How many pictures do you end up showing off?

William Petruzzo · May 28, 2009

I'm sure it's different for everyone, but I was just curious to see where different photographers fell in this area. If, say, you go out for an hour and shoot 100 pictures, about how many pictures do you end up liking enough to show off? I know that's vague, and it's different depending what you're shooting and why, but lets estimate.

I usually end up with 10-15 complete throw aways, 60-70 good-enoughs, and around 10-20 that I like enough to blog about or post to my website.

How about you?

hadoq · May 28, 2009

out of 100, I must say I get about half that are decent, and half of these would be shown. This is where I go and shoot cars on a track

but of course if I go for a specific car shooting, it's more about 80 to 90%

Clawed · May 28, 2009

For me, it varies quite a bit, but I would estimate that I would end up only showing about 25% of what I take. There are several reasons for this:

1. I am still learning, so a lot of what I have been shooting has been experimental

2. I am overly critical of myself

3. It's digital, so I take way too many pics without really thinking enough about composition

Gaerek · May 28, 2009

It depends on what I'm shooting. If I'm outside shooting wildlife or landscapes, I would imagine around 1 in 50 or even 1 in 100 make the cut and get shown. If I'm taking pictures of my newborn, probably close to 25% get shown. When I went to Hawaii last August, I shot around 1000 frames give or take. I think I only have around 40 of those posted anywhere. It's not that I didn't have any more good shots than that, but when you're showing people your photos, you really need to be brutal in which ones you show or people will get bored looking at basically variations on the same shot.

Overread · May 28, 2009

Yah I am sure it varies a lot based on what sort of subjects people shoot and also on their own verdict on what a good shot really is - and that is likley to change a lot.
For me shooting mostly insect macro, wildlife and flower macro it differs:

wildlife (ok zoolife): no subject control, often tricky shooting positions and framing - mostly I am happy if I walk away with a few really good shots of each animal I see - mostly I do get a lot of duff shots where bits are missing, the animal moves too fast and many other things

Macro insect - again this is very much like wildlife, though often I find that I take more time pressing the shutter - but I can miss a lot of shots and if I am working at high magnifications (Greater than 2:1) then often I can get a lot of shots where the focus is ever so slightly off - a pain!

Macro flower - more controled (especially if I use tripods, supports and the like) so my keeper rate goes up for this - its a more controled shooting so there is less chance for things to go wrong. However its an area where composition is very key and if I mess that up then the shot is either just interesting or too boring.

In the end I think I am like 1 in 20 successful shots (very very rough number) and whilst I try to improve on that level (and I tend to get better over time) I don't get worried about it. It costs me nothing in digital for messed up shots

itznfb · May 28, 2009

i only really show my photos my site and forums, and deviantart.. so i'm not sure if that's what you meant but... i do mainly Zoo photography and i'd say between 25-30 are usually "keepers". i may share 10-15.

Gaerek · May 28, 2009

I make a distinction between a photo that's a keeper, and a photo that gets shown. I could take 400 wildlife/landscape frames, and 10% are good shots. But I'll rarely show more than maybe a half dozen in those 400 frames, even though about 10% are keepers.

Ansel Adams said it best, "Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop"

William Petruzzo · May 28, 2009

Gaerek said:
It depends on what I'm shooting. If I'm outside shooting wildlife or landscapes, I would imagine around 1 in 50 or even 1 in 100 make the cut and get shown. If I'm taking pictures of my newborn, probably close to 25% get shown. When I went to Hawaii last August, I shot around 1000 frames give or take. I think I only have around 40 of those posted anywhere. It's not that I didn't have any more good shots than that, but when you're showing people your photos, you really need to be brutal in which ones you show or people will get bored looking at basically variations on the same shot.

That's a great point that I hadn't thought of. For me. at a portrait session, a lot of pictures will end up being small variations on the same picture--usually in an attempt to find and exploit the subject's best qualities, which can often hide to the plain eye. It's usually not that there aren't more show-worthy pictures, just that a cut usually has to be made somewhere to keep people from getting bored.

Gaerek · May 28, 2009

bpetruzzo said:
Gaerek said:

It depends on what I'm shooting. If I'm outside shooting wildlife or landscapes, I would imagine around 1 in 50 or even 1 in 100 make the cut and get shown. If I'm taking pictures of my newborn, probably close to 25% get shown. When I went to Hawaii last August, I shot around 1000 frames give or take. I think I only have around 40 of those posted anywhere. It's not that I didn't have any more good shots than that, but when you're showing people your photos, you really need to be brutal in which ones you show or people will get bored looking at basically variations on the same shot.

Click to expand...

That's a great point that I hadn't thought of. For me. at a portrait session, a lot of pictures will end up being small variations on the same picture--usually in an attempt to find and exploit the subject's best qualities, which can often hide to the plain eye. It's usually not that there aren't more show-worthy pictures, just that a cut usually has to be made somewhere to keep people from getting bored.

Yep, exactly my point. I could have 50 out of 100 shots of the same subject that look great, but I need to pick one, maybe 2 out of those 50 to show, or else your great pictures look run of the mill to the people looking at them.

musicaleCA · May 28, 2009

Doing a lot of candids right now, and when I do that I have very little time to compose the shot, so I try to fire off a lot of shots of the same subject, especially if they're walking. Frankly, right now, it's easier than timing the shot perfectly. I keep pressing myself to be more accurate with my shots though, so hopefully I'll be picking 1 shot of 4 instead of 1 of 8 or 10. >.<

As another example, last night I shot two little birds in a tree in very low-light. I had to boost ISO to 800 and 1600 (the latter being pretty nasty on a 450D), and AF was, naturally, useless. So, I ended-up with quite a few soft shots, and I was also hand-holding my 250mm at shutter speeds as low as 1/8, so even with IS I took a lot of shots hoping that the bird would stay still for the exposure and my hand didn't shake too much. I shot about 300 photos of them, with 4 being shown on my Flickr photostream now.

wadesworld · May 28, 2009

I'm currently taking pictures for my son's baseball team (7-8 year olds). My original intent was to take out the obviously bad shots and let the parents decide which of the rest they liked.

While that's a good concept, I think it's still a bit too permissive. I'm still ending up with say 600 shots for a single game, and while there's a chance I might cut out some shots someone would have liked, I think I'm likely overwhelming them with the sheer volume of photos, so I'm endeavoring to cut more deeply in the future.

farmerj · May 28, 2009

I have a couple times for a sporting event taken enough pictures to choke even me. I had one event I took like 600 pictures. Of those, 500 went to trash almost immediately.

Gotta LOVE High rate Auto shutters.

Of the 100, I kept like 15. I posted the rest up for others to take what they wanted as snap shots. I feel that's really the quality of what they are.

The 15 I kept were of specific actions that occurred that day. Some people know they exist, others are unaware. And those are the ones that are "special gifts" and for a specific purpose. Of the 15 I kept. I am not happy with any of them. They are soft/OOF or something wrong with them. I think/hope I figured out what it was.

Wildlife and landscape, I might take and keep 8-20 pictures. Animals move quickly and change or blur really quick. Heck, I just snapped 10 pictures of a cardinal in the back yard. I might keep 2 out f that. For sure one.

AtlPikMan · May 28, 2009

If i shot 100 i would immeaditly find 10 to 15 that are keepers. Now, for what ever reason a week or two may go buy and i take another look at the batch and edit 10 to 15 more that are just as good as the first set. Thats just me, and it always happens like that.

musicaleCA · May 28, 2009

Mmm, there's something wonderful about getting a really great shot of a bird. I love opening my shots up in post and then having that moment of "I took that? ... Sweet."