Street photography: What's your average?

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Roel

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While I was walking through Barcelona this weekend with my M6TTL ready to shoot I was wondering how many great shots I would get per roll (if any). I'm waiting for my films to be develloped. I shot about 6 rolls. Don't know yet how many really nice shots I managed to make.

I'm happy with 1 or 2 really nice shots per rol. And 4/5 good ones.

So what's your average? (Should I go back to school)

Regards, Roel
 
I find it depends how focused I am. Also, it can be the case that I go out with too much of an idea of what kind of photographs I want to make. Simply observe, whether it be light, peoples interactions, pigeons on a lamppost whatever.

If I've got one great image per roll I'm happy, getting 36 great images from a roll would be brilliant but so long as I get one that really makes me happy, that's all I care about
 
For me, good (possibly bordering on great) street shots come up at a rate of about 1 per 10 rolls. But then, I'm probably not that good a street shooter.

Peter
 
Generally I'm happy if I get two or three good shots on a roll of 36.

I had big plans this past weekend regarding street photography. Detroit (USA) was holding their annual "Winterblast" which is located right smack dab downtown. I loaded up the Leica and figured I'd have no problem finding enough subjects to fill up a few rolls of film. It was so damn cold, with the wind whistling down through the street canyons, I nearly froze my ass off. I took about six pictures and called it quits. Maybe next year.

Jim Bielecki
 
If I manage 1 or 2 nice shots a roll I'm happy. It is not an easy thing! Reading about how Garry Winogrand worked is enlightening.

It helps a lot if you find a good location ... so the shots come to you and are more predictable, for example a pedestrian crossing where people have to wait to cross.

This bubble pipe seller created some interesting moments ...
 

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Maybe 2-3 per roll of "hmmm... I'll scan this & save to disk".

Perhaps 1-2 per 3-4 rolls of "hey this is printable".

And 1 photo in several months/year of "I'm actually very proud of that".

As Simon had already mentioned, 1 of the "hmm... I'll scan this & save to disk" usually is enough to put a smile on my face.
Cheers, j
 
As I wrote in another thread, I just parsed through ~3000 images with the goal of choosing the best ~30 for an exhibit.

I would have been happy, maybe, to hang as many as 50 from this group.

So, I'm at 1% to 1.5% of the frames exposed that I think are exhibition or portfolio good.

Others helping me evaluate my work, without my bias, generally picked closer to 20 images.

Less than 1%.
 
Great images? I'd be happy if I die having taken one! Right now I'm okay if I were to get 2-3 scan-worthy images per roll and 1 print from every 10 rolls.

I keep hoping that my average will improve as I use the RF more, but I'm reasonable sure it won't. At least it's fun.
 
1 or 2 really good shots per roll is a high average. I shot 39 rolls in Europe last year (in France and England), and I have...5 shots that I would call "really good" enough to hang in a gallery and sell.

As far as just "keepers", I'd say 2 or 3 on a roll is a solid average, but I have put through 10 rolls without a single keeper. Then I'll have a particularly good day and shoot an entire roll of keepers and a few hangers. It happens.

Best thing to do is bring a camera where you go - and don't PLAN for anything. Let it happen to you.
 
It changes all the time for me. Sometimes I get ten shots on a roll that I really love- other times I can shoot for weeks and not produce a single thing worth printing. Street shooting is one of the toughest things to do well- it takes a lot of work to make really good images- they don't just happen. Even if you are witnessing something incredible and wildly compelling visually, it still takes work to make great pictures.

I used to be a second shooter for a wedding photographer who would give me a roll of film, and tell me to get 36 images that would all end up in the book the bride bought. I'd shoot stuff that I thought was good, and we would sit down and go through it later, and he'd critique me every point. One idea he kept impressing upon me was this: each time I brought the camera up to my eye, think- is this shot worth making? Is this THE shot? Can I make it better? How? How compelling is the sujbect? Is the timing right? Am I in the right spot to get the best shot? Am I making the technical choices correctly? Should I get closer? Back up? Change lenses? One school of thought is "film is cheap, so shoot the hell out of it, and edit for the good shots later". But on the other hand, consider each shot? Is it good enough to click the shutter?

I notice that often times when I get near the end of a roll, I slow down, being more stingy and careful with my film- especially in the think of action. I don't mind the Leica's bottom loading, but the M3 is a little slow, and I don't want to miss anything. So I save my frames for ones that count. As I go on, and get older, and gain experience, I shoot less, and get a higher percentage, but I'm still always trying to balance the opposing philosophies of "film is cheap, so shoot" with "wait for the best shot, then nail it."

I can say one thing- and this is the point that made me dump my motor drives: most of the time, if I shoot a bunch of frames of a situation, I will get at least one that is ok, at least usable. But when I only shoot one frame of a situation, it usually turns out to be because I got THE shot with that one frame. I can feel it when I'm shooting. If I don't get it, then I keep burning film, trying for it. But when I get THE shot, I know it, and I wait for the next one. This is a beautiful Zen moment in photography, and I am always looking carefully for it.
 
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I have added some of this weekends Barcelona photo's that were develloped and scanned to my gallery. I don't know how to put a link to my gallery but any comments are always appreciated.

(The posted pictures I added are probably not great but to me they reflect some the atmosphere/feel of this weekend)

Drewbarb: I like your description of that moment when you feel you have THE shot. It is truely a Zen moment. Wish I had it more often....
 
OurManInTangier said:
I find it depends how focused I am. Also, it can be the case that I go out with too much of an idea of what kind of photographs I want to make. Simply observe, whether it be light, peoples interactions, pigeons on a lamppost whatever.

If I've got one great image per roll I'm happy, getting 36 great images from a roll would be brilliant but so long as I get one that really makes me happy, that's all I care about
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O.M.I.T.: I totally agree.

Judging from the number of wunderfull pictures in your gallery you are either shooting a lot or getting a good nr of nice shots per roll. I love the serene feel/stillnes in your pictures .
 
I've shot thousands of street photographs, and maybe 3 of them are excellent, a hundred or so are OK. Street photography is hard.

Ian
 
Also it depends on your own standards. I recently read a story of a journalist who was with HCB on a China trip and he said HCB was shooting all day every day. One picture was published.
 
peter_n said:
Also it depends on your own standards. I recently read a story of a journalist who was with HCB on a China trip and he said HCB was shooting all day every day. One picture was published.
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Peter:
I think you are right about the standards. That also why a forum with a gallery like this is nice. It give the opertunity to hear from others how they see/rate your pictures.

Is this article you mention by any chance online available? Sounds like an interesting article. HCB is one of my heroes and an inspiration. I liked the HCB - a retrospective with some of his work here in Amsterdam.

Roel
 
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