Aw, Sh*t! - Get the shot

Should you strive to get it right in the camera? Yes, but moments matter more.

This picture is from my brother-in-law's wedding, about a year ago now. It was surely an example of Murphy's Law, because plenty want wrong.

I had been capturing fun on the dance floor when they announced the cake cutting. That's when my light stand went crashing to the ground, wrecking my off-camera flash.

I still don't know what went wrong, or why it tumbled. Did I mis-judge something?  I didn't really have time to figure it out, or to assess the damage.

When I shot the cake cutting, I did so with no flash to overpower the sunlight, which was coming in from all angles accept the front of my subjects. The only thing that worked as it should have, was my camera, which exposed for the sky. I knew something was wrong the moment I looked at the back of my camera

I restrained my internal profanity, understanding it was up to me to pull the photo out of the darkness it was in during post-processing. It was a stressful and slow process to bring the best thing I could out of what I had.

Is it grainy? Yep. Did I lose the sky in the edit? I sure did. Are the colors right? Nope, but better than they were. The camera thought everything should be GREEN. I disagreed.

This shot is now secretly one of my favorites. Maybe because it was a salvaged shot, maybe because it captures something fun and exciting. Either way, it all comes down to the moment. Get the shot.