Get the Light and Let It Be Right

I said to my son Peter “Hey let’s go out and get a nice picture of you”. Well, he told me what he wanted so this is what we got. I wonder if his Nana will hang it on her wall.

Just kidding. He has his “post apocalyptic” gear for Hallowe’en or, the apocalypse. I thought a creepy night shot would be fun. We walked down to the park nearby last night. We started taking shots with the flash held on a light stand over Peters head. I had that Lumiquest III on the flash just to soften the light a bit. I like that thing and usually have it sitting on the flash. I take it everywhere I take the flash. My daughter Jennifer came as my able assistant and she held the flash over Peter. We had lot’s of fun going through the park taking pictures in the playground on park benches and whatever. We came home when we were done, I put them up on the computer and, all of them were out of focus.
Here’s the thing. Whenever I go out to shoot I go over all the cameras settings and make sure they are right. I did that last night but I forgot to check the focus setting which was on manual. I was “chimping” but didn’t think to zoom in to make sure they were sharp. They looked fine un-zoomed but were all soft when I put them on the computer screen. So, we were going to go out and re-shoot but the final Lost is on tonight. Can’t miss that.
Here is a another lesson I (re)learned last night. You want to get it right the first time because you will likely not get a second chance.    
This one was my favourite so I did some work on it in the computer and used a filter to give it a post nuclear glow. In the end I think it is satisfactorily creepy and I am sure Peter will like it. I know I do. 
If you don’t do it already, I highly recommend you take your camera out just before you go out and make sure it is set up right. It just takes a couple minutes and can save a whole lot of grief when you get home. I just have to get into checking the focus mode when I do this little routine.

1 June 2010. Good news I entered this picture in a photo contest on photography blog and won third place. First time I have ever placed in a photo contest. Here is the link