Golden Rule #2

Golden rule #2 is pretty simple but, specially if you are new to photography, will forget often.
When you use a film camera you are limited on the number of shots you can take (by film and money) but on the digital world a shoot is pretty much free so Golden rule#2: Shoot more than once

Is amazing how many things can go wrong with a shot that are really hard to see on the preview screen. You might have moved causing the photo to blur, you might have set the focus on the wrong subject, it might be a little to under exposed, it might be a little to over exposed, you might be really concentrated on getting you subject in the perfect light and the perfect focus and you didn't notice the guy on the background picking up his nose looking straight at you (true story),  trust me the image never looks the same on the preview screen and the computer.

So think about it this way, if you are out there shooting taking what you feel are the most beautiful pictures you have ever taken, what is more complicated, press the shutter button more than once or go home, realize your shot is ruined and then go back to wherever you where shooting to take the same picture again? And of course assuming you can actually go back and your subject will be exactly the same.

Also is amazing how things can change from one second to another, lets face it, good photos are made at least by 25% luck. Lets say you are taking a close picture of a flower, first shot is good, second is good too, on the third a bee comes right in and starts collecting pollen from the flower you picture went from good to great just because you spend 15 more seconds there. A cloud moved and you get an amazing ray of light over your subject or the other way around, a cloud comes in and for a second provides you with that soft light that totally changes the look of your subject.

When you get home with 10 - 15 pictures of the same subject and you start reviewing then, you will notice the differences, you will see that one will out stand the others and you will be really happy that you took that extra shoot.