Yesterday I started to film one of the shots for my creative self-portrait — a timelapse of swirling clouds that will be used towards the end of the video. As Melbourne’s hot weather started to give way to a cool change it created an incredibly beautiful cloud pattern over the east of Melbourne, and I was excited to be able to film such a striking visual image for my project.

So I got up high (shooting through glass on a second floor balcony) and set my phone up on a small tripod so I could film the entire 10 minutes without my phone being moved too much by the wind.

But since it was such a bright day (great for the shot, not so great for being able to see my screen), I didn’t notice that a subtle reflection from the glass reflected people walking behind my phone — completely ruining the take.

I didn’t notice this until I finished shooting the entire video, but luckily I had time to film multiple takes of varying lengths (hoping to experiment with the speed and duration of the clip in my final project) so I’ll be able to use a later take which was filmed from above the glass panel.

This video is a cautionary tale — watch those reflections, and always give yourself enough time to re-shoot anything you completely stuff up.