This ever happen to you?

[benlonghair]

I took 150 shots of a praying mantis the other day and not a single one was to my liking.

 

[Overread]

So I think it really depends on your judgment of a good shot.

This is also an important point to remember - as hobbyists or professionals our view of what is agood or bad shot will often change a lot as we get better at photography. For most of us we get far more selective and demending (especailly of our own work) so out of those 50 shots you might have had:
30 keepers when you started photography
15 as you got a little better
7 as you get really picky
2 as your getting even more selective with what you shoot.

Of course that is based on each of those 50 shots being different, one wonder of digital is being able to review and reshoot in the field - so might be you take 10 shots of a subject to get 1 which is exactly what you want. Guess what - the film shooters did this too - just that they couldn't review the shot nor the histogram after they took the shot. So they might have taken 15 or even 20 to make sure they got that 1 ultra good keeper.
Of course experience helps whittle those numbers down a lot - but your only going to get that after years of shooting.

 

[Overread]

I took 150 shots of a praying mantis the other day and not a single one was to my liking.

I know the feeling - but it was a moth for me

 

[Actor]

You got out... Take 50 or more pictures.... Get back, upload them.. And only 1 or 2 are what you feel worth keeping? This really is frustrating lol

Man, that happened when I was using film (and paying to get it developed)!

I had a friend that spent eight hours and three 36-shot rolls of film to get a single shot.

Paraphrasing St. Matthew:

verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that (one), than of the ninety and nine which went ... astray.