Photography Errors and Solutions for Them

Human beings are bound to err and that also applies to photographers. You may be a highly seasoned photographer with knowledge of all the photography techniques; you may have all the state-of-the-art photography gadgets in your arsenal. However, due to some natural and technical factors, you as a photographer can make silly errors or sometimes even blunders. Sometimes, you are well-equipped with all your required gear but owing to atmospheric issues like poor lighting, incompatible background, and redundant objects, you end up capturing substandard photographs. While other times, you get favorable atmospheric support but due to technical glitches like erroneous camera settings and inappropriate lens, your clicks result in shoddy images. Many photographers get overconfident and take shots on autopilot which is also one of the reasons for poor photography. Apart from that, the negligence of various crucial steps of photography is also a premier reason for low-quality photography. However, that doesn’t mean that these low-quality photographs can’t be optimized rather there are various ways to fix and polish them.

Let us throw light on some of the photography pitfalls and the way out for them. Photographers both newbie and professional experience errors while taking shots.

Common Errors in Photo shooting:

Picking the Wrong Background and Ignoring Strong Point of Interest: After you own a camera, your job is not done and dusted. You have to show expertise in photography by picking an outstanding subject, fitting background, and ambiance. Many photographers don’t focus on their subject, background, and surrounding which impede them from creating a masterpiece. Sometimes, redundant and distracting objects also conceal the main point of interest. Some photographers brush aside these factors and ultimately they goof up their photography works.

Setting Incorrect White Balance: White balance is a major factor in photo shooting. We view white as white under all lighting conditions but camera doesn’t. To get the correct white balance in a particular lighting condition, you have to preset the white balance or in other words the color balance correctly. That will allow your photographs to look more natural and realistic. For example, if you are taking shots in daylight and set the camera’s white balance in cloudy mode, the photograph will end up with orange cast spoiling the photo.

Using Inappropriate and Dirty Lens: Many photographers fail to pick the right lens for a particular scenario. Lens matters a lot to shoot stunning photographs. Some lenses portray the subject in an uncanny fashion while other lenses create unwanted elements such as loss of brightness and color surrounding the edges. On top of that, using nasty lens is also one of the reasons to damage photographs. When you use a smudged lens, it turns your photos hazy, unfocused, and sometimes muddy.

Using Wrong Focus and Autofocus Mode: You might have followed all the photography techniques but if the focus of your photograph is not correct, your photograph will not be appealing. As a professional photographer, you are not supposed to bank on autofocus mode. Sometimes, camera can get things wrong and focus something in front or behind your desired subject. Apart from that, many a time, camera tries to constantly refocus while you are snapping a still object and sometimes fails to track the focus on the moving object. This is due to using wrong focus mode.

Relying on Built-in Flash: Many photographers use on-camera flash thinking that it would illuminate and optimize the photograph. However, that’s not the case in reality. When you use flash while shooting portrait, it oversaturates and washes out the photograph. Apart from that, another major drawback that built-in flash creates in no light condition is the red-eye effect. The best is to shoot portraits amid natural light and that will expose the entire photograph correctly or you can use an external flash.

Setting Low Resolution: Some photographers set a low resolution in camera with a view to storing more images in a memory card. Apparently, it is good but actually, it is a terrible idea. Low resolution impacts the quality of the photographs. When you print a large image, you will view the image pixelated. Furthermore, when you use a small image size, your editing options also get restricted. Therefore, manage surplus memory card and shoot your images with higher resolution.

Substandard Composition: Many photographers always focus on centering the subject which is not the right approach. Some photographs may look good with the subject on the center but most of the photos will look dull. Apart from that, many photographers ignorantly position the camera incorrectly; they angle the camera up or down too high. They keep the focal length too long or wide for the scene. They portray the views with no feature, sometimes with irritating stuff like a garbage bin, with cut-off trees, lamp post, and many other unwanted elements. This results in poor composition.

Not Keeping Image Back-up System: Not having an image back-up system is a major error and an issue. Maybe your images are well-composed but if you don’t have a back-up system, the chances for all your hard work to go in vain is very high. Undoubtedly, camera and the other accessories are very valuable for your photography but the back-up system is even more pivotal and precious than that. Unfortunately, if you lose all your images, what is the use of camera and other gadgets?

Capturing with Imperfect ISO: ISO is a metric that measures the sensitivity of image sensor to light. While buying a camera, every photographer looks for a camera with high ISO and that’s a right approach. However, there is no such rule that the higher the ISO, the better the quality of the photograph. In fact, setting too high ISO will damage the quality of your photograph by creating noise. Likewise, if your ISO is too low, you will end up with underexposed images.

Getting Stuck in a Rut: Many of the photographers tend to show a lack of creativity due to their indolence. They stay in one particular place and take all of their shots from that place. This is just nothing but limiting innovative idea. They show this sort of tendency even more while using a tripod. Once they set up the tripod, they snap staying from one particular position. They try to duck going to other positions only because they have to move their tripod and set up again. This is ultimately hindering you from creating a masterpiece.

Every problem has a solution and so as photography. Let’s discuss some of the tips about how to refrain from having drawbacks while photographing or resolving those drawbacks.

Important Tips to Fix Photography Mistakes

Shoot in a Raw Mode: As the quality of a photograph highly counts on white balance, don’t brush aside this factor. Set the white balance correctly in the field or capture in raw mode. If you snap in a raw mode, there is an opportunity for you to correct the white balance or color balance during post-processing.

Apply the Rule of Thirds: Photo shooting by keeping the subject at the center may turn a photograph look good. However, if you follow the tried and tested rule of photography, that is the rule of thirds, you will find your photograph mind-blowing. To apply the rule of thirds, divide the image into 3 parts both horizontally and vertically. Then, place the subject on the intersection points of the lines or along the lines and that will result in a more balanced and dynamic photograph.

Make Adjustments to Get Right Focus: Make sure to check the focus of your photographs by zooming in your LCD monitor after you have taken it. The main point of interest of a subject needs to be in focus. If you find the point of interest is out of focus, make adjustments until you get the correct focus. If you are capturing a portrait, put focus on the subject’s eyes unless you are looking for an artistic effect.

Tweak the Wrong Background and other Areas:  After you have picked an incompatible background, it is not your final output. You have the opportunity to make necessary changes in your background or completely remove the background in post-production. Find out a compatible and soothing background and set it in your image. Concentrate on the other areas of the image and incorporate only those stuff that complements the subject.

Focus on the Minute Stuff: Always be mindful about the smaller things before going for a photo shoot. Your slight negligence can prompt major issue and obstruct you from producing high-quality photographs. Gear up yourself with a spare battery so that even if the operating battery dies, you can continue your shooting. Likewise, don’t forget to keep an additional memory card so that your photo shooting continues seamlessly without fear of storage deficit.

Spend Plenty of Time in Image Editing: Photo editing is a crucial stage of photography. You have to spare a great deal of time in image processing. This will not only enable you to fix all the imperfections you made while photo shooting but also allow you to enhance your photographs. Errors related to exposure, saturation, position and angle, composition, depth of field, ISO, aperture, shutter speed, etc. all can be fixed with various image retouching tools. On top of that, you can beautify the photographs by shadow addition, color correction, and background removal.

Final Remarks: Are you still in two minds? Enrich your knowledge with the tips we provided in this article and implement them in your photography. If you can take control of these common mistakes, you can easily master the art of photography.

We are an image retouching company under the brand Clipping Path India (CPI). For over 30 years, we have been operating with a 100% success rate worldwide. In this long span, we have established ourselves as a giant in the image manipulation industry. To optimize your substandard and unprocessed images, we offer multiple services including clipping path, image masking, background removal, ghost mannequin effect, color correction, shadow creation, image retouching, photo restoration, photo blending, etc. Due to our best in class service quality, we have worked with some of the well-known companies in the world like Adidas, Nike, Puma, etc. We have also worked with some of the top photographers in the world. We are ready 24/7 to assist you with our world-class service.