Many of us love to take pictures. I’m sure that I’m not the only one who can go out from home for less than a minute when seeing a beautiful cloud or coming storm. There are several things which are very important and they can fail our photo trip. So I have a list of 5 things that I must check before going out to shoot I check it step by step.
1. First thing is to check how charged is your battery
Personally, I don’t have a case to go out without fully charged batteries. There is one more thing that should be predicted. During winter season or high in the mountain, a temperature is much lower that the city. Every battery drains much quickly at low temperature. Also, the second battery is very useful when you are on the mountain and will spend more than one day up.
Battery check
2. Check your memory card
I’m a very distracted person and often forget something. There are so many times that I left my memory card in the laptop that I can’t remember it. In another case, there are pictures on the card which somehow were forgotten and not downloaded. So after this, I bought a second memory card and before I go out to take picture always check. It is another story but nowadays I have 3. :)
Memory cards
3. Always check and clean your lens
Environment outside is very dirty, especially in the cities. So after a dozen of pictures always check front side of your lens. It is saving a lot of work later on a PC. It is very useful to carry cloth for glasses in the pocket to clean the lens.
4. Always check condition of your filters
In one of my latest walks on the seashore, I used ND filter. The position that I choose was very close to the waves. After few pictures filter had dropped but I didn’t saw it on the camera screen. So I lived with the idea that I take good pictures until I opened one on the computer at home. It was a great disappointment. Dust also is a problem. My advice is to check often the condition of your filters, especially in a wet or dirty environment.
5. Be prepared to save your gear from rainy weather
In many cases, when you taking pictures on the mountain or in some big field or just in downtown is possible to rain. It is not a secret that many good pictures were made in bad conditions. In fact, bad weather is the best friend of the photographers! So you have to prepare yourself to save your gear during pictures in bad conditions. Personally, I use a small plastic bag when it rains. Soon I receive an advice to try to put my camera in a condom. I promise after I try this I will share the result with you : ))