On an average shoot, how many are 'keepers'?

The Reverend JT

The Reverend JT

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Was just wondering this morning - i went out to the peaks this weekend (i live there so not too much of a trek) and took my camera - i noticed that the percentage of the frames i am keeping is on the increase again. I was just wondering what sort of percentage you guys work around on a typical session? When i first got a DSLR i was probably keeping one every 150 photos (i guess i am quite picky and I shoot in RAW so i carefully select which ones i want to process) but now i'm probably working at around 5-15% of the pics i take.

I guess a lot of it is to do with the fact that when you know what you want from the frame - you can pretty much plan the picture in your head and the actual taking of the pic is the very end of that process (unless you are trying new techniques or shooting moving images which requires a specific technique).

What sort of percentages do you think you guys work with in terms of keepers, and does this change depending on what sort of subject you have?
 
This thread came up a few days ago.

It really depends on what I'm shooting, and why I'm shooting it.

The better question would be, of the images that you're throwing away, how many of those are the photographer's fault, and how many are beyond the control of the photographer?

Subjects blinking, pulling stupid faces, unflattering poses, birds flying in front of your shot 6ft away from the end of your lens (I had a few of those shooting sea lions at the Blackpool Zoo meet the other week), animals generally in bad positions or moving too quick for the shutter speed to be able to catch them crisp, etc.

You could have 400 beautifully lit and well composed images of a model from a shoot, but if half of those are not "keepers" because of the model's facial expression, half-closed eyes, limb position, awkward looking poses, etc, there's not really a lot you can do to "save" them.

There are a lot of things beyond the photographer's control that can happen in the instant you press the shutter, depending on what you're shooting, that can cause an image not to be a "keeper".
 
I take at least two exposures of every shot. For most shots I will try at least two variations. This all presupposes that I can "see" a shot in the first place. If I can not, I take nothing. So keepers are about in the ratio of 1 to 4.
 
I average around 100% keepers on a bad day. It's higher when I'm in the zone ;)

I generally take loads and weed them out - e.g. I take 50, but might only keep a few. But as others have said it depends on the purpose, if I'm say trying macro butterflies, I will take loads and ensure I get a good picture, maybe only 2% are keepers.
 
Kaouthia said:
This thread came up a few days ago.

It really depends on what I'm shooting, and why I'm shooting it.

The better question would be, of the images that you're throwing away, how many of those are the photographer's fault, and how many are beyond the control of the photographer?

Subjects blinking, pulling stupid faces, unflattering poses, birds flying in front of your shot 6ft away from the end of your lens (I had a few of those shooting sea lions at the Blackpool Zoo meet the other week), animals generally in bad positions or moving too quick for the shutter speed to be able to catch them crisp, etc.

You could have 400 beautifully lit and well composed images of a model from a shoot, but if half of those are not "keepers" because of the model's facial expression, half-closed eyes, limb position, awkward looking poses, etc, there's not really a lot you can do to "save" them.

There are a lot of things beyond the photographer's control that can happen in the instant you press the shutter, depending on what you're shooting, that can cause an image not to be a "keeper".
Click to expand...

i obviously missed the thread a few days ago, but thanks for pointing it out.

maybe the question you posed is a better one - i should perhaps PM you with all my questions to see if you can improve them all from now on - that cool?;)

I went to uni in lancaster btw - lovely place for photography, crappy place for nightlife!

JT
 
I take as many shots as I need to to guarantee the shot. How many i throw away doesn't matter!
 
I bin very few, so I suppose that means most are keepers. Not all get printed (or even PPed) and even fewer get printed to A4 or bigger. It also depends very much on what I'm shooting. If it's motorsport and I'm doing a lot of panning, maybe 1 in 5 get chosen for printing and 1 in 5 of the printed ones get A4ed. On holiday (roll on, June 1st!), probably 50% or more will get printed, and depending on whether the shots are better or significantly different to ones I've shot and printed before, a reasonable number end up at A4 and a couple will be taken up to A3. I never know, one or more may even make it onto the wall!
 
Depends on what I'm doing really.

If it's landscapes or non-animal related nature, or portraits, then I'm going to have around 90% keepers usually, given that you're dealing with, by and large, static subjects.

If it's beasts out and about, whether of the two legged human kind or four-legged animal kind, then more like anything around 50% usually (including metering shots which I'd usually immediately discard though).
 
Like everyone else, it depends. When I'm shooting sports pictures, if the conditions are ideal then I'll shoot a lot more. When I shot my first football match in heavy rain and overcast conditions, I kept maybe around 35 shots out of around 400 or so. Yesterday, I was shooting at Staines in bright sunshine and perfect conditions with an excellent view of the action, and I kept 110 shots out of around 300.
 
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