Keepers

[oxygen45]

Hi all,

Going through Lightroom recently and have been deleting a lot of photos. So far having been looked at probably 30% of my files and would have deleted 40-50% of the images. This is after initially deleting probably 50% of shots as soon as they are imported to Lightroom. Guess my keeper value is around 25% then but could easily cull more.

Does anyone else keep way too many photos?

[ameerat42]

(I probably do, but don't tell anyone.)
Am.

[rackham]

I do.

There have been a handful of occasions over the last six months though where I've gone back to something I wasn't terribly fond of initially and come up trumps with something that I'm reasonably happy with. Sometimes it's worth it, as your post processing gets better or you learn new tricks or get different ideas they become valuable... think of it as mining your tailings!

[kevinj]

If I take 200 pics on an outing,I`ll delete 40 or 50 on first viewing,after that I`ll usually get rid of another 20 or so.After the initial cull I`ll process a few and leave the rest for a later look,after that,I`ll go back and get rid of many more as I try to get better pics of them.Generally,out of 200,I`ll have maybe 50 that keep,they go onto my backup drive.

[ricktas]

Beginners SHOULD KEEP more photos. When you look at a photo that you do not want to keep. Ask yourself WHY? What is wrong with it, and why is it wrong. Perhaps it is blurry... the answer could be camera movement (get a tripod), to slow shutter speed (use a faster shutter speed). As a beginner you learn a lot from what went wrong when you pushed the shutter. So do not just delete them, but use them as a learning exercise. Understand why the photo turned out such that you want to delete it, and you won't (hopefully) make that mistake next time you shoot something similar.

So if you are deleting then as your import them into Lightroom, chances are you are missing a great opportunity to study them and learn from your mistakes.

As you learn more, and move towards being an intermediate level photographer, your skill increases should see you using the delete option less and less. I will often go out for a sunrise/sunset shoot and come home having taken between 20-30 photos over a period of a couple of hours.. and not need to delete a single one of them.

LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES..don't just delete them.

[rackham]

Depends what you're shooting though.

If you're sat on a corner at a race track smashing your shutter every time a bloke comes around that corner, why not delete the ones where another bike/car is cramping your subject or it's partially out of frame, etc etc. Same goes with most sports... where the object of your shoot is to catch a particular moment that happens beyond your control and in a less predictable manner, why not delete some or all of the photos outside of that scope?

[oxygen45]

Beginners SHOULD KEEP more photos. When you look at a photo that you do not want to keep. Ask yourself WHY? What is wrong with it, and why is it wrong. Perhaps it is blurry... the answer could be camera movement (get a tripod), to slow shutter speed (use a faster shutter speed). As a beginner you learn a lot from what went wrong when you pushed the shutter. So do not just delete them, but use them as a learning exercise. Understand why the photo turned out such that you want to delete it, and you won't (hopefully) make that mistake next time you shoot something similar.

So if you are deleting then as your import them into Lightroom, chances are you are missing a great opportunity to study them and learn from your mistakes.

As you learn more, and move towards being an intermediate level photographer, your skill increases should see you using the delete option less and less. I will often go out for a sunrise/sunset shoot and come home having taken between 20-30 photos over a period of a couple of hours.. and not need to delete a single one of them.

LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES..don't just delete them.

I think this is the difference between beginners and more advanced photographers. I go out to do a sunrise/sunset shoot and come home with a couple of hundred photos. At times possibly guilty of trying too much and not waiting for the moment and really thinking about the composition.

Otherwise I try do the things you have suggested. Most shoots get looked at in Lightroom at least 2 or 3 times and try different PP techniques.

[ricktas]

I think this is the difference between beginners and more advanced photographers. I go out to do a sunrise/sunset shoot and come home with a couple of hundred photos. At times possibly guilty of trying too much and not waiting for the moment and really thinking about the composition.

Otherwise I try do the things you have suggested. Most shoots get looked at in Lightroom at least 2 or 3 times and try different PP techniques.

ah yes, but lets go back to your first post "This is after initially deleting probably 50% of shots as soon as they are imported to Lightroom".

So WHY are they deleted? if you see a recurring issue that is the same each time, then you need to work out why, and then work out how to stop it happening. The path to better photography is right in front of you.

[Mark L]

Think Rick is generally on the right path. Though if 50% of your photos are out of focus, you know that, so what's the point keeping them. Just figure out why they are OOF (keep a couple to review ExIF).
To start with though, I'd keep more. Has been mentioned that you may come back later and find your initial verdict on a photo was a bit rushed.
That being said, I'm about to go back and delete so many of my photos that just don't cut it now.

[Warbler]

Part of the problem is more likely that you're TAKING too many photos, or more correctly, not considering your shot more before depressing the shutter. Bringing home a couple of hundred sunset/sunrise photos is something I used to do myself. As much as I hate to admit it, I will sometimes still do that. I also still catch myself in the act of taking photos of objects which are so small in the frame that I already know the photos are useless. You'll need to be a bit more disciplined. Not having to pay for film has made this a much bigger problem than it used to be.

Think about your settings and framing. You don't need 200 photos of the same thing with identical framing and settings. You'll still get throw-aways, but not as many. Meanwhile, I'll go back and re-read my own advice and see if I can't break my own bad habits.

[ameerat42]

But as indicated generally above: there's no hard "rule". Keep a lot today, pare them down tomorrow - as you may get more experience. I usually do not toss out a pic unless it is, for example, badly
blurred, blown out, irrecoverable in some way. After a while I might have another look at some and perhaps ditch some more.
Am(never certain).

[bricat]

I keep them all. Hard drives are cheap. I have backups of backups. As I don't do PP as such it probably does not matter. I do review my pics but mainly for composition, then
exif now and then. PP is still a future project for me as I try to learn the whats what of photography. So the short answer is YES I keep too many cheers Brian

[Mark L]

PP is still a future project for me as I try to learn the whats what of photography.

Guessing you use RAW. Learn the basics with Canons DPP. Quite easy to use and those basics can help you're photos. It's still all I use really.

[fess67]

I think the PP aspect is an important one here. I am getting more critical when it comes to keeping / deleting images now but I am mindful of the ability (MY ability) to use PP to make something of a shot. My PP skills have increased beyond recognition over the last 2 years and I know I have a long way to go yet. I am looking at photos taken 5 years ago and making something of them where before I could not and may have deleted.

As has been said, disk space is cheap. Keep unless it is a total duffer or a virtual duplicate of another shot.

[enduro]

From the beginning, it's normal to delete a lot and keep a few. For some genre of photography where the subject changes and is difficult to shoot based on the subjects movement - high speed or unpredictable targets - even experienced photos will delete a lot.

A lot of "good photographers" will report to keeping everything and they probably do, at least for a while. Nowadays I keep almost all of my shots until work out exactly what I needed from them and that may take several months at times. If know you have something that really is good, but don't have the skills to do it justice yet, keep it!! You will have the skills later and the image may just be the one you want to develop your skills on.

[wmvaux]

I've taken hundreds of shots and ended up deleting most. Even on the worst days I still walk away with something good. I figure one good one is better than none.
Kulling is something have been trying to get used to, but it has to be a bad shot like a bad blow out or something that has really destroyed the photo. I usually get around 6-12 that I process and keep others even if similar as they can be used as originals.

I have found over time and experience that taking your time with the set up of the shot and using the same or similar settings to what has worked before is the way to go. You end up taking fewer shots, but a greater percentage are very good shots. I also try and take shots from different angles just in case they might turn out better than the original one. I also take at least 2 from the same position just in case something happens that might slightly affect the shot like vibration, wind or something else.