Your keeper rate

[olakiril]

I haven't seen a poll like this. It might be fun to see the average % for this forum.

Define your keepers as you wish. Whether that is just good enough, worth sharing/printing or get into a gallery it's up to you.

Most likely different for Digital and Film shooters. You can mention with what medium you get your percentage...

Edit: I added a <1% to the poll.

 

[retinax]

I think the categories are off, because most (maybe except some large format users and those who dump everything on flickr and call it "keepers") will be in the lower categories, and we learn little about the distribution in that decisive range...
I currently only shoot black and white film in 135 and 120 and make silver prints. Although I keep all negatives, I consider prints worth keeping "keepers". Overall, the rate is under 10%, but some films from specific locations have rates up to 60 or 70%.

 

[olakiril]

I think the categories are off, because most (maybe except some large format users and those who dump everything on flickr and call it "keepers") will be in the lower categories, and we learn little about the distribution in that decisive range...
I currently only shoot black and white film in 135 and 120 and make silver prints. Although I keep all negatives, I consider prints worth keeping "keepers". Overall, the rate is under 10%, but some films from specific locations have rates up to 60 or 70%.

Thanks retinax, yeah I wasn't sure at the beginning so I added another <1% choice. What would be the ranges that you would like to see?

Edit: Rearranged some of the choices, sorry @PICHA

 

[JohnWolf]

I'd say 2 or 3 on average from a 36 exposure roll, so that's 5 - 8%.

I know folks say you can shoot digital with the same care as film, but not me. My digital capture is way higher and keeper rate way lower. Which is fine; it's nice to be able to shoot freely.

John

 

[jsrockit]

Why would anyone care about this? Photography is not target practice. Even the best of the best shoot a lot to get very little.

 

[olakiril]

Why would anyone care about this? Photography is not target practice. Even the best of the best shoot a lot to get very little.

The question is why you felt the need to participate in a thread you are clearly not interested and express your dismissal.

Also nowhere did I refer the % of keepers as a goal that each one has to set. It is just an interesting statistic. Apparently not to you...

 

[olakiril]

I'd say 2 or 3 on average from a 36 exposure roll, so that's 5 - 8%.

I know folks say you can shoot digital with the same care as film, but not me. My digital capture is way higher and keeper rate way lower. Which is fine; it's nice to be able to shoot freely.

John

Thanks John. I would say the same, digital keeper rate is way lower but the actual pictures that I can get with digital because of this reason feel much more.

 

[jsrockit]

The question is why you felt the need to participate in a thread you are clearly not interested and express your dismissal.

Also nowhere did I refer the % of keepers as a goal that each one has to set. It is just an interesting statistic. Apparently not to you...

This is my participation. I am asking why you would worry about this. It is counterproductive to most peoples photography to worry about it. Now, if it was just for fun, then ok.

Right now the best answer is somewhere between 5-10%. That means people think they have 5-10 keepers for every 100 photos they make. Makes me think that Magnum Contact sheets book had a bunch of bad photographers! 😉

 

[ptpdprinter]

Keeper rates vary with talent and standards of selection. A good exercise is to go through your recent photographs and pick out the twenty or so that you think represent your best work, and then go to a portfolio review. It sort of sharpens your focus.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

I don't have fixed percentage. It is not fixed. If I do people photography on events or just at homes, I have high rate. If I do people on streets it is much more lower. Then I walk daily with camera, next to none, I just keep on practicing. Without regular, routine practice you can't go out and make keepers 🙂 .

 

[Dogman]

Of course, it depends. People and other moving subjects require lots of frames for insurance plus reframing when possible. Static subjects vary considerably for me--three or four frames usually but sometimes a lot of frames for bracketing, reframing. When I get to the computer, I dump a lot of shots and only keep the best one or two of each subject.

 

[Rayt]

Street photography is hit and miss because it’s so dynamic. If I get one good shot per roll I am satisfied. On the other hand if I don’t get at least 25% keepers with large format photography I should do something else because there is no reason to trip the shutter if everything isn’t perfect.

 

[chipgreenberg]

This is a valid question. I shoot static stuff so I can see street photography or even portraits being a much lower hit rate than what I get. I recently had 2 rolls of 120 developed/ scanned. I did do some bracketing. Out of 24 frames I got 3 A shots and 2 almost A, B shots which I still call keepers. So maybe 15 images/ 5 keepers

 

[robert blu]

I have no answer here, sorry but I'm not sure what a keeper is! In fact I was going to start a thread asking how to define a keeper. But I will leave it for a later moment not to "disturb" this thread 🙂

I just say what could be considered not good in this moment, not a keeper could be good later for a different project...just my idea which could be wrong !!!

 

[jsrockit]

I just say what coukld be considered not good in thgis moment, not a keeper could be good later for a different project...just my idea which could be wrong !!!

You are not wrong at all.

 

[Rayt]

I have no answer here, sorry but I'm not sure what a keeper is! In fact I was going to start a thread asking how to define a keeper. But I will leave it for a later moment not to "disturb" this thread 🙂

I just say what coukld be considered not good in thgis moment, not a keeper could be good later for a different project...just my idea which could be wrong !!!

I keep all the negs for this reason. I have shown some images I thought were just ok and got a lot of praise but many I thought were personal masterpieces ended with a thud.

 

[chipgreenberg]

For me, a keeper/ A image is something I'm willing to spend the money to print and frame. Sure my values and tastes change over time, but I have some A shots on the wall for 10 years I haven't tired of yet.

 

[Bob Michaels]

Is the number of "keepers" expressed as a percentage of total exposures unduly influenced by exposure being digital or if film 35mm, 120, or LF as well as our style and subject matter? I content those variables are so major that percentages end up being meaningless.

Is the number of "keepers" per hour of time spend photographing a more realistic metric for comparison?

My definition of a "keeper" is one that I can honestly derive a positive answer to the ultimate question "Is there some good reason I should not delete or skip over this image?" Properly focusing, exposing, and framing is never good enough. An image has to say something very well that I initially wanted it say to be a keeper. I guess I would tend to average one of those ever few hours of full time photographing.

 

[Yokosuka Mike]

It seems that one man’s clunker is another man’s keeper.

I look at so many pictures posted here on RFF with one question in my mind… Why the hell would somebody post such a terrible image?

I can also imagine that the same people I’m thinking critically of are looking at my postings and thinking “Mike’s photos suck”.

I do sincerely hope that people here are only posting what they think are their best images. When I look at a recently started thread like “Just a chair”, I wonder if people are just combing through their old archives looking for any old crappy picture that happens to have a chair in it and posting it so they can participate in the thread; or are they truly posting their best work? I really do wonder.

Back to the point of this thread: As each year of my life passes I try to keep raising my standards. I hope that with experience and a sincere desire to become a better photographer my keepers will outnumber my clunkers.

All the best,
Mike

 

[Godfrey]

I have no idea what my "keeper" rate is on a session by shooting session basis. I try to make every exposure count, but, eh?, that's a goal, not a practical guide. Certainly when I'm shooting with the Polaroid, I'm happiest when I get as close to eight good photos per pack as I can since shot is costing me about $2.50. And the same goes for 6x6 film ... with only 12 shots per roll of film the cost is again a bit high. The cost for both of these is a bit misleading because it affects me less than the fact that I rarely re-load during a session. The scarcity of exposures in a load is what drives my trying to get as many good shots in a load as I can. With 35mm film and Minox film, I have a lot more exposures per load and the pressure to get the best for each frame is a bit less, but I still try to make only shots that I think have a chance of being successful/satisfying at least to my eye.

I tend to shoot with a digital camera in much the same way as I do with a 35mm film camera. Of course, there's no dollar pressure since I can capture an almost infinite amount of exposures and reuse the capture medium over and over again. But I dislike spending a lot of time weeding out all the crap photos and would rather spend my time picking the best photos out of a session. 😉

Perhaps an overall "keeper" percentage evaluation can come from looking at my Lightroom catalogs ... I keep one catalog of all my "work in progress" ... essentially everything I shoot ... and a separate catalog for all the "finished work" that I've completed and/or posted. If not a session by session keeper rate, perhaps an indication of what I consider "good enough to post and show" vs "how many I make" ::: I have currently 183,844 exposures in "work in progress" and 25,629 exposures in "completed work" accounted over the years from 2005 to the present. That's about a 14% total "completed" rate aggregate over a 17 year period.

What does it mean? I have no opinion on that, I just keep making photographs and trying for ones that satisfy me. 😀

G