How many pictures do you take/delete?

[annnewjerz]

Bickering won't help anyone learn, boys! Let's all play nice in the sandbox.

I see both of your points and agree, not everyone is trying to become the world's best photographer but also agree that if that is how they choose to spend their time and they enjoy it, who are we to judge? It sounds like the OP had a great outing and while she didn't get many useable images, I'm sure she won't forget the experience anytime soon.

One may argue that sitting online staring at your computer screen is a waste, but I happen to enjoy it!

 

[MICKEY88]

Oh, please, don't be so overly sensitive. I didn't call anyone a chimp, but I'm close to calling someone a chump.

Not everyone wants to be an Ansel Adams, and that's fine. Most people are content to just be able to get a recognizable image, and that's fine IF THAT'S ALL THAT THEY WANT. But if someone WANTS to be a better photographer, and all they do is continue to snap thousands of pictures without EVER bothing to learn from them, then that person is photographing like a chimp, a robot, whatever you want to call it. Haven't you heard the saying about a room full of chimps on typewriters?

I'm far from over sensitive, and if you wish to call me names, which realistically you just did by putting that out there,just for disagreeing with you, go for it, that will speak more of your character, than of mine..

no one said the OP wasn't learning, nor had a desire to learn.

and to be realistic, have you ever participated in a model photo shoot, on any level...SI bikini shoot..any magazine..or for a model's portfolio.. hundreds of pics are taken to get that one perfect shot, that the editor or client wants, so does that make the top photographers in the world chimps...??

and as far as ansel adams goes, you also stated that post processing is a waste of time, Ansel spent more time in the dark room manipulating photos than he did taking them in the first place,,

bottom line is, there is a negative way of trying to help someone and a positive way, the best teachers I've ever had used the positive way

 

[MICKEY88]

Bickering won't help anyone learn, boys! Let's all play nice in the sandbox.

I see both of your points and agree, not everyone is trying to become the world's best photographer but also agree that if that is how they choose to spend their time and they enjoy it, who are we to judge? It sounds like the OP had a great outing and while she didn't get many useable images, I'm sure she won't forget the experience anytime soon.

One may argue that sitting online staring at your computer screen is a waste, but I happen to enjoy it!

gee Mom, thanks for the verbal spanking LOL

where did the OP say she didn't get many useable images..I missed that line..

 

[GrillMouster]

Bickering won't help anyone learn, boys! Let's all play nice in the sandbox.

You're right, sorry. I'm all hopped up on caffeine and sugar and got my Irish up (I'm not Irish, and I hope I didn't offend any Irish people). Let's all just get along! Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year to everyone!

 

[gdk123]

I picked up a Canon XS on black friday for our Disney trip 12/13-12/20. This is my first DSLR. I blew through 600 pics in 2 days around the house learning how to get started. I also read alot of great advice on this board. For our trip I took 1700 pics. I went through them and ended up with 600 keepers. there were only a couple of times I used continuous mode (Shamu and the stunt show) to get some action shots. I learned alot on the trip but I know I am just getting started. My goal was to get good shots of the wishes fireworks and it worked out great. The only problem was I left the remote shutter release at the room. At least i remembered the tripod! I would post a couple pics but I am not allowed yet?

 

[GrillMouster]

gee Mom, thanks for the verbal spanking LOL

where did the OP say she didn't get many useable images..I missed that line..

Awe, man, Mickey88! Just when annnewjerz had me calmed down you had to go nit-picking word choice again. You can take my words out of context and misinterpret them all you want, but don't go messin' with annnewjerz! )
If you wanna tear apart others' posts, go ahead. Personally, I find it a WASTE.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Back to the question: is this a valid way to learn? Just taking so many pictures and seeing what worked and what didn't and sometimes just getting lucky?

For me this is a definite way to learn and one thing that I think is so great about digital photography. You can snap away experimenting with different settings and the only cost is some time! IMO I also think that there's also a greater need to take more pictures of sporting events/action etc. than say a flower in the garden. However I must say that I have started taking more pictures of static objects while I'm determining what the looks are that I most like to get depending on depth of field. As I get figured out what I prefer then that will decrease....unless I'm just having fun playing around.

From what I have always heard professional photographers would shoot rolls and rolls of film and pick out only a few shots that made the grade in their eyes. I never had the $$$$'s to do that but now I don't have to worry about it!

And it's so easy to end up with hundreds of shots when you can shoot so fast with the DSLR's. That's fun too! I don't know - I guess I just realized that I get as about as much enjoyment out of using the equipment and seeing what it can do as I do with the end product. Since I'm not looking to make a living at it I'll consider myself lucky that I do!!!!!

 

[Chikabowa]

My $.02 (because that's all it's worth... if that!)...

When I'm out just shooting for the sake of practice, I don't count shots, I chimp, I evaluate what I'm doing, and take note of lighting/settings/composition, etc. in order to learn what I'm doing. Most of these shots never even are downloaded and/or deleted. They are there for the sake of my own learning. They aren't terrible - but they are like the pain pill example... what am I going to do with them later?

When I'm shooting personal work, I have about a 95% keeper rate. I shoot, I chimp to make sure I like what I took and make adjustments or move on. It's not perfect - I don't really care if it is or isn't - because these are MY pictures for MY memories. Our last vacation, we were there for 12 days and I took about 850 photographs. About 700 will make it into my album when I finish editing. Some are blurry... some have bad color... some are super cool and some are freaking awesome. But, I don't let it get me down and I sure didn't have to par down a bunch of duplicates either.

When I'm shooting client work, I have about an 80% keeper rate, and out of those, I usually have 1 or 2 that I consider portfolio work (work that I deem good enough to represent my company). I don't chimp often, I know my settings and my lighting. I rarely don't keep a photo due to an exposure issue, but more likely eyes closed, and less than pleasing expression on a clients face, or a composition that I tried that didn't work, or a test shot when using off-camera lighting.

I think what distinguishes a fairly accomplished photographer is consistency. We know what will and won't make a good shot, and we make adjustments on the fly to compensate. Sure I can take 700 shots and 80% will be keepers, while you may take 700 with only 1 being a keeper.

But the only way to get there is through learning, practice, research, practice, trail and error, and practice.
Don't EVER stop practicing!! I shoot every day. Most of the time it's nothing that I'm shooting, but I practice all the time, which when I'm in a high-pressure situation, I'm golden.

 

[handicap18]

The number of shots I take on a given outing varies based on the outing itself.

With my D50 I'm at right around 16,000 shutter clicks in 2 1/2 years. In 3 months with my D300 I'm at around 1100.

At a recent family holiday party I only took about 50 pictures. For my oldest DS' baseball games I'll take 200-300 over the course of the 2 or 3 innings they play. I've gone out on some solo photo outings and taken upwards of 400 images in a few hours, other times only 50-100.

For me it depends on the lighting, the subject and what is going on at the time.

How much is too much and how much is too little is very subjective. Same thing for what are keepers. If you rattle off 3-8 shots in 1 second and do that 10 different times you may actually only end up for 5 or 6 keepers. Say for example someone is skating and you shoot in continuous mode and are shooting at 4 fps. Well there is a good chance that many times you'll get them with their eyes closed or in the wrong position or it just a tad to blury from movement. Well over the course of 700 shots you could only end up with a handfull of "keepers". But maybe because of the way you were shooting that day, the lightbulb went off and next time you wont need as many shutter clicks.

With digital I wouldn't worry about it so much. Pretty much all the entry level dSLR's have a shutter rating of right around 50,000. With my D50 I was averaging around 6,000 or so shutter clicks a year. That would put me close to 9 years to reach the 50,000 clicks. Even then its not an exact number. Many go well over their "rating". So also do go less, but you'd still have to go quite a few years of regular everyday shooting in continuous mode to worry about. And if one were to shoot that much that often, then you'd be better off with a more expensive camera with a much higher shutter rating.

So I say, shoot away and learn which ever way is best for YOU to learn.

 

[annnewjerz]

gee Mom, thanks for the verbal spanking LOL

where did the OP say she didn't get many useable images..I missed that line..

"I've taken more photos in the last few days than I thought was possible, but most of them aren't very good....

I liked some of the different effects I got, but I felt like they were mostly accidents."

I dunno, I guess the OP didn't say that specifically but isn't that the implication??

 

[YesDear]

Tifany:

700 shots of action at a skating rink is not a overtly large amount of pictures. As you get more accomplished that will slow down. I am also assuming you were shooting in jpg and probably a lower quality jpg or you took lots of cards.

As you get more experience you will probably start shooting in RAW format which will give you more control over the image in the computer. Larger files me less pictures or more cards.

Moose Peterson, a really good nature photographer suggests and I agree that take a white and a black stuffed animal outside in open sunlight and take pictures of them together and apart. Pay attention to what your statistics. Fstop, ISO, etc. Then put them in open shade and so on. When you look at them in the computer pay attention to the ones that are correctly exposed or gave you the look you wanted. From there you will begin to see what setting gets you what response.

It still amazes me as an old film guy to hear people take 700 shots in an outing. In film that would have cost a fortune just to process. YEAH DIGITAL!

I wonder what Ansel Adams would say today?

The biggest thing is enjoy what you are doing and keep doing it.

 

[jann1033]

Let's all play nice in the sandbox.

err maybe that should be kitty litter box instead
and the op mentioned she was doing it to learn so let us chimps out of the cages and give us a camera

 

[jann1033]

I wonder what Ansel Adams would say today?

The biggest thing is enjoy what you are doing and keep doing it.

i think he'd say, "bring on the Lightroom and Photoshop" since he played around with his photos alot

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Just one question.

Is chimping (as used by Chikabowa; not to be confused with chimpanzee) an actual photography term?

If so, it's a new one on me.

BTW, I was given the advice here to just go out and keep shooting and that's what I did. I've definitely gotten more discriminating about what I shoot and how many shots I need to take to get some keepers. I'm not worried about shutter life because I figure if I make it to 50K I will well have gotten my money's worth out of the camera.

 

[Chikabowa]

Just one question.

Is chimping (as used by Chikabowa; not to be confused with chimpanzee) an actual photography term?

If so, it's a new one on me.

Yup - it's the act of looking at your LCD after you've taken a shot. It's coined 'chimping'.

Wikipedia Link on Chimping:
Chimping is a colloquial term used in digital photography (especially when using a digital single-lens reflex camera) to describe the habit of checking every photo on the camera display (LCD) immediately after capture.
Some photographers use the term in a derogatory sense to describe the actions of wannabe or newbie photographers, but the act of reviewing images on-camera is not necessarily frowned upon by professional or experienced photographers.

PS - I don't think it's necessarily BAD to chimp - I just try not to do it too much in front of clients. My DH makes fun of the term all the time.

 

[MICKEY88]

Awe, man, Mickey88! Just when annnewjerz had me calmed down you had to go nit-picking word choice again. You can take my words out of context and misinterpret them all you want, but don't go messin' with annnewjerz! )
If you wanna tear apart others' posts, go ahead. Personally, I find it a WASTE.

not nitpicking, at the age of 50 I'm not used to being called boy, and if you want to be politically correct their is a large percentage of our population in the US that is extremely offended by the term boy....

I've misinterpreted nothing, you clearly stated it's a waste of time to shoot lots of pics, I disagree and also believe trying to teach by using the negative is not a good teaching technique.

and as far as my comment to annnewjerz, was it or was it not followed by LOL

not tearing anyones posts apart, anyone on the boards that knows me, also knows that's not my style

 

[annnewjerz]

and as far as my comment to annnewjerz, was it or was it not followed by LOL

Don't worry - no offense taken whatsoever. You hit the nail on the head with the use of "boys"...I was trying to be the "Mom"...the peacekeeper of the situation. Don't think that worked to well.

 

[DisneydaveCT]

The number of shots I take on a given outing varies based on the outing itself.

So I say, shoot away and learn which ever way is best for YOU to learn.

Handicap18-Please forgive me for editing down your post, but those are the two items from your post that I think are the best pieces of feedback for the OP.

The one thing I truly enjoy about this board, like another photo board where I post, is that we can throw out a question and get a variety of opinions. And then we can make a choice best on what is best for our lifestyle and the type of photos we want to capture for our life's collection.

Like Handicap18, the number of photos I shoot during any outing is based on the outing itself. That number even fluctuates from trip to trip to WDW. For example, I can go down for a 4 day trip as a solo to go golfing, and I might take a 100 photos. But then I might go down for a 4 day trip with family and take several hundred photos. It all depends on what is happening during my trip and what my "eye" sees as a potential photo. And yes I am "guilty" of taking multiple shots of a single subject.

For example, in 2007 I was "trapped" between the entrance to Liberty Square and the Castle due to SpectroMagic passing by. Unfortunately, I was not in a position to take shots of the parade, but did notice that the moon was barely above the Castle. So while my family enjoyed watching the parade, I took a series of photos with my P-n-S and no tripod to try and catch that moment in time.

While the photos were not the best due to the lack of a tripod and the limitations of the P-n-S, it did convince me that I needed to upgrade. I guess that is part of the learning process.

 

[GrillMouster]

I don't know if it's true, but I once heard that the origin of the term "chimping", comes from the "Ooo! Ooo!" sounds people sometimes excitedly make when they see a really good shot they took on the LCD screen. I don't remember where I heard that, but it sorta made sense and it made me laugh.

 

[Chikabowa]

I don't know if it's true, but I once heard that the origin of the term "chimping", comes from the "Ooo! Ooo!" sounds people sometimes excitedly make when they see a really good shot they took on the LCD screen. I don't remember where I heard that, but it sorta made sense and it made me laugh.

Now THAT cracks me up.