maybe 5 that were acceptable. Not a good percentage rate when considering the price to develop a roll.

I've had many teachers or people that have taught me and influenced me in art and photography and one of them is Dewitt Jones. https://dewittjones.com/

He once shared an anecdote about someone in a workshop asking him, how many good shots does he get in a roll of film. He responded by saying that was the wrong question. The correct question is simply "did you get it?" In other words, it doesn't matter how many mediocre or bad shots we have but rather did we get THE shot.

When I spend a long weekend shooting many rolls of film, of course I want every shot to be a keeper, but that's not realistic and ultimately if I get one shot I am really happy with on one roll, great! If not, did I get one shot that day? If not, did I get the one shot that weekend trip? I am now at the point where my goal is to take one exceptional image every year.

But not to lower the bar, I am trying to find the best light, the best moment, the best angle, the best camera settings, etc. But even the masters in sports, science, art, literature, etc, have their ordinary par and sub par attempts and results. With film, as it is more of a financial and time commitment, we do want to minimize waste, but sometimes 'waste' is needed to give us the pain of failure, or just to warm us up to refine our vision, or to help us define when we do get that special image that we consider success.

---------- Post added 07-28-22 at 04:41 PM ----------

This was the best of my failures; the others are too embarrassing to post.

This image has a lot of potential in the darkroom. I'd recommend burning the sky and dodging the light house and everything below the horizon.

[ChrisPlatt]

Taking pictures is easy; making good photographs is not.
That's why there are thousands of photography how-to books.

After 50 years in photography I'm happy to get a couple of images per roll worth printing.

Chris