Learn To Cull

“Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop.” – Ansel Adams
 
 

For those of you who don't know who Ansel Adams was, he was a very successful and highly significant landscape photographer based in California. He began his work in the 1920's and carried on to his death in 1984. He is widely considered to be one of the masters and a pioneer of post processing long before digital photography came about. The above quote came about when Ansel was questioned about his rate of productivity. He photographed primarily with large format film cameras, so it is obvious that he wasn't shooting the same volume as we do in the age of digital imagery, but the principle is still the same today, not every photograph we make is a "keeper".

I think that when we start out in photography, we are a little biased toward our own work and we tend to see a lot of what we do as much better than it really is. It takes a lot of time to develop our "eye" and learn what makes a good photograph. As we learn and practice, we begin to see things differently. We begin to be able to recognize the good images from the mediocre or, the true photographs from the snapshots. I used to spend all day shooting and when I looked at them on my computer, I would usually find that I only had a handful of photographs that I was truly happy with.  I now realize that it's OK to not get dozens of "keepers" every single time I shoot, no one else does either. Learning to reduce clutter will make life a lot easier for yourself. We tend to have emotional attachments to our own photographs , but realistically, if a photograph isn't great now, it will not get better with age.......delete it.

The first step for me is a no-brainer. I make a pass through my new photographs and dump the obvious misfires, soft or blurry images or just images that I would not ever use.  I then go through again, this time choosing from all the "similars" and only keep the couple that stand out.  Another place where clutter can easily accumulate is when I shoot several images with the intent of creating a composite, such as when focus or exposure stacking. This gives me many images that I then use to create one single finished image in post processing. The frames I used to create that image are now useless to me, I get rid of them. The one place I am more conservative with my culling is with vacation or family photographs. Those are my memories and not so much for showing to others anyway.

As time goes by, I am getting better at culling, the emphasis is on quality, not quantity and that's how I deal with it. I have certain standards and keep only images that I feel are good. The bottom line is that our photograph folders get cluttered easily, just like our basements can. By working hard to reduce that clutter, I feel I am creating a catalog of much higher quality photographs that I can be proud of.
 

Photo of the Week #41

I have recently posted a couple of shots made at the Bonnechere River on my Facebook page. This is another made that same day near where the other two were. I love slowing down that shutter to get those silky smooth waterfalls images.

Photo of the week #40

Sometimes we take our surroundings for granted. We are attracted to the things we don't have, not because they're better or mor beautiful, but simply because we don't have them nearby. Sometimes, we need to slow down and be a tourist in our own back yard and learn how to appreciate what we have. Here in eastern Ontario, we have so many interesting things within easy driving distance and yet so many people don't take advantage of them. This is a photograph made at the top of the Skydeck tower on Hill Island, in the heart of The Thousand Islands. It's a panorama made from 17 frames and can be printed at 50 inches long. If you're viewing on a phone, you can't really get a great idea of what this image is......check it out on a computer if you can.

Photo of the Week #39

A judge in a contest once mentioned that sometimes people over-complicate things when it comes to photography. We tend to think that to make extraordinary photographs, we must go on vacations or go to exotic places. Sure, those places often inspire you and you get some great photographs, but he stressed how you also should be able to make great photographs in your own house by "looking" at things in a different way, maybe isolating a particular detail in an every day object or that special light that comes in your window early in the morning might also deserve some attention. Richard Martin once said, "If you can't make a good photograph where you are, stepping on an airplane isn't going to change that". I have tried to remember both pieces of advice and make it work for me. The image below was the side tray on my barbecue the morning after a little rain, I thought the different sizes and shapes of water droplets were very interesting.