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For over a decade I have been irritating some and boring others here by inflicting my thoughts and opinions on you and nagging about using your cameras more. Based on the fact that I'm doing it again, it probably isn't going to stop. ;)

 

Chances are that you're reading this because at some time or another you were interested enough in photography to pop over to this forum on a board dedicated to cruising and that indicates at least a small interest in either picking up some tips on travel photography and were interested enough to come back. Maybe, as has happened quite a bit over the years, your're already an accomplished photographer who wants to see if you can share your knowledge. Whether you're from one end of that spectrum to the other, I am going to ask:

 

Ever get that once in a lifetime "lucky shot"? What are the chances?

 

I was just reading an article about a photographer getting a once-in-a-lifetime shot of a rare weather phenomenon. It was mentioned in passing that getting that shot involved actually being there.

 

In any endeavor, there is one constant and that is math. While it's true that your chance of winning the lottery is vanishingly small, it is absolutely zero if you don't buy a ticket. Mathematically, winning the lottery is easier than driving a nail. Buying the ticket is one variable. Driving a nail uses all sorts of math what with position, vectors, force and material density all having to add up correctly up to drive it straight without bending. It also requires that you have a hammer and be where the nail needs to be driven. More variables like this make the statistical probability of getting that shot you will talk about for the rest of your life difficult indeed, In addition to actually being where the event will occur, you have to have your camera with you and be able to use it at least well enough to point and shoot. This is where you can tweak the statistics a little in your favor. The randomness of the point and shoot variable can be reduced by practice. The camera is your hammer and if you drive enough nails, the math gets easier and the rate of well-driven, unbent nails increases. (Yes, this whole thing was a not-so-subtle metaphor for the "use your camera" thing.)

 

Anyone who had read my ramblings over the years knows how much photography means to me. It is a sanity-saving, stress-relieving outlet for a creative streak foiled by a lack of any talent other than the ability to recognize when something is pretty or interesting. Lucky for me, photography is part math, part science and part aiming that science at the right thing at the right time. To be at the right place at the right time, you have to actually be somewhere. The more "somewheres" you visit and the more you use and learn about your camera increases the probability that you will get that OIL shot (Once-In-Lifetime). Even if the chance of getting that shot is a bazillion to one, it drops right to zero with your camera on a shelf, in a drawer or locked in the cabin safe because you're afraid to take it with you for fear of damage or theft.

 

While I'm at it, I'll incorporate another theme from the past. Don't let perfection be the enemy of good. If you wait for that perfect shot before you press the shutter, you may never press it. (You'll save a ton of money on memory cards, but that isn't the goal.) Take every shot as if it's going to be that perfect shot. It may be the first shot you take or it may take a lifetime to get it. I have never found my perfect shot but I have had enough tingles from the "good" ones to make up for the lack of perfect many times over.

 

Excuse my photo-evangelism but this last week was busy and I didn't get to go out and shoot much.

 

Makes me cranky.

 

Dave

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You can’t write this up without sharing one of your lucky shots.

 

Point taken.

 

Wandering around below decks waiting for sunrise and almost missed the time. Popped out of the door and saw a few pretty clouds in the western sky over the island and an orange glow on everything. Turned around toward the rising sun and damn near had a heart attack.

 

Approaching Bora Bora - 3/9/2008

p302694943-5.jpg

 

 

Not the shot, but good enough to keep me looking for it.

 

Dave

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This makes the point about tweaking the odds.

 

I planned the crap out of this shot. Bought a solar white light filter, made all the arrangements to be in the right place at the right time and practiced the sun shots to get the right exposure.

 

And.......

 

It was the clearest day the area had in weeks. Not a cloud in the sky. I did all I could to beat the odds but that last little factor was pure luck and for once, it was on my side!

 

p2484171750-5.jpg

 

Dave

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This makes the point about tweaking the odds.

 

I planned the crap out of this shot. Bought a solar white light filter, made all the arrangements to be in the right place at the right time and practiced the sun shots to get the right exposure.

 

And.......

 

It was the clearest day the area had in weeks. Not a cloud in the sky. I did all I could to beat the odds but that last little factor was pure luck and for once, it was on my side!

 

p2484171750-5.jpg

 

Dave

Fantastic...

 

Sent from my Samsung Chromebook 3 using Forums mobile app

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Some old sayings come to my mind.... First we make our own luck. It takes some planning, some thinking, some preparing. Second is man plans and God laughs...

 

Dave, I love your eclipse image. I spent an entire afternoon with my son's father-in-law last summer going over techniques and equipment he would need for his planned eclipse adventure. Before that afternoon and for a few days after it we emailed and talked about locations, ideas etc to get him ready. He lives in Las Vegas, it is a desert. The day of the eclipse it was cloudy with showers.......

 

The last thing is people are always asking me "what is the best picture you have ever made?? " My answer is always the same, "I am still trying to make it"...Yes, I have images that I love, that I show, that I hang on my walls but the best, it is still out there.

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I'm a novice who just loves taking pictures but I've been told I'm good at "composition" a couple of times. I have a lot of pictures that are kind of "meh", but I have some I'm very happy with that I refer to as "lucky", like the ones I was able to get of the solar eclipse (partial, but around 80%) last August, some of the pictures I've gotten of beautiful scenery on cruises and other vacations, and even a few in our area (finally went to see the cherry blossoms blooming in DC one year, during a weekday when it wasn't as crowded). I would love to think I'm still waiting for that once in a lifetime shot, but I may already have it and if so, so do many others in our area. On Tuesday, April 17, 2012, Space Shuttle Discovery was flown on top of a specially fitted NASA 747 jet into Washington Dulles International airport to it's new home at the Udvar Hazy Center/National Air and Space Museum near the airport. We did not have to go far to see this at all, they flew it right over our neighborhood and we saw it from our driveway. When they came in, they flew over the entire area, a couple of times, to give as many people an opportunity to see it as possible, so there were many who got some great pictures and video. But it was so cool to see this. I think any of us who love taking pictures are always waiting for the opportunity to get something even better than our best but if I don't, I think I can be happy with the ones I have of Space Shuttle Discovery.

 

When I read your post, there's another picture that instantly came to my mind, a picture that I can not claim as mine. It is one heck of a picture that is THE perfect example of being at the right place at the right time, having a camera (or camera phone) handy, and in this case, being caught at a traffic light. I don't know "who" took it, but it was from someone in my hometown in western Pennsylvania on the afternoon of March 23, 2011. There was a tornado (EF2) that hit my hometown and even hit part of my former high school (football field and a section of the auditorium) and did a lot of damage to homes/properties. The picture was of the tornado, which was probably a couple miles away, and was taken from a vehicle stopped at a traffic light in the west bound lanes of a local highway. Yes, the light was clearly red in the picture & they were stopped behind other cars. This is a light I had been through (and stopped at) many, many times (almost daily) when I lived there growing up. I'm sure the person who took the picture had a cell phone with them to get this picture. But WHAT A SHOT!!! I received that picture in an email from a friend who lived there (she didn't take it, I asked) the very next day. Within the next few days I'd seen the same picture posted by several people on social media. I never found out who took the picture and chances are it's not someone I knew, but wow, what a picture! They just happened to be at the right place and the right time...one time that being stopped at a red light had it's perk. I would love to share it, but it's not my picture so I don't know if that's actually allowed or not. So I'll just share some of mine of Space Shuttle Discovery.

 

I don't always have an actual camera with me, but I do try to make sure I have the cell phone. I LOVE the pictures you posted and think many of your other ones you've shared are great as well.

 

Space Shuttle Discovery "piggyback" on the NASA 747 and escorted by a NASA "fighter" jet...all take from our driveway

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Final pass (landing gear is down)

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Point taken.

 

Wandering around below decks waiting for sunrise and almost missed the time. Popped out of the door and saw a few pretty clouds in the western sky over the island and an orange glow on everything. Turned around toward the rising sun and damn near had a heart attack.

 

Approaching Bora Bora - 3/9/2008

p302694943-5.jpg

 

 

 

 

Not the shot, but good enough to keep me looking for it.

 

Dave

 

 

What ship were you on? :)

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Celebrity Mercury - New Zealand to Hawaii

 

Dave

 

Thinking perhaps we may have been on the same ship/sailing.

Not quite...we visited Bora-Bora on Renaissance, R3 or R4 I can't remember. (This cruise line no longer exist.)

Your photo just brought back a lot of fond memories......thank you for sharing. :)

That morning....

1. My wife loves to sleep in late. 2. I get up early.

I found myself on the top deck as we sailed into the beautiful atoll...Bora-Bora...it was simply breathtaking. Sadly, my wife missed it. And my mistake, I had a cup of coffee in my hand instead of a camera. :(

We now have two rules: 1. We BOTH get up early to watch "sail-ins"...and 2. I always carry my Sony RX100 3 in my pocket. :)

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1st Mr Click, I agree 100%

 

 

2nd Dave, Don't over think it.

 

 

I think I said this before here, what are you willing to risk for that once in a life time shot? Your choices are time, money, equipment or your life.

 

 

 

framer

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A little bit of the sort of the opposite. Kiawah Island, SC is well known for it's large population of breeding Brown Pelicans, hundreds and hundreds. For 5 days, I set up well before sunrise, with a plan to capture the sunrise with a flock of Pelicans flying through the sunrise, preferably silhouetted in the early morning sun. I did see hundreds of Pelicans, and a number of life birds, but never the shot I was looking for. To try to get a better angle, I even stood in the water for the better part of an hour two mornings, and in the midst of a rain deluge another.

 

 

I did get this shot with a laughing gull; not what I was looking for, and to my mind, only OK. While the colors look nice to my colorblind eyes, the actual colors while stunning were much more muted. I shoot in JPEG and RAW, usually editing from the JPEG, and using the RAW only when absolutely necessary. This final image is a toned down version of what the camera "saw".

 

 

While I did not get the OIL picture Dave talked about, I did get a lot of images of birds and dolphins that, without being prepared, I would not have gotten.

 

 

Kiawah%20-06-06-2018-73%208X10%20WM.jpg

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2nd Dave, Don't over think it.

 

Cursed with an overly analytical mind, I over-think everything. :)

 

What are you willing to risk for that once in a life time shot? Your choices are time, money, equipment or your life.

 

Spend time: Sure, a little. Maybe more than a little. Photography is fun to me and I enjoy it.

 

Spend money: Gotta buy a camera! Also the semi-regular cruise schedule helps the OIL shot odds microscopically. It's also fun, so not 100% photography driven.

 

Risk equipment: Since I spend a fair amount on my equipment and don't have unlimited funds or a sponsor, I minimize the risk as much as possible. I don't baby my equipment but I don't strap it to a rodeo bull either.

 

Risk your life: Not even close. To me, I am far more important than getting the shot. I will go places and do things while taking pictures but I fully intend to come back and view them. People who die trying to get the shot of a lifetime are great examples of Darwinian species refinement theories. Hopefully it happens before they breed.

Cliff Notes version of the opening post:

 

The OIL shot is more likely to happen if you get out there and take pictures than if you don't and no matter how hard you try, you may never get it. No reason to stop trying and you will likely get some great shots along the way.

 

Happy shooting!

 

Dave

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"Risk equipment: Since I spend a fair amount on my equipment and don't have unlimited funds or a sponsor, I minimize the risk as much as possible. I don't baby my equipment but I don't strap it to a rodeo bull either."

Once upon a time in life long long ago I had this brilliant idea to make a great newspaper feature picture of a guy who did delta kit water skiing...I met with him, discussed my ideas, we agreed it would work and I went home to build a plexiglass housing for the camera...never thinking it would get totally submerged because all of the runs I had seen him make were perfect takeoffs and landings.. well, seems like we put too much weight on the front of the kit, not enough counter weight on the back and my Nikon F with the MD36 motor drive ended up in the South River....from there it went to my favorite repair guy who declared it DOA... So I learned a lesson about planning and really thinking ideas through. I actually did make the picture years later but on hang glider over dry land and used two cameras, one on each side of the wing for balance. That one worked. Today with things like GoPro it is a whole lot easier, I think.

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"Risk equipment: Since I spend a fair amount on my equipment and don't have unlimited funds or a sponsor, I minimize the risk as much as possible. I don't baby my equipment but I don't strap it to a rodeo bull either."

Once upon a time in life long long ago I had this brilliant idea to make a great newspaper feature picture of a guy who did delta kit water skiing...I met with him, discussed my ideas, we agreed it would work and I went home to build a plexiglass housing for the camera...never thinking it would get totally submerged because all of the runs I had seen him make were perfect takeoffs and landings.. well, seems like we put too much weight on the front of the kit, not enough counter weight on the back and my Nikon F with the MD36 motor drive ended up in the South River....from there it went to my favorite repair guy who declared it DOA... So I learned a lesson about planning and really thinking ideas through. I actually did make the picture years later but on hang glider over dry land and used two cameras, one on each side of the wing for balance. That one worked. Today with things like GoPro it is a whole lot easier, I think.

 

I rest my case...

 

:D

 

Dave

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Approaching Bora Bora - 3/9/2008

p302694943-5.jpg

 

 

Not the shot, but good enough to keep me looking for it.

 

Dave

 

Thanks for bringing back some great memories - I remember we had several awesome sunrises and sunsets on that trip. Hard to believe it was 10 yrs ago ...

 

I think the following quote I used just recently for one of my images on Flickr sums up your above thought process

If you wait to do everything until you're sure it's right, you'll probably never do much of anything. (Win Borden)

 

So much easier too these days with digital photography and camera-equipped phones :)

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Ever get that once in a lifetime "lucky shot"? What are the chances?

No shots that I'd call "once-in-a-lifetime" lucky. Several where I caught nicer than average weather conditions. Much nicer than average.

 

A person would really struggle to go back and get the same shot as I did. But they'd probably be able to get an equivalent shot. (If they spent enough time pursuing it.)

 

The camera is your hammer and if you drive enough nails, the math gets easier and the rate of well-driven, unbent nails increases. (Yes, this whole thing was a not-so-subtle metaphor for the "use your camera" thing.)

Well, the numbers of pictures I take has risen over the years as my interest in photography has grown. For the first few years, I only took photos while I was on vacation. As my interest level has increased, I've looked for more opportunities.

 

To be at the right place at the right time, you have to actually be somewhere. The more "somewheres" you visit and the more you use and learn about your camera increases the probability that you will get that OIL shot (Once-In-Lifetime).

Sadly, I don't exactly live in a "somewhere" that's great for photography. There are photogenic spots around town, but not ones I'm going to pass through in my day-to-day schedules. Even for a morning of photography, I have to go to a "right spot" and hope it's a "right time" (checking the weather first helps with this).

 

Even if the chance of getting that shot is a bazillion to one, it drops right to zero with your camera on a shelf, in a drawer or locked in the cabin safe because you're afraid to take it with you for fear of damage or theft.

I have a TG-5 Tough, so I can stop worrying about damaging my camera.

 

A certain amount of caution is warranted. Taking a non-waterproof camera kayaking or whitewater rafting isn't the best idea. (My skill at those activities is not great enough to ensure that I'll stay un-soaked.)

 

While I'm at it, I'll incorporate another theme from the past. Don't let perfection be the enemy of good. If you wait for that perfect shot before you press the shutter, you may never press it. (You'll save a ton of money on memory cards, but that isn't the goal.) Take every shot as if it's going to be that perfect shot. It may be the first shot you take or it may take a lifetime to get it. I have never found my perfect shot but I have had enough tingles from the "good" ones to make up for the lack of perfect many times over.

That's never been a flaw of mine. I start taking good (or even mediocre) shots. Somewhere in the middle, everything lines up for a great shot.

 

I think I said this before here, what are you willing to risk for that once in a life time shot? Your choices are time, money, equipment or your life.

I don't see time as a risk. It's an expenditure. But photography isn't my whole life, so there are other things I'll also spend my time on.

 

Money is also an expenditure. I prefer to spend a bit of it on vacations which take me to places that I'll enjoy photographing.

 

I don't take foolish risks with my better equipment. I take the equipment that will survive the environment (or that I can afford to lose).

 

I don't risk my life. The ultimate once-in-a-lifetime photo will not enrich my life more than another few decades spent with my wife, friends, dancing, traveling, etc. I'll figure out another way to get the shot.

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