Why These Photos Don't Work (I tried, I worked the scene, and I FAILED!)

Pro photographers never take a bad picture, right?? Au contraire mon frère! Personally I take thousands of crappy photos every year. And it's not because I'm not trying. Sometimes, no matter how hard I try, I just can't make the shot work. In this video I show two failed shoots where I really wanted a great shot, but I just couldn't pull it off, even though I was in a fantastic location and had beautiful light. I talk through the problems I faced, the mistakes I made, and how you can avoid falling into the same traps I did.
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[@JoshuaCrippsPhotography]

What's the biggest issue that stops you from getting good shots in the field?

[@jeffnewman8261]

My number one mistake is getting to excited on scene and bouncing from image to image trying to capture everything I see instead of slowing down, finding the most compelling scene and capturing it perfectly.

[@pbsalfen]

Patience.

[@andreasbininda6226]

Getting too excited about the scene and running around like a small kid with a new toy and trying too many things out. Not searching for just a few very good compositions.

[@lisaremillard6399]

Patience

[@aleksandarlukic7783]

You will focus more when its a boring mid day light possibly with gray clouds :D, then there wont be epic scenes so you will be forced to find something interesting and focus only on that xD

[@davidbloom2968]

This has to be the FIRST tutorial (if it can be called that) that I have seen where the presenter leaves his ego behind and shows his mistakes for the better good. Good for you Josh!! I take my hat off to you! Always a fan.

[@anamartinuzzi7317]

You are completely right.

[@JoshuaCrippsPhotography]

Appreciate that David.

[@sauravbahuguna3186]

I have a vision of what I want to achieve, but whenever I am in the field, I am dumb as a rock

[@JoshuaCrippsPhotography]

Don't lose sight of your vision when you're out on the field! Remember your intentions/purpose and if it's just to have fun that's great! Experiment with your camera ;).

[@reneerivera138]

Loved this video....the mono example has happened to me numerous time at mono....I get so set on one direction and then scrambled when more spectacular light happens in another....great reminder to not be lazy...thx

[@anthonydavey1128]

I'm kinda guilty of the same thing Joshua, knowing the conditions are not ideal with my current set-Up, just trying to get a shot at least. I get home and start processing and I look at the settings of some images thinking WTF was I thinking. Time is my nemesis, always has been, I need to learn to slow down and be totally absorbed in my subject and respect the process of technique to create great images. Thanks for your channel dude.

[@neilschenk4060]

This was a fantastic idea for a video, and I really enjoyed it. Hearing your moment-by-moment thoughts and obstacles taught me a lot about what to look for and what to try for the best possible composition. I bet there’s a number of world-class photographers who come away from an outing with some with some hot photo garbage.

[@JoshuaCrippsPhotography]

Thanks Neil! Appreciate that.

[@localnavy433]

I so needed this video. It taught me a lot about some of the issues that I have with my own photography. Thank you for sharing this

[@D0ct0rFun]

This is some GREAT travel photo wisdom! Thank you SOOOOO very much!

[@forneverarrow]

Because of that same laziness yesterday I screwed a similar sunset capture trying to shoot at 80mm with ISO 200 cause I thought that I can cope with 1/40s shutter speed at that focal length in order to keep the noise down... needless to say that my tripod was packed in my car 10 meters away!! The beauty of such mistakes though is that are very teaching.

[@pauloricardoferreira2841]

Thank you, Joshua, for letting us know that even a great photographer, like you, make mistakes and bad choices.

[@JoshuaCrippsPhotography]

We all make mistakes, it's part of the learning :).

[@RickMentore]

JC, its the first day of the year and I am binging your videos, fantastic, engaging contents every post, I must say. I started learning the exposure tringle with you some years and your current videos are just as valuable. Thanks and goodlight, well you said in another video, "there is nothing as good light," favorable photo conditions in 2021!

[@JoshuaCrippsPhotography]

Wow, thanks Rick! Appreciate all the continued support. Keep shooting!

[@pattyandrews2902]

I really appreciate you showing some of your "failed" photos, and even after you tried to edit them to make them better. And your explanation on the grain in the underexposed Mono Lake image, I never thought of it that way; the lower iso didn't help at all when you are so far underexposed. Now if I can just remember that in the field!! lol

[@JoshuaCrippsPhotography]

Glad you resonate Patty, appreciate that.

[@drazencavar1012]

This is truly refreshing perspective - very established photographer openly talks about his mistakes that do happen even after so many years of experience, talks without retouching the reality, reminds us that we are all human beings and that best results comes out of lot of self-criticism.

[@JoshuaCrippsPhotography]

Thank you Drazen. Appreciate that.

[@stufromoz8164]

Thanks for sharing, I think most of us can relate to this.

[@pbsalfen]

I was hanging out, one Summer's Day, with some German tourists at the pool at Stovepipe Wells Village YEARS (35mm film years) ago, waiting for just the right moment. Everything looked great, headed down to the dunes and waited.......aaaannnnddd, nothing. It got dark, so I packed up my cameras and tripods, and headed back to the pool. Wasn't 10 minutes after getting back to the pool that I hear a chorus of oohs and aaahs. I look out the plexiglass windows of the pool enclosure and it was the most spectacular sunset I have ever seen in DV. I knew it wasn't going to last long enough for me to run out to my BRAT to grab my camera gear. So I ooo'd and aaah'd with the rest of the tourists. I'm not a Dr, but I have REALLY worked on my patience since that moment.

[@JoshuaCrippsPhotography]

What a story! Thank you for sharing.

[@artsotelo1807]

Yes, very frustrating when compositions just aren't working out. Patience and preparedness are so very critical. Thanks for the tips and reminders!!

[@JoshuaCrippsPhotography]

And thank you for watching!

[@Chris_2023_]

Great video, Joshua!

[@shannonsnow8298]

Wow! Been there! Thanks for the refresh!

[@JoshuaCrippsPhotography]

Thank you for watching!

[@iggvec5769]

mate you are so honest about it, i love it ... i didn't even checked my focus when this thing happened to me

[@JoshuaCrippsPhotography]

Thanks man!

[@sujithcheeral]

A very informative video...Keep on making this type of videos about mistakes and how to improve it...thank you verymuch

[@jimwlouavl]

Thanks for sharing these. It’s frustrating to come back and have images not work. And it’s super helpful to know I’m not the only one.

[@cara1067]

Very interesting and informative. Thank you.

[@kumarkrishnan8309]

Thank you for sharing this! Helped me a lot realize what I have been doing wrong. Subscribed to your channel just because of this amazing video!!

[@mateuszmatwiejczuk2437]

Great video mate. I've made those mistakes many times and while I still moan about some opportunites that I've missed, it makes me think that losing great shots beacause of laziness or unpreparedness is an inevitable part of the process of learning photography. And as we see mistakes can still happen even when you're a pro. Thanks for sharing your experiences! Greetings from Poland :)

[@markferrell2470]

~~Extremely great advice and I will be more attentive to my shots, I am so leary of (some) beautiful photography mainly because people use so many photo altering apps to add light or whatever you wonder if a photo is for real or made up.

[@FunkOsax]

Excellent video, good points

[@scottkirkman8275]

Thanks for sharing that even the best photographers are human and can make little mistakes. I know the feeling, but after getting disappointed, I try to get back out there and give it another shot (not always immediately though and often with a little self-pep talk).

[@JoshuaCrippsPhotography]

Keep at it Scott! Have fun and experiment along the way.

[@WalkingDevon]

Excellent advice Joshua, 100% agree with all you said. Sometimes you just have to put the wide angle back in the bag when there's no foreground. In fact mine stays in the bag most of the time now unless there's foreground. Laziness is such a difficult one to overcome, I'm the same. We'll walk god knows how far carrying heavy gear and then not bother to set up the tripod. It happens to us all, we have to change our mentality to not even consider taking any shortcuts, don't feel the need to rush but hindsight can be a wonderful thing as by the time you've set up properly the moment could be lost and you'll regret not just getting a shot off anyway. It's a tough call but you're not always going to be a perfect photographer, sometime you just get it wrong.

[@tjc9514]

Josh! Thank you so much! If you made this a series, I feel like I would learn way more from someone like you who knows what they are doing

[@ronpettitt6184]

This was an interesting video. I have had times like that. I look at some of my older stuff and I get frustrated with myself because of the things I missed because I just didn't "get it". I'm glad it isn't only me. :)

[@JoshuaCrippsPhotography]

It's definitely not just you! There's a learning curve involved.

[@craigallenphotography]

Glad it's not just me :-) Just recently I was taking night sky shots in a "once in a lifetime" location and lowered my ISO and did a long exposure for the foreground shot. A while later I decided to do another series (10 exposures) for the sky and on the 7th shot an gigantic meteor shot right over the mountain...I'm talking sparks in the tail giant...when I finished my 10 shots I quickly started reviewing the images...they were all black...I had forgotten to raise my ISO back for the sky shots :-( Not the same as what you talked about in this video, but I certainly lost a potentially fantastic shot. Keep up the great work, I really enjoy your videos and the honesty you present. Take care

[@JoshuaCrippsPhotography]

Definitely! Also it happens - all part of the process :).

[@Mr1970msa]

Learned some good stuff there and always room for monty python references 👍

[@MarkAllen83]

Just found you on YT. You've hooked me. Thanks for doing these Josh. Love your stories and presentations.

[@carlosalexandresouza5816]

Just fantastic! Amazing video! One of the best videos!

[@TorstenPull]

hi Joshua, so glad you are back sharing great content. Please keep it up!

[@JoshuaCrippsPhotography]

Thank you!

[@mijuka]

I enjoyed and learned from this video. Learned from mistakes and don’t repeat them. BTW, I was paying attention at the same time to your nice looking sweatshirt with your logo on? Where can I get/buy one like yours?

[@andreasbininda6226]

Very intersting, that even a professional landscape photographer falls into that behaviour sometimes and not everything is gold that glitters. That was a damn interesting video! I find it also interesting, that if you tell sth about an s-curve, that would lead you directly into the sun at the first image.

[@sirromja]

It's great to share failures, sometimes more than sharing successes. Thanks for these great examples and lessons. This video made me think of a couple images of my own - one where I was not prepared and for which I'm kicking myself every time the image pops up for me. Another time, I was shooting a beach sunset and was intent on having water in the image. The light was good, and there were good clouds for lights to bounce around. So, I'm happily shooting away. Eventually, I turned my head - and 90 degrees to my left, the light was an amazing, brilliant magenta. How the light could be so different, I have no idea. But what was happening to my left was far more interesting with the hills jutting into the sea, that I quickly had to re-set.

[@JoshuaCrippsPhotography]

Exactly - it's all about taking in and noticing what's going on around us. Thank you for watching Jim.

[@gokul109]

Appreciate you sharing this video. Learnt lot of valuable lessons 🙏

[@JoshuaCrippsPhotography]

Appreciate that man.

[@rubberdiscoduck]

Thank you thank you thank you your honesty is helping me to improve my photography

[@JoshuaCrippsPhotography]

Thanks so much Scott.

[@MichaelVillaMiguelito]

Seriously one of the best videos I've seen. You say reptile brain, I say pin hole tunnel vision.

[@JoshuaCrippsPhotography]

Thanks man

[@alanhowe]

You didn't mention the main reason you didn't go for your wide angle tripod setup sooner is because it was windy, hence no reflection.

[@CosmicDuck494]

Thanks for this video, very helpful indeed!

[@JoshuaCrippsPhotography]

Thanks, appreciate it.

[@uncle0eric]

Recently went out to a beautiful location, made about 125 shots. For some reason didn't check the histogram on any of them. Got home to discover I had shot all but about 10 with blown out highlights, and the 10 were crappy compositions.

[@JoshuaCrippsPhotography]

All part of the process!

[@gabyisphoto2379]

that's what makes you a GREAT photographer!

[@JoshuaCrippsPhotography]

Thanks Gaby!

[@TimberGeek]

That shot at the 5 minute mark has a "face" (pure pareidolia) looking out at the sunset that I'd like to explore, obviously the balance is off but I was wondering if it could be taken from further back with a long lens.

[@jeffnewman8261]

Very informative and helpful video!

[@JoshuaCrippsPhotography]

Thank you so much!

[@lisaremillard6399]

I have often commented if I go pro someday, I should call myself “Just missed it”. I know what you mean. Many thanks for your video.

[@JoshuaCrippsPhotography]

Many thanks for watching it.

[@judywright2051]

Glad to hear that pros get tunnel vision also. My biggest issue is just getting myself to grab the camera and go out to take photos.

[@JoshuaCrippsPhotography]

Ah yes. Have fun with it and remember to let go of the pressure or control whenever possible :).

[@greggygreg8549]

Josh, very good video. I do what you are preaching against...often, and at Mono Lake...many times.😩 What's that old saying..."chance favors the prepared mind"? It takes clarity of mind, that when magic hour happens to not get tunnel vision for only one image composition. Easier said than done! Can you clarify something you said in the video at 15:13? You mentioned that you were shooting the scene f/5.6, 86mm, ISO 160, 1/80 second, and that you underexposed by 2 or 3 stops. You mentioned that this is equivalent to shooting at ISO 640, or 1280...but if you are shooting at these higher ISOs wouldn't that OVER expose, rather than UNDER expose the scene? Can you explain to me what I am missing in your statement?

[@07wrxtr1]

I just end up going back to the same places several times... Rarely get the best shot on the first trip!!

[@stufromoz8164]

I would have been so pissed off at being held up by the roadworks and that would have set the wheels in motion for a shitty shoot, I find that sometimes the biggest problem I have is getting over the conversation that is going on in my mind.

[@michaelhull1813]

I could make this video, word for word. 😆

[@albertloan396]

That vertical light beam looks like a light leak onto film.

[@Ericbjohnston5150]

Sometimes these youtubers piss me off. A photo the taker hates could be liked by many others. I liked some of these photos. They show the layout of the land.

[@remco6816]

What do you mean with iso 160 and getting the quality from iso 720? Is it because of the underexposing was it spiked at the histogram or just very low? I think i know what you mean but wanna be sure

[@scottkirkman8275]

I think by underexposing and increasing the ISO and then later bringing up the exposure and shadows in post brings the noise level similar to what you see in higher ISO shots taken at the correct exposure. I have experienced this same thing when doing single shots to expose just for the highlights and think, if only I had bracketed for the high dynamic range. Many times, I have come back thinking I got several bangers to find out that I only got a few if any that are actually decent. Missing the focus, composing improperly when in a hurry and not getting the proper exposure are all part of the minor errors that I encounter regularly. But that's what keeps us going back, is getting that hindsight and hopefully applying what you've learned for future shoots. It is inevitable to make minor mistakes along the way, but when you do finally get "The Shot", it is very rewarding and fulfilling.

[@allenahale1]

In photography there is a saying regarding looking at paying attention to your background. I think you need to be aware of my saying regarding videos - "Listen and pay attention to your background - background music." For a major portion of this video, I was annoyed and distracted by a clicking sound. It got to the point that I thought it was the overhead fan in my room. However when I muted your video, the distraction went away. Just think of what your purpose and intention of your video is or you want it to be. For me I think of it as a conversation and a teaching lesson. Why is music of any type necessary. If you came to my home and I was explaining something to you, I would make sure that my TV or stereo was shut off.

[@JoshuaCrippsPhotography]

Thanks for the feedback, Allen. Still hope you learned something.

[@wcrofford]

I know you know this that digital cameras do not produce grain but digital noise

[@mrhallphotography]

Good Light Matters! Without good light, you will struggle; and fail.

[@JoshuaCrippsPhotography]

Good light does matter!

[@jan-martinulvag1953]

You, but not all

[@00Skyfox]

People only share their best on social media? You must be new to the internet. I have seen a LOT of total shit photos over the years that people presented as good. 3 words: bathroom mirror selfie.

[@petrub27]

nah, you should have use a telephoto. always