So, a thousand pardons as I rush to get a somewhat photo-related post out before the end of the day. Since it is on short notice, I will simply relay a funny story that happened to me the other day as I was out walking the dog. I had taken the camera and flash with diffuser attached as the day was actually perfect for photography: late afternon, cloudy skies, and evenly light all around. So, I am bouncing along, trying different settings here and there with various subjects – a flower, a reflection in some water, and I have the bright idea to do a macro shot super close on a flower. But, instead of going wide open to get available light, I figured let’s try the flash here – so I pop the flash on, attach the diffuser and set it to ETTL. Then I dial the aperture down as far as I think it can go on the fill flash setting – f22! I pre-focused on the lower third of the frame, then set the focus to manual. Finally, I shifted the camera up just a smidge, knowing that the lower portion would be in focus and because of the f-stop, I would have a pretty solid dof throughout.

Well…there’s always something you forget, and in this instance, it was the ISO setting. You guessed it – 1600! ARGH! Well, I cleaned it up a little with NN after the fact, and yeah, it’s okay, but imagine how this shot would have been without the noise and tack sharp?

So, it seems another one that got away from me! I think I am going to tape a label to the back of my LCD and write on it in big fat letters ISO! Long story short – always double check your settings, and always take a few shots. I only took the one, so it’s all I had to work from. Oh well…better luck next time! Hee’s your traditional WTD episode for Friday:

Hope everyone has a good weekend. Happy shooting and watch those apertures!