Ok everyone, here's a question...(not sure I posted this under the right section, if not, sorry, and I blame my newbieness). When you do a shoot, whether it be portrait or wedding or whatever, what is your ratio of photos that you find acceptable to ones that you toss? Say, if you take 100 photos, how many are you super happy with?? Just trying to see if my workflow is average, below average, etc. Thanks in advance, guys! (And gals!)

So far I've been able to keep about 10% of my shots, but I've only been really happy with 1-2% of them. I did a shoot on Saturday with some of my friends where I slowed down a lot and focused on technique and I think I'm going to double the above percentages. Ideally I'd like to have 25% that I'm really happy with and 1-2% of each shoot that makes it into my permanent gallery. In talking to one of my friends in the business he keeps about 25% of his shots, and the rest are tossed because someone in the picture has a goofy expression or he was trying out something really creative that didn't work out very well.

Hey! Who you calling a tosser?

Around 10%. I'm super happy with maybe between 1 - 3%. I'm in a state of limbo right now because I looooove my 50mm and I want to force myself to use it but I feel like my fingers have been cut off because it's not a zoom. I'm just not used to working that way, and it's taking a while to get used to it. I don't know if I'm brave enough to whip it out at my next wedding; I'm deathly scared of missing a key moment because I was a few feet away and blah blah blah. Maybe I should talk to Tami, sit on her couch for therapy or something! Gah.

well since you asked...... I thought about it.

Of late...... I've been doing my 365 project where I shoot 10 max images of someone (generally 5 images though) - of those 5 1 will go on my site, and the person will get 3 other images, so I would say for this it's up to 80% keepers - but then, to do these I slow it right down and take a little time to wait for what I want.

I have noticed when I have been out with other shooters I come back with a lot less shots taken, I'm not much of a 'lean on the shutter button' style shooter. Last walkabout we did with some shooters, one guy came back with 200+ shots in 2 hours, I came back with 8 - 6 of which I kept - so he might be different or I might be different - who knows.

for the last wedding I shot 800 images total - I just finished marking the ones I will edit and I have 545 images to process that they will get - that's well over 50% so I am happy.


Also keepers is a pretty relative term, I keep the shots I like - who's to say they're actually any good - LOL!

For lifestyle portraits of kids, we are at about 40-50% since they are on the go and doing unexpected things in a heartbeat. For weddings we are also at about 50%, BUT thats two shooters with backup shots, experiments, eye-blink and bad face formal insurance, etc.

At at Wedding, I may shoot 1200, deliver 500 to my client. Of those 500, I have 100 that I really like, and maybe 10 per event that I think I could show to someone who has been doing this consistently for more than two years and not get laughed at.

I only shoot maybe 15 weddings a year right now though. I would love to do more...like most folks on here.

For commercial realestate, I would say my keeper rates are maybe the same scene 4 ways, and the client will see 2 and buy one.

You guys rock, and you're making me feel EVER so much better. I was having these waking nightmares of all of you amazing photographers shooting a CF card full and they're all perfect and stunning, and it was making me sweat...a lot. I'm running about 30-35% that I'm happy with, so I'm ok with that for now and hopefully with experience, it will get even better.

Love the 365 idea. I need to do more shooting just to shoot, you know? Sometimes I get caught up with post processing, changing the website, etc. and I forget that I need to be behind a camera most of all!

I love this forum.

Hey Lisa, I'm with you on that one, pp and website/blog re-design take up my life. I need to get out there and shoot some more

do i get to bill you???? hope, get out there and force yourself! you wont believe what you are missing - zooms, in my opinion, do too much of the thinking for the photographer - when you use primes, you tend to think about your shot more and, eventually once you get used to using primes, it just becomes second nature and you whip out the right length you need automatically - almost without thinking.

since i have gone to primes, i have more keepers than tossers.

For a wedding I'm at about 35% at just about every event. I shoot about 2000 and generally deliver between 600-800 on average.

For portraits I deliver closer to 10%. Not because I couldn't deliver more, but there's a lot more duplication in portrait sessions, so I tend to edit by just taking one best of each pose, so the edit is very tight.

I'm my own biggest critic, so I'd say about .05% are keepers!! However, having said that, I usually deliver about 30-60% in terms of numbers of what I shot, although technically about 80-90% could be delivered if need be... then again, what would that need ever be?

This is a fun thread.

It reminds me of when I used to shoot 4x5 and had 3 film-holders with 2 shots each. When I was more limited in terms of capacity, I slowed things down more, thought about the shots more (composition, exposure...everything!) had a very high 'keeper' percentage.
plus...I guess when it costs over a buck a shot, you either shoot well or go broke.

Back to the digital world...
As far as weddings go, we probably keep 35-50% of shots, though if I were less picky that could easily go toward 75%.

BUT...since I've got the software to really compare the details better (than my client can see previews on Pictage or in proofs) then I try to pick the BEST versions in a series of shots, and leave out ones that are just 'pretty good' or 'okay'.

I would say that about 5-10% of shots are 'portfolio-grade'

In portrait sessions, I guess we do the same thing, but really focus on the details. Clients have knack at picking out (for large prints) the shots that I either don't care for, or won't enlarge well. SO...now, I try and ONLY show what I'd like to SELL!

It really depends on the shoot. For portraits I go through them with the client (yes, the unedited pictures) and they tell me which ones they like, i then mark them initially, usually about 80/200, then narrow down to their 30 fav's. From there I edit them, and prints etc. are sold. All in all the process of getting to those thirty super fav's takes about and hour, however they have images I know that they like, and then i give them sized images with small corner watermarks for facebook, myspace, xuqa, their blog, etc. I let the client choose the images they like, so that they definately get what they want, and I get to use what i see fit for promotional material, samples, etc. It works out well because in the end everyone's happy. Usually of those 200 I like between 3 and 5.

Be warned you can't do this with all clients, and some you have to go with the standard, "suprise proofs" method. But the majority of clients are good about it.

We shoot about 1500 at a wedding and deliver 700+ to the B&G. So, a litlle over 50%. I am not as picky as I could be and probably shoud be. Something I plan to work on this year.

Lisa, I'd recommend browsing the proofing galleries of some photographers you admire and looking through an entire wedding.

I think you'd be surprised at what you see.

Hmmm.....on average...:Weddings (Full day, with 2 shooters): Shoot 2,200, Keep 850 (38%ish)Engagment session & outdoor portrait session, (1 shooter, 1 hour) Shoot 800, keep 75(10%ish). I ONLY keep what I'm happy with for portrait shoots. For weddings, it's a bit more tricky, and there are certain photos you gotta leave in. I'm only really happy with about 15% of the photos from weddings. But I don't have an emotional connection to the pics like a couple might... so they may be 100% happy with the 38% that I give them!

Haha... Yeah, Sometimes it works to crop photos, though. I do that sometimes in order to save a photo. NOT if it's a group photo and the person with a goofy expression is IN that photo though...then I don't crop it. If that makes sense...

Haha! no way, girl!
But at least we have the creative aspects of digital... we can see what we're getting, and if we aren't in love with it, we might be able to take it from other angles... Film was way too expensive to do THAT much experimenting with. AND we can hold the shutter down for more clicks in a group shot-- and take the best of those 10. The more people you have in the photo, the more tricky it is to get one where everyone's looking his/her best!

Okay between two shooters I usually crank out 2000-3000 images and brides usually get anywhere from 600-1000 images.

We usually shoot about 1500 and the brides will get about 800 images.

That's a great idea!