This evening, I was invited to a company team dinner by one of my clients. It is a small startup on the verge of launching its first product. The dinner was the first non-virtual gathering of the entire team. After making a big deal about the importance of taking photos of the early days, I proceeded to take the worst team photo of my life. No amount of post-processing can make up for an out-of-focus image or poor composition. Earlier in the day, I had been working on a project that required me to switch my lens into manual focus mode and I failed to switch it back to autofocus. As luck would have it, the focus distance was close enough that I did not notice the problem when I checked the photograph in my viewfinder after taking it. When viewed at full resolution on my computer monitor, however, the missed focus was apparent. Making matters worse, the composition is all wrong. I should have intervened and asked the larger men to stand in the back row and added a third chair to the front row for the smaller individuals. Fortunately, the dinner and conversation were most enjoyable and my epic fail has seared the lessons learned into my brain. (1) Don’t rush: check all camera AND LENS settings, (2) Zoom in to check focus on all faces, and (3) Take charge of composition, even with people you do not know well.