How many & why?

[abraxas]

Typically when I go out and shoot landscapes, even shooting multiple exposures for each composition, I rarely go over 200-300 photos for a day or two of shooting. I just read somewhere about shooting 1600 photos during an event. 800 photos for a couple hours of landscape shots. Sorting and editing has got to be mind boggling. How many photos do you shoot?- Why?

 

[Iron Flatline]

I shoot about 50-100 images in a day-long shooting excursion with my manual focus digital Rangefinder.

I shoot about 100-150 with my auto-focus digital SLR on an all-day excursion.

In each case I delete about 50% as soon as I pull the images from the chip - I try to preserve battery power and prefer not to delete in-camera, I even try not to look at my images as I take them.

 

[Rick Waldroup]

I shoot about 50-100 images in a day-long shooting excursion with my manual focus digital Rangefinder.

I shoot about 100-150 with my auto-focus digital SLR on an all-day excursion.

In each case I delete about 50% as soon as I pull the images from the chip - I try to preserve battery power and prefer not to delete in-camera, I even try not to look at my images as I take them.

Boy, we are very much alike in the way we shoot. I probably shoot a little more, but my approach is about like yours. I never delete anything in the camera and after I take my first few shots and check for exposure, etc.. it is rare when I look at them again while I am shooting.

And then, once I get them loaded in the computer, I edit ruthlessly- at least 50% is tossed, sometimes a lot more.

 

[Hertz van Rental]

Depends upon what I'm doing and why.
A portrait session could produce 100 shots.
Still life in the studio maybe just the two.
I only go out with my camera these days if I have a definite shot in mind. I can usually get it in 3 to 6. I refuse to take more.
My view is that I'm supposed to know what I'm doing so I don't need to shoot pictures like it's going out of fashion.
But that's just me and I'm old school :mrgreen:

 

[Sw1tchFX]

unless i'm shooting film, I'll shoot well in excess of 150. I don't delete much of anything, and many of those exposures are for HDR's and such, so it really adds up fast. Than you also have the exposures, that lead up to the real one so you can get it right in camera.

 

[table1349]

Depends upon what I'm doing and why.
A portrait session could produce 100 shots.
Still life in the studio maybe just the two.
I only go out with my camera these days if I have a definite shot in mind. I can usually get it in 3 to 6. I refuse to take more.
My view is that I'm supposed to know what I'm doing so I don't need to shoot pictures like it's going out of fashion.
But that's just me and I'm old school :mrgreen:

Spoken like a man well schooled in Film. :thumbup:

 

[Remi M.]

I usually do around a 100 shots or less when shooting landscape type scenes. Around 150 in urban areas.
But when I am traveling, and shooting all day, I can sometimes fill a 2 gig card (so 350 shots).

 

[Johnboy2978]

I just read somewhere about shooting 1600 photos during an event. 800 photos for a couple hours of landscape shots.

Sounds like a shotgun approach to me....just blast away mindlessly and hope that you end up w/ a keeper or two. I take more the sniper approach (one shot, one kill) and try and plan it out in my head w/ the settings and such and I'll come back w/ less than 100 probably. Like others in the post, I have been playing w/ HDR recently, and that's about the only reason I would approach more than 100 on a landscape. Even though I shoot digital mainly, I can't find a reason that you would shoot that many unless you were shooting a wedding. Even then, I would really be hard pressed to shoot 1600.

 

[Greatwhite]

I too am an 'old schooler' who came up with film.....and the costs of it!

I also am a 'purist' who does not like the shot-gun approach and hours of photoshop....actually, other than a minor crop or notch of contrast, I never edit my images.....I don't even own Photoshop....just use picture perfect from Nikon for my RAW images...

I prefer to know my equipment, the lighting and composition in my mind, so when I take the shot, it usually is 'it'.....

Not 'holier than thou', just using years of expierience w/film and manual SLR's....

 

[Garbz]

Weddings 200-400 editing on the fly because of space constraints when shooting raw.
Sports 600-1200 mostly in JPEG, loads of repeats where editing involves selecting the best photos and dumping the rest.
Anything else like landscapes portraits between 20-70 usually. I'm very picky and really take my time with this one. If It doesn't look good in the view finder I won't push the button. Editing these are usually the hardest though because I like it and put a lot of effort into extracting the best I can.

 

[gmarquez]

I just read somewhere about shooting 1600 photos during an event

For my landscape work, I rarely shoot over 50 if that...maybe 100 if I'm running some 'experiments'. I then dump them into Picasa (because I'm cheap and it does the job) to pick the ones that have potential, either as-is or with minor editing. Then I bring those into Photoshop, Capture NX, or Photomatix and play around a bit. Then I usually trash all of them, meaning I back them up, but don't "do" anything with them. If I *do* get something I really really like, I have it printed at 30"x20", and if *that* comes out looking good, I put it on my web page.

I average about 1 "keeper" per 7 outings or so...this summer's been a b1tch as it's been either totally blue skies, or totally overcast over here (not great for my type of landscape work).

 

[Mike_E]

If I'm shooting film then I try to have 1 or 2 shots left when I get back to the car, whether I bring 1 roll or 5 (I don't typically carry more than 5 rolls unless someone else is paying for it).

With digital it depends on how fast the subject is moving and whether or not I care about it's (whom or whatever) expression. It might be 5 it might be 500.

 

[Felix 222]

maybe a 100 a day at most

 

[DeepSpring]

It depends what I'm doing. Some portrait sessions I can end up with 500 pictures after 2 hours. That's the most tho. My average is around 200-300 For live band shows I take around 200 in the 1/2 hour sets. Sports can be 400. Many are bursts tho and I only keep 1 from the series.

Like others I NEVER delete in camera unless it is ABSOLUTELY necessary because there is something I HAVE to shoot coming up. They put the "erase" single picture and "erase all" right next to each other. I made the mistake once of hitting "erase all" Luckily I stopped it before it erased many.

I just got a new 2gb Ultra II so I should be good now

 

[el_shorty]

When I go to the zoo, I shoot between 400 and 500 photos; at the race track, 600-1000 photos; with bands, depends on the venue, if they allow shooting during the whole set, 200 to 250 per band, if it's only during the first three songs, 50 to 70 per band; with landscapes I usually I take around 250, but that's because I also do some macro in the area where I'm shooting; and when shooting pets portraits, between 50 and 100 per session.