How long do you leave them?

[-fp]

Hi all.

When I shot film, I had the luxury of not being able to see what I had until I could be bothered to process it. That would be weeks, if not years.

With digital of course you don't get this, but I feel that separation between moment and review is critical to me being able to pick my better shots.

After a days shooting I load up into Lightroom, do instant rejection on the hopeless pictures, but then leave the rest alone for a few months. I wonder what you all do?

 

[gns]

...With digital of course you don't get this,...

I don't know why people say this so often. You can wait as long as you want to look at your pictures.

 

[Mudman]

I don't have that luxury as a professional. I review my images sometimes within minutes, pick the best and send to clients as needed.

 

[-fp]

I don't know why people say this so often. You can wait as long as you want to look at your pictures.

Of course, and I do. I mean you don't get the 'luxury' of the forced wait. You have the choice, with film you do not.

Anyway...

 

[mdarnton]

Despite dire warnings about deleting in camera having some corrupting effect on the flash drive, for the duration of having my Nikon D300 I edit immediately in the camera. Why waste space on trash? The other thing I've been doing is buying a new card as each fills--cards are cheap, and it's an easy form of back-up. On the other hand, on my cell phone I may not ever look at shots I've made. Go figure.

 

[Godfrey]

When I shoot film, I process as soon as I can in order to see what I've captured and learn from it. I do the same with digital capture.

But I don't necessarily make 'keep vs toss' decisions immediately. I may pick a couple as 'immediately of interest' and even finish render a couple of those, but I generally don't do the real curating until some time has passed and I can edit the photos more objectively and with a particular goal in mind.

G

 

[-fp]

So I guess a further add on question would be: how many photos in your personal collection?

 

[tbhv55]

Hi all.

I feel that separation between moment and review is critical to me being able to pick my better shots.

I would certainly agree with this - and sometimes I even manage to make myself wait, before reviewing. 🙄

Sadly, however, I usually review almost immediately - and I usually regret doing so. There is just something about the passage of time, which allows one to see - properly see - the results that one has obtained, in a clearer light. Patience is definitely a virtue, in this regard.

IMO, putting distance between shooting and reviewing is highly desirable, but difficult to do... unless, of course (as you noted) one is shooting film...😉

 

[tbhv55]

But I don't necessarily make 'keeper/tosser' decisions immediately.

If you had been on this side of the pond, this would have been somewhat unfortunate wording 😱... however, since you're on that side of said pond, I reckon we can just move along...😀

 

[Spanik]

I rarely review them immediatly. On the camera I might look to check if exposure was right of if I suspect movement blur. But that is to be able to take another shot (if possible), not to make the decision to erase.

Why spend time that can be spend shooting or even better enjoying where you acutally are with erasing shots? On a screen the size of a poststamp.

It's one of the reasons I still use film. The suspense of seeing again after some time of what you experienced.

 

[kxl]

Having just had to deal with a backlog of A LOT of undeveloped film, I have learned my lesson. Now I process the film right after I shoot and scan them immediately into DNG files, and back them up. Then I run them through my PS workflow when I can.

When I shoot digital, I back them up right away, then run them through my PS workflow when I can.

 

[Godfrey]

So I guess a further add on question would be: how many photos in your personal collection?

If you're talking to me, it depends on what you mean by "personal collection". I have hundreds of thousands of my photos in my archives, and several thousands that I have 'finished', and another hefty collection of purchased and traded-for photos made by others.

G

 

[Godfrey]

If you had been on this side of the pond, this would have been somewhat unfortunate wording 😱... however, since you're on that side of said pond, I reckon we can just move along...😀

LOL! Edited for clarity. ;-)

G

 

[lukitas]

I try not to chimp, leave the screen off. Keep the surprise. Wait for it.

Processing and editing is a nightly ritual. First, I open a beer, then I process every picture, squeeze out all the tones from the raw, spot the spots on the sensor - if I have to do every one, I don't get to enthusiastic about shooting too freely. In the mean time, I've started reviewing the pictures. And then I go over them again and again, trying to look with different eyes, take a distance, try to forget I as there when the shot was taken, and then decide which ones to keep, which ones to show.

I hope that this disciplined approach : shoot every day, edit every night will some day get me closer to the domain of the brilliant, fabulous and unforgettable. Not quite there yet, but I live by this lovely quote :

“From the age of 6 I had a mania for drawing the shapes of things. When I was 50 I had published a universe of designs. But all I have done before the the age of 70 is not worth bothering with. At 75 I'll have learned something of the pattern of nature, of animals, of plants, of trees, birds, fish and insects. When I am 80 you will see real progress. At 90 I shall have cut my way deeply into the mystery of life itself. At 100, I shall be a marvelous artist. At 110, everything I create; a dot, a line, will jump to life as never before. To all of you who are going to live as long as I do, I promise to keep my word. I am writing this in my old age. I used to call myself Hokusai, but today I sign my self 'The Old Man Mad About Drawing.”
― Hokusai Katsushika

 

[tbhv55]

First, I open a beer

Of all the many, many post-processing methods I have seen described, this one is easily the most promising...😀

 

[tbhv55]

LOL! Edited for clarity. ;-)

G

Phew...!😀

 

[Timmyjoe]

I don't have that luxury as a professional. I review my images sometimes within minutes, pick the best and send to clients as needed.

I love being paid to do this, but that is the biggest issue I deal with. I have absolutely no objectivity about my images minutes after they were captured. Too much emotion from the moment involved. But I have to pick the "best" 7-10 of probably 400-500 captures (for a particular sporting event) and send them off immediately after the game.

I sometimes long for the days when we would shoot multiple rolls and just hand them in, never seeing the images until after the lab processed them and a photo editor made their selects. I might not always agree with the selects he/she made, but I know they were far more objective in their selection process than I could have been at that moment.

 

[nikkor-watching]

Not good practice for me to leave my images unreviewed for significant time.
By the time I go to the next shoot I want to know how I and the camera did last time. I need to know when the autfocus got confused for example. I will remember the circumstances and what I was doing rather better the closer it is to the original shoot.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

I use phone for instant editing and share. I use DSLR for pictures I need within same day.
I develop usually if roll, 4x5 is done right away. But I'm not printing immediately.

 

[ABrosig]

It really depends. When shooting for myself, film or digital, I'll usually process/review as soon as I can. But I may wait days/weeks to really do a hard edit. I sometimes revisit old shoots (I tend to keep everything) to see if there's anything I've missed.

When shooting for work, I have to review/edit asap. I work for a newspaper and deadlines are deadlines. But I will still go back sometimes and review previous shoots to see if there's anything I want to keep for my personal portfolio. Usually, it's the images I edited for the newspaper, but not always.