What to Like

By Ken Parks, 12/12/12

Professional photographers are known to shoot thousands of images, and only show a few that they feel are acceptable. I wonder how many film shots Ansel Adams took during his career? Probably countless tens of thousands, and yet his displayed collection is only a few hundred.

It is the same with professional wedding photographers; they shoot several hundred images per wedding only to have a handful that they find acceptable. Most weddings I shoot average about 2,500 images, and from that, I usually get about 50-100 good or acceptable shots. And of those, I may get about 2-5 exceptional shots. Those are the ones that make it to the website.

What about the rest of those images? My Dad had a four letter word that is similar to the word “crap.” I hate to admit it, and there are few professional photographers that would admit to the same self-critique, “Most of my digital images are crap!” And, I don't show them.

I am very critical of my photography, what to like and what to throw away. I view other photographers' showings. If I see a series of “crap” images, I become selective in my viewings, and I concentrate on what to like, what makes an exceptional image. I study the details, the lighting, the framing, rules of thirds and perspective to name a few compositional elements.

Most people are not critical of their images with the attitude of “Who cares” or “It's good enough.” For me, “It's not good enough.” I often go back to my exceptional images and see what I can do to further enhance them. That to me becomes what I call, “The Wow factor.” People have viewed these images and exclaim, “WOW!”

One of my best shots was taken in San Quirico d'Orcia, Italy. I stayed at this one location for more than eight hours, watching the change in light, cloud formations, and varied the perspective. I admire photographers that take the time and patience to get the one shot. I had over 400 images of the island of cypress trees and rolling hills in that one location. And I was able to capture only two images that I found to be exceptional. I recently showed one of those images at a Travel Workshop critique, and the other photographers gasped, WOW!”

No one has ever made the perfect photograph. But some of us are stupid photographers and strive for the perfect image. Yet we have learned to become satisfied to get the best image possible; and yet we still shoot for the perfect shot. This is probably more exasperating for those, like me, who have not had any formal degrees in photography or graphic arts.