Yesterday, Linda and I drove up to Ocala (1.5 hrs. North of Orlando) to shoot some candids of dogs at a show. It was rainy; it was raw (49 degrees which, for us Floridians, is truly RAW) and it was early -- we had to be there by 8 am.

I shot a Toy Poodle in the rain and two Rotties in intermittant showers as well as a Mastiff while lying on the wet ground and shooting him stacked. When I got home, I processed the images and found 4 great moving shots of the Poodle; 2 very good moving shots of one of the Rotties; 4 great moving shots of the other Rottie; and one very nice stacked shot of the Mastiff (that didn't want to be stacked).

And I was disappointed.

For some reason, I expected more. I realized last evening that I'm getting jaded. I've had incredible luck getting great shots of dogs under great conditions -- bright sun; high contrast. And yesterday, I got everything I needed to get under conditions that were anything but optimum but it seemed that I should have gotten more.

I'm the guy who has always said that if you can get one really good moving shot of a dog at a show, you've done your job. Some dogs simply don't move well and you can never get that great shot with the off legs completely under and the striding legs at full extension front and rear. Yesterday, I got more than what I should have.

I guess we all tend to think that every frame should be in perfect focus; every burst should have at least one frame that is perfect. It simply doesn't work that way. The objective is to take as many images as necessary to get the shot you want. This isn't film. Digital lets us waste frames without wasting $$$.

Sometimes I forget that as good as the equipment is, we still need to work hard to get those good images. And that managing expectations -- especially our own -- is still the hardest part of photography.

Jim