Have you ever come across a situation where a photographer would focus on his subject and expect you to wait for a couple of minutes while he checks his exposure, half pressed recomposed, takes his eye off the camera, direct the subject to move a bit to the left, puts his eye back to the camera, half pressed, recomposed, take half a step back, put down the camera, ask the subject to shift to the right, takes his camera to his eye, half pressed the shutter, recomposed, puts down the camera, cleans the lens filter, puts his eye to the camera, switch the exposure mode, switch the focusing mode, half pressed the shutter, recomposed, ask his subject to smile, half pressed the shutter, recomposed, half pressed the shutter recomposed and finally after all those gestures, pressed the shutter button.

It may seem humorous but this is real. Personally I have seen it happening at most tourist areas and when I am on a tour with my wife. Let’s stop for a minute and wonder if that guy has managed to capture a compelling image.

The anatomy of a human smile starts from the heart, it goes to the eyes and lips for a very short moment in time after that the eye stops to smile and the smile from the lips will look forced and plastic. So it is the job of the photographer to capture this image at precisely the right moment. Any hesitation on the part of the photographer pressing the shutter will not yield the best results. Finger lag is one of the most common mistakes made by newcomers to photography. Practice to capture the precise moment is a skill all photographers should try to achieve.

(To view a bigger picture, click on the picture)