Sometimes it's easy to pick the winners—they just jump out at you, like this image did when I first saw it on my screen. But usually editing is a more difficult task.
First of all, thanks to everyone who commented on my post from last Friday. Your participation is such a vital part of this blog, and makes it more fun for me, and everyone else.
Of the three dogwood images I posted, “C” was clearly the favorite. But there were some strong votes for A and B as well. Just another example of how subjective photography is!
It’s also an example of how difficult it can be to edit your work. When I ask students to bring a portfolio of ten images to a workshop, they often tell me how hard it was to narrow it down to such a small selection. Many have never had to do that before.
But editing—and I mean this in the traditional sense of selecting images, rather than processing or developing them—is one of the most important aspects of photography.
Did you ever suffer through a slide show of your friend’s vacation photos, featuring one boring image after another? The modern equivalent is looking at a Flickr stream where someone has posted every single photo from their latest trip, including ten slightly different compositions of each scene. If you want viewers to yawn and decide it’s a good time to check their email, then by all means, show everything. But if you want to grab people’s attention and keep it, you’ll have to edit.
And if you’re an aspiring pro, or just want to impress your friends with your photographic skill, remember that less is more. If people browse through your web site and see ten great photos mixed with ninety mediocre ones, they’ll think that you’re a mediocre photographer who got lucky ten times. But if you only showed the ten great ones, they’d think you’re the second coming of Ansel Adams.
If you need help with editing—and don’t we all?—Jim Goldstein interviewed Gary Crabbe about the subject, and I think there’s a lot of great information in this piece.
And here are some tips from my book, Digital Landscape Photography: In the Footsteps of Ansel Adams and the Great Masters:
Start with an initial, quick look. First impressions are valuable. If an image strikes you right away as good, it probably is.
But while first impressions can be helpful, the key to good editing is objectivity, and objectivity increases with time and distance. I find it difficult to edit my work the evening after a shoot, but three days later it’s easy. I’ve lost some attachment to my photographic offspring, and can look at them more objectively. So in the initial edit I only throw out the obvious dogs—images that are clearly overexposed, out of focus, or otherwise unusable. After a few days it’s easier to pick the real winners.
Don’t confuse effort with quality. Just because you spent months waiting for the perfect light doesn’t mean the photograph is good. Try to look at the result, not the process.
It’s common to collect sequences of similar images. There might be slight differences in composition, exposure, or focus. Perhaps they’re all identical except that the subject was moving—you were trying to capture a waterfall when the spray was just so, or when the wind calmed and a field of flowers stood still. For checking sharpness it’s invaluable to have software that allows you to zoom in and compare images side-by-side. A series of slightly different compositions is more difficult to edit. Again, first impressions help. Which photograph jumps out at you?
While time may allow more detachment from your photographs, another person is always more objective. But it has to be the right person. It’s nice to have people in your life who love everything you do, but such people are worthless as editors. The ideal candidate has sophisticated visual taste (is not easily impressed by pretty sunset pictures), is completely honest, and can articulate what he or she likes or doesn’t like about a photograph.
But don’t hand over complete control to someone else. If, after living with an image for awhile, you still like it, yet no one else seems to, stick with it.
I think that part about finding the right person, or people, to help edit your work is really important. My wife Claudia is a great editor, and I’m lucky to have her around (for many reasons, not just editing!). We don’t always agree about everything, but she has a great feeling for what people will like—a valuable asset for a professional photographer.
Of course not everyone is so lucky, and it can be hard to find the right person or people to give you objective feedback about your photographs. Camera clubs could be, and should be, a good forum for this, but all too often I hear that the judging is skewed by a too-strict adherence to certain rules of composition.
Flickr has been called “the world’s largest camera club,” with all the good and bad connotations that implies. Negative comments are seldom seen on Flickr or other photo-sharing sites, but if you have a large enough following on one of these sites you can judge how much an image “speaks” to people by how many comments it gets. But keep in mind that most of the viewers on these sites are other photographers, and photographers tend to like different images, for different reasons, than the population at large.
So this is an area where I think we can all help each other. Who do you turn to for objective feedback about your work? What kind of experiences have you had with camera clubs, or photo-sharing web sites? Please let us know by posting a comment!
—Michael Frye
Great post, Michael. Thanks for reminding us that especially in the digital era, less is truly more. It’s easy to make a lot of pictures; less so to choose the ones that convey your vision with purity.
Very good advice. I just ordered the book off Amazon.
I think it would be unwise to ask me for my opinion of camera club competitions; the last judge we had was a conceited opinionated inconsistent offensive tw*t. My photography is for more or less artistic reasons, and I can express myself without relying on others’ preconceived opinions stifling the creative process.
You’re right that the audience on flickr is frequently more photographers; over on blipfoto, however, one does get a fairer cross-section of the population at large and the community is very welcoming and friendly. Not everyone’s in it to make art or “wow” images, either – if someone thinks a particular image sums up their day, it’s that bit of message which makes it interesting.
Michael,
I’ve joined a local camera club and love it! Each month, there are competitions judged by a photographer outside of the club. I learn so much from the feedback I get on my own images, but also from the comments on everyone else’s photographs. I find that trying to determine what the judge will say about the image before they actually say it is a great way to tune your eye.
I’m actually disappointed that flickr doesn’t spawn much critical feedback. There should be a flag set in your profile that says “lay it on me. I can take it”.
I’m also lucky to have a friend that will give me very helpful suggestions and is not afraid to tell me when I should give up and move on. It’s great to have another pair of eyes if you want to bring the best out of a photograph
Thanks for doing this blog. It’s a treat when I see a new post
Rick
What a timely article for me! I just set up a new SmugMug site and it is WAY too full of images. I am having such a hard time editing and getting my galleries down to a manageable size, but the advice here is really going to help me out. Thanks for sharing…
Great post, Michael.
The more photographs I take, edit, and process, the more I discover that there is NEVER a right answer or perspective about any aspect of what we do. The stuff I like might never sell. The b-roll stuff I throw on-line out of boredom will often result in MANY positive comments. So who really knows what is good? Are photographs are always viewed through the personal “filters” of everyone who sees them resulting in no two similar opinions.
Of course, every once in a while there is that “superstar” shot that everyone agrees is amazing, but that is far from a daily occurrence.
I think your most important point is the value of procrastination. Like you, I try to avoid really looking at my shots for several days. The day I take them I always pull out the obvious failures. However, two, three, or even many more days later, I do a quick scan of the stuff that remains. More often than not, the obvious pick for publishing shines like a star from the pile. Sometimes there will be a few, but some pixel peeping often reveals the better choice from that group.
Keep the helpful posts coming!
Thanks!
Steven
Doug, Craig, thanks – glad you found this helpful.
Tim, your comment about the camera club judge made me smile, but unfortunately that seems to be an all-too-common occurrence! And thanks for the tip about blipfoto.
Rick, glad you’ve had a different experience with your camera club. Mind sharing which club it is? I’m sure some readers in your area would love to find a club like that. But if membership is limited I’d understand if you don’t want to post that here.
Gregg, we all need a little push once in awhile! 🙂 Glad to be of assistance.
Steven, you’re so right – photography is always subjective, which makes it more interesting, but also sometimes maddening! And of course I agree with you about “procrastination,” at least in regard to editing. When you first look at your images, you’re often disappointed by some that you were hoping would be great, but didn’t turn out that way, and sometimes pleasantly surprised by photos that are better than expected. After some time has passed it’s easier to let go of your disappointment and get over your surprise, and see the photos for what they really are – good and bad.
Michael,
Don’t mind at all. It’s the Los Gatos – Saratoga Camera Club. Website is here:
http://losgatos-saratogacameraclub.org/
Great bunch of photographers! We occasionally get a judge that is a clunker, but we don’t invite them back. We’re pretty satisfied on balance.
Rick
Great post Mike!
Enjoyed your latest post about editting your images and the thoughts and experiences of others. My experience of camera clubs is generally good, perhaps I am fortunate in being in a club where we have extremely experienced photographers. They always teach us the basics especially as regards the so called “Rules”. At the same time once you know the rules they are the first to encourage you to go out and experiment. I however know of other clubs where adherence to the “rules” by people who themselves do not understand them. Also I find in general the so called experts who do not like what the judges might have to say have never tried to help new photographers themselves except to insist that clubs are run by photographic dinosaurs. The so called critiques I have received from websites have in general been poor mainly because the people have not got enough knowledge or do not want to be regarded as being too harsh.
Michael,
Informative as always! And the discussion here is really good too. It’s interesting to hear about the different experiences with camera clubs. When I lived in the Bay area, my photography teacher set up a “salon” for us to critique each others work. The rules were simple: one photo per person…and no outright nasty comments. If we didn’t like something, we had to articulate exactly why. I loved being a part of that group because it was led by someone I know and trust. Now I live in Illinois and have been debating joining a club. In the meantime, I’ll stick to two of my most trusted critics – my husband 🙂 and a friend who has a great eye.
I found your post on seeking critical review right on the mark. Early on another photographer and I made a pack that we would show each other all images and discuss them. It helped our photography an we continue to do that after almost 16 years. We now have a third photographer as part of the group. I can’t emphasize how important it is to have people that not only have a good eye but are willing and able to put in the time to generate constructive feedback. I think camera clubs can be very good but they can get too competitive with only the best images coming forward. These serve a great purpose and allows us to see things that we missed. I tend toward the ones that have smaller subgroups dedicated to sharing a few images and commenting on them. Of course this pales in comparison to having a couple of people with a good eye that are willing to tell you directly this isn’t your best work when you thought it was!
Great post Michael!
…”a great feeling for what people will like – a valuable asset for a professional photographer”. I can’t agree with you more.
To a very meaningful extent, a professional must sell photographs but it is always worthwhile to keep in mind that a great deal of what we do should be for self fulfillment not necessarily to make money or to win a club competition. Understand the rules; know how to play the game BUT it may be more important to please oneself and perhaps no one else.
A few years back I attended a few weekend seminars with Craig Tanner as one of the instructors. Craig has a website where he does online teaching and critiques of submitted images. In addition this site has a Community section where a large group of photographers give feedback on images anyone can post. Craig and all of the photographers are very kind, thoughtful and most important provide a wealth of knowledge and encouragement. Here is the link http://www.tmelive.com/index.php/pages/index.html
I’ve been fortunate to have those who were proteges and associates of my father to help me edit the portfolios, as well as many of the top photography gallerists. These two groups have often been very different in their views, but I look for what various camps have in common.
Thanks very much for your comments everyone! Lots of great insights and ideas about this whole process, which I hope others will find helpful. Obviously the camera club experience can vary widely, but there are some good ones out there. Barney, I think just finding a small group of friends to discuss photos with is a great way to get good feedback – thanks for sharing this.
Less is more but it can be hard to choose the right photos.
Wonderful, as always. Thank you. I had to laugh when you recommended we wait three days to select which photos to concentrate on. Us non-professionals need to wait about a month. That is the amount of time required to forget the beauty of the scene that we tried but failed to capture and accept that what we got can still remind us of a beautiful place we once saw.
Happy New Year, Michael and Claudia!
Well the longer the better! Happy New Year to you too Sharon.