When shooting an event, how many photos should you show?

Demers18

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I shot my first event this weekend and I was wondering how many photos I should show the client?

This was a MTB Canada Cup race here in town and I currently have about 200 photos that would be presentable and about 75 really good photos.

In your experience or knowledge, what would you recommend?
 
Ask them what they want to see. Maybe they want five frames. Maybe they want five hundred. What kind of terms are you working under? What do they "need"? What do they "want"? Is it worth your time to slave over a ton of pictures if all they need are a handful of good frames for internal use?
 
You have a point...

Now before I get flamed for saying what I'm about to say, I want to specify that I ride with these people and was given full course access while some other did not and it was an opportunity to shoot my first ever event. Basically this means that I'm doing this for free, yes that's right free. They will use some of my photos to market future events and in turn I get visibility and can use it in my portfolio. Second, they will put me in contact with local news outlets and parents to sell potential prints and I get a free membership to ride the tracks this year.

Now to answer your question, I haven't really asked and I wanted to post here and get some isight before making any decisions. I don't think they will need a ton of photos but then again if I want to be able to sell some to the parents, should I process and post the others incase someone is interested?
 
I used to freelance for a newspaper chain that owned 18 newspapers; they wanted to see TWO images from each event, most typically...on rare occasions, at big track meets, they'd buy five images.
 
So are you telling me I should pick the best let's say 10 photos and present those?
Would posting less than the best photos be bad advertising?
 
OP, I saw a film on W. Eugene Smith. City of Pittsburgh was the client. They commented..."We asked for 50 pictures...Smith took 10,000." (That was back in the wet darkroom days!)

Just show your best work. Tell them if they like they can go through your secondary picks if they want more. Some pros will just show what they like and that is it. Just depends on how you roll.

Good luck!
 
So are you telling me I should pick the best let's say 10 photos and present those?
Would posting less than the best photos be bad advertising?


We all shoot garbage OP. The pro just trashes his garbage and does not rejoice in it.

I try never to sign my name to anything I'm embarrassed with.

The photos I put on the Wiki Commons are borderline shots. Nothing great, maybe they are not embarrassing. But I am not that proud of most of them either. To me some of them are borderline trash.

File list - Wikimedia Commons

I just wanted to 'try' and put them to a use, so I used them there. They are as low as I go. If the shot is lower, it gets trashed.

I don't put my top end work on the Wiki Commons either. I don't want to give permission to screw around with my best stuff. At the Wiki Commons there is a link to my better work. The better work gets put in public institutions. The lower end work does not...that is the defining line for me.
 
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You have a point...

Now before I get flamed for saying what I'm about to say, I want to specify that I ride with these people and was given full course access while some other did not and it was an opportunity to shoot my first ever event. Basically this means that I'm doing this for free, yes that's right free. They will use some of my photos to market future events and in turn I get visibility and can use it in my portfolio. Second, they will put me in contact with local news outlets and parents to sell potential prints and I get a free membership to ride the tracks this year.

Now to answer your question, I haven't really asked and I wanted to post here and get some isight before making any decisions. I don't think they will need a ton of photos but then again if I want to be able to sell some to the parents, should I process and post the others incase someone is interested?
There is nothing wrong with shooting for free for exposure and experience. More people should be doing this before charging. I did this a lot before I starting charging. I would pick your absolute best images and post those. Anything less than your best should stay on your hard drive.
 
Thank you Derrel, ilovemycam and Kathy for the input, much appreciated.

Kathy, that is exactly how I feel as well and I was on the fence about posting less than stellar photos as this is also an opportunity to showcase my skills. I know I still have a long way to go but you do have to start some where ;)
 

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