If you are a photographer, you have at least six awkward stories, which you prefer not to remember. So it is, as any human being can make mistakes so that a photographer can make mistakes again and again.

If we consult such pseudo-sciences like sociology and statistics, we will get a list of our own failures and mistakes for sure that the majority can face. Each of them teaches us, something some bypass us and we learn about them from such articles as this one, how to escape such misfortunes. 

Read this and if some of the followings haven't happened to you, try to avoid such situations in the future. So, this is what you should avoid: 

1. Free job and dumping

It' s only about the job and only about dumping. If "friends asked" and "kin invited" and etc. – it's not dumping and can't be referred as a job. The cases of scam are not considered also. A lot of photographers are engaged in predatory pricing at first, hoping that «later" the situation will change for the better, they will do well and become awesome professionals and will be stacking loot – all of this is a lie, there is no easy money and if you don't have a name, you should provide your buyer with high-quality results of your work and it's impossible to do so working for peanuts. 

Customers' excuses like "we don't have money at the moment", "our budget is limited", "we can pay only 20$ for 1000 online shop items " - are the cases when they are looking for a newbie who is ready to do a low paid job for them and then make him work like a dog, bullying and humiliating all the time, saying how bad he is and that they are doing a favour by offering this job. 

If you don't appreciate what you are doing – other won't do this either.  And that happens not because of the habitual thinking – on the contrary, the right customer always knows that product (not a photo) costs a lot and he sells his product at a high price as well... At the same time, there are a lot of clients looking for suckers who will accept their cheap offers, so the results of such work will also look cheap. Remember, you spend your time and efforts, so make calculations.

2. Unchecked settings

Camera, light,  a portable flash, even a length of the belt — everything is outstanding. If you start to shoot in the mode that is selected on the camera, not remembering what you have been shooting before, perhaps, the first couple of times nothing ill will happen, however, as professional photographers don't take photos in "auto" mode,  you should check the settings every time. A camera won't think instead of you, and if the last time at the club you were shooting at ISO 12800 and f/2.8 aperture, but now showed up with your camera in the studio and made some shots of a model with the studio light. And after, you will be very surprised that the sources of light should be turned to the minimum and moved away so not to overlight, as well as you will notice "some graininess" on the images during the post-processing.

By the way, not everyone faces such situations, so this case is extreme — however, if you forget to check your camera settings before shooting (and so constantly on the go). Don't check the shots on the screen (only promotional studio photographers do this who work with super professional models that can create a new image in one second), then later on a lot of surprises will be waiting for you. The mode can be changed on a budget camera, you may click a button accidentally, or your children may do so, you may just forget to change the settings when going inside or vice versa — there are tons of mistakes that could be made, and only one rule exists: check the settings while changing the shooting conditions, as well as regularly during the routine shooting.

3. Fear

All of us have some fears. However, the reasons you have these feelings should not mislead you —  one thing is being afraid of losing all your photos by accident, so you make three backups, and quite another thing is being afraid of taking out your camera in the crowd to shoot something interesting, asking an unfamiliar girl to make a portrait photo ... there are plenty of photo phobias, but all of them can be overcome. You will not become a "master of shot" if you are not able to deal with your fears and thus will not capture anything worthy, except by accident. We, the photographers, are brave people, just in different ways. Try to stay close to the subject of shooting, be engaged in action — this is the task of any photographer, the necessity that should be done to get a good shot.

4. A memory card problems

A professional workflow differs a lot from that of an amateur — and sometimes a memory card can be overfilled and store a lot of information that should be uploaded to the computer and often because of a busy schedule one can't remember what has been uploaded and what not. And at the crucial moment, when all the memory cards are full, it's better to be sure regarding the uniqueness of the information on the card before formatting it. 

The only right decision, here is to keep to one hard and fast rule -  upload all images to your computer every time as soon as you get home after the shooting or at the end of a working day. Even if you have no time to check images, spend a few minutes to switch on your computer and start the process of import, configured beforehand. In this case, you will not have to worry whether you have imported your photos or not, as thus you will be sure that all the relevant material remains unchanged and safe.  

Remember, that whatever a memory card you may have,  sooner or later it will be full and the problem should be solved. So the decision to use large memory cards can't solve the problem completely, it just helps to think less about such nonsense as the overfilling of a card (to carry a laptop or disk with you to import the overfilled cards, is only a partial solution to the problem that violates the rule of two backups). Moreover, if you have already uploaded some of the pictures and they are still on the card, and you just continue to take photos, you will not be able to format the card with a clear conscience — after all, you haven't backed up today's shooting yet. A special case is when a photographer forgets a card in the computer, and here only the next routine rule can help: after the import, insert the card back into your camera.

Cannot be too careful, just because life often makes japes and mocking us and your archive storage system sooner or later will fail. You will be lucky if still you have its copy somewhere and it could be restored at least partially. In any case, remember that you should always have at least two copies of the same information, stored in different places. Any other methods are also acceptable, especially if you understand the risks and the consequences of such actions. The worst that can happen is the loss of information entirely, without the slightest possibility to recover it at least partially.

5. A dirty lens or forgot to charge the batteries. 

As well as a camera, so batteries and lens must be in working condition not to disturb you regularly during the process of making photos, as it can spoil your mood and in a bad mood, you will capture bad photos. It seems not so difficult to clean up spots on the matrix, complain about the blur effect on the lens, stains on the light spots..., however, it’s much easier to clean the glass before shooting, right?

6. Broke a camera

It is impossible not to think about such things, although it's the last we want to think about. Always keep your camera in your hands on the belt. When changing lenses, hold on the belt -this will secure your camera from being broken. Remember, plastic cameras are less shock resistant, but that doesn't mean that a metal camera will not break when you drop it on the stairs. Remember, your camera is your working tool, and breaking it even accidentally isn't the best idea that's why protect it at all costs.

All in all, be optimistic and responsible — no wonder thousands of photographers after having some negative experiences have chosen standard techniques to work with images, use this to win the battle with the client not just undefeated, but with minimum losses!