Take the Shot Anyway
All Hallows by the Tower
Sometimes you find yourself in a photographic situation where you don’t have a good shot. You may not be able to find a good angle, there may not be enough light (and you don’t have a tripod), or you may not have your preferred lens on hand. Many purists would tell you not to take a shot if it isn’t a perfect situation but in this digital age I don’t buy into that.
If the angle or framing isn’t just what you want, try it anyway. You may very well find something (a certain crop for example) in post-processing which actually works. “Do everything in-camera” is a great idea but some take it nearly to the point of “if you can’t do it in-camera, don’t do it at all”. For pros it surely makes business sense as they are very sensitive to efficiency in their work. However, I disagree that it should be a black-and-white mantra for everyone. I say take the shot and throw it away if it’s clear you can’t do anything with it later. It *is* a bit of a pain to cull the day’s shoot when there are a lot of pics, but I’ve found it worth it to take extra shots most of the time. That said, I don’t want to give the impression that I fire away blindly — there are lots of shots that I pass up because I don’t think the situation measures up.
The shot above was one that I almost didn’t take but it’s one that I personally enjoy seeing come up on my screensaver and background regularly. First, it reminds me of a great trip to Europe with my wife. Secondly, I “just like it” — quiet, somber scene of a couple worshippers, impressive stone walls, beautiful wooden pews. The light was tricky — very bright from the windows, very dark in the shadows. I had no tripod and wasn’t going attempt to get 6-ish (minimum) handheld exposures for an HDR or composite. So, I just took the shot. The exposure was 1/4s but with the wide angle (10mm) it turned out relatively good. Sure, the windows and floor are blown out but I wasn’t after a nice architectural shot after all.
The location is All Hallows by the Tower Church in London. It claims to be the oldest church in London (a claim which I have no reason to dispute) having been established in 675 AD (!). My wife and I popped in there after touring the Tower of London. Much of the church has been reconstructed over time for reasons of expansion and damage but it still retains a doorway from the 600s. Cool place. My wife and I were two of the five people in the church (us, two in the pews, and a caretaker/receptionist of sorts). That was a refreshing difference from the crowds at places like Notre Dame and St. Sulpice.
