To Shoot or not to Shoot

Do you prepare for a shot or do you shoot? – Interesting question.

My mantra lately has been “shoot now think later”. Over the years I’ve missed so many moments because I took the time to prepare. But what the preparation is worth if the moment is gone?

So now when I get see something particularly interesting I first shoot – without tripod, with whatever settings happen to be on the camera. Many things I might be able to correct in post-processing. One things that I cannot create in post-processing (at least not yet) is the moment.

After I get those shots in the rapid fire I start setting up tripod and camera, change lenses, put filter, accurately compose and adjust settings on the camera. If the moment is still there I’ll take a picture again and I’ll use it as long as it is better than the one I took a few minutes earlier.

Here is a photo that I shot without tripod with the settings that happened to be on the camera:

The lenses happened to be wide open and I had to spend lots of time in post-processing to bring back corners but I got the shot and that’s what’s important for me. In a few seconds the light was gone, dunes got flat and the sky became boring.