Keepers vs Tossers

[vonnagy]

Say you develop a roll of film or just finish a digital shoot. You get out of the darkroom to scrutinise them (or view them on your monitor)- How many of your pics turn out to be keepers and and how many are tossers? what do you do with your tossers? Do you store them/or delete them. Just curious.

I am going through my archives now, i am finding alot of my earlier work. I am glad i didn't chuck everything, I kinda gives me a benchmark from where I was. But I don't like saving everything either. Anyways, what are your habits?

 

[MDowdey]

in general, id say i get 6 good shots from one rool of film.

but i keep everything!!!!


md

 

[photogoddess]

Some days, I get alot of keepers. Other days, I am just off my game. I always keep everything though. Maybe that's why I have 50 cds full of pictures and 3 boxes full of negs. :shock: Actually, my keeper rate is about the same as MDs.

 

[karissa]

I'm a digital person and well.... I have nearly 2,000 picts from my camera. I would say it depends on what I'm going after. If I am just experimenting with lighting or something I will get 2 or 3 good ones out of 40 shots. If I'm really trying to get something good I don't save it until I like what I have. The beauty of digital. Even then though, once I get on the computer I will actually say that 6 or 7 are good out of a batch. Because I can without cost worries, I take lots and lots of pictures and work with what I have on the computer. I'm trying to get better at getting it right the first or second time. As far as deleating... I have not been able to let myself delete anything yet. Hence the reason for 3 gigs of digital pictures.

 

[mrsid99]

The percentage of pics that I really like are probably in the 5% range depending on what I'm trying to shoot but being an inveterate packrat I keep everything.
I promise myself that one day I'll delete some of the chaff but meanwhile I now have three hard drives, a 200G, a 120G and a 60G.

 

[drlynn]

I shoot film, and I'd say on a really good roll I might get 6 good shots, if I'm lucky. More often I get 2-4 really good shots.

I have heard many "pro" photographers eho say that if you get more than 4 or 5 "keeper" shots on a roll, you're not critiqueing yourself honestly.

That said, it depends on the subject. If I'm shooting snaps of the kids, then I may get 8-12 shots I like. But when I'm out photographing to improve my skill and get some nice shots, then 2-4 is a more honest assessment.

Just my $0.01 (had a coupon )

 

[tr0gd0o0r]

I'd say one or two shots I'm really happy with per every roll or two or maybe even sometimes three. It realyl depends on what i'm shooting and what not. I keep everything for sure. Now that I'm digital I still keep everything, but i will delete something if i have the same shot w/ a different exposure i think is worse

 

[surfingfireman]

I get 2 or 3 shot per roll that I really like, another couple are on the bubble that I am not afraid to show people, and the rest are junk. I do keep the garbage shots though, I have shoe boxes full of them. I am proud to say that with what I have learned over the last couple of years, the number of keepers have increased from one per roll, to the 2 or 3.

 

[drdan]

I've started going through the pictures on my camera and sorting out the potential keepers. Those I transfer to the computer. The rest I immediately delete. I have taken 7500 in about 6 months and I just can't go through them all if I save everything. I have found that if it doesn't make the cut on the first perusal, it's not going to later either, so why save them. Of those potential keepers, probably only about half make the final cut and get edited or printed.

I probably save about 5-8 percent initially, except for grandkid pictures where I save 80%. The quality of the picture isn't as much the point with grandkid pics though.

 

[karissa]

I have taken 7500 in about 6 months and I just can't go through them all if I save everything.

:shock: 7500! Ok, I have taken 2000 in the last 8 months and thought that was a lot. One day I will go through and delete some of the ones that are doubles with different exposures but... I haven't the time yet.

 

[Digital Matt]

I have about 17gigs worth of photos right now, that's including RAW files and converted tiffs.

It's about the same for me as what photogoddess said. Some days I get alot, some days, none I keep everything, at least for a while. I will go back and look at them every few months and re-evaluate them, and make some deletions.

Sometimes you can go back and pull out some nice details with photoshop from a photo that you thought, on first sight, was a dud. I will usually pull out the old ones when I've run out of new ones to process Also, I keep some of them as stock photos.

 

[graigdavis]

I remember starting a thread about this. i can take 200 pictures and have 5 that I really like. But a lot of that is 30 pictures of one thing from 10 different angles and 20 different setting combos.

When Im doing sports photography Ill have a lot more that Ill keep.

I delete any pictures that arent website or photoalbum worthy.

 

[Not Neve]

i toss what appears to be junk at first sight. (as drdan said, my opinion isn't likely to change on second glance). I take a lot of crap (which is why I want to get a digital if only I could make up my mind).

In my other hobby (making cards) I think it's fun to keep the older stuff that I once thought was good so that I can compare how far i've progressed. We get many laughs when looking at my first attempts.