Do you shoot each shot like it is the one shot? I try to, but don't always get the job done that way.
I use both the "shotgun" (shoot lots of frames) and the "careful" (get it all set up and shoot THE frame) techniques, depending on where I am and doing, as well as what the subject is up to.
-> Shotgun would be the same if I had a motor drive from the film days (but more shots in digital), so you would have thought that would make it more likely to get THE moment, but let me tell you, I get as many that are each side of just THAT moment as I did before I went digital. :-)
-> Careful would be the same if I did not have a motor drive from the film days. Except that I still find my self shooting more frames now, because the cost is trivial (battery recharge earlier and more electrons to flip about on my laptop hard drive is about it) and lets face it, that is one of the main benefits (trivial per-frame costs) for going digital in the first place...
Now the urge to take shots on the just in case principle is something I learned to overcome quite a few years ago, not because one in every few dozen will be good (they probably will), but because I can get so much better results, so much more often by thinking a little bit about what I am doing first. I still shoot more frames with my dSLR's than within the old film days (see above for cost issues) and growing up when I had to ration myself to one 36 shot roll a week, you kind of realized what the heck you were doing a little bit more than today's P&S crowd ever would.
Obviously, if you see the wild animal running, the great evening scene (with just seconds of magical light left) or that wonderful looking woman walking quickly past your seat at the cafe or whatever, then it all needs to be captured on your camera NOW. Shotgun may just capture it when careful set up and 20 minutes of composition and trial and error, messing with reflectors etc won't cut it!
Does that make sense?
