Keeper vs binner

frank · Nov 2, 2014

Binner = an image destined for the garbage bin

Inspired by the crap photos thread, I thought it would be interesting to show the keeper shot of a particular subject, along side a binner shot of the same subject, from those times when multiple shots of the same subject are taken during the same shooting session.

Maybe include an explanation of why the one was kept and the other binned. I think this would be a good learning opportunity for both beginner and experienced, to get inside another photographer's head/thought process.

ww12345 · Nov 2, 2014

Good idea! Don't have any images handy, but looking forward to seeing what other people come up with...

NB23 · Nov 2, 2014

Binner

NB23 · Nov 2, 2014

Keeper

cliveh · Nov 2, 2014

Many photographers have several binner shots compared with keepers. Just look at the contact prints of HCB and it will provide a useful learning curve.

baachitraka · Nov 2, 2014

I will be happy if I come with 10% from 36 exposures.

Rick A · Nov 2, 2014

St Ansel once said that a dozen good negatives a year was a good crop.

frank · Nov 2, 2014

It has also been said by someone that they get 1 good image per 80 sq.inches of film exposed, regardless of format, because one tends to be more careful/selective with larger formats.

I'm not sure that is valid for formats equal to or larger than 8x10!

cliveh · Nov 2, 2014

baachitraka said:
I will be happy if I come with 10% from 36 exposures.

It begs the question as to why do we take the other 90%?

Arklatexian · Nov 2, 2014

Rick A said:
St Ansel once said that a dozen good negatives a year was a good crop.

And, once again, St. Ansel was correct......Regards

Dr Croubie · Nov 2, 2014

frank said:
It has also been said by someone that they get 1 good image per 80 sq.inches of film exposed, regardless of format, because one tends to be more careful/selective with larger formats.

I'm not sure that is valid for formats equal to or larger than 8x10!

Well, if you take a 7x17" pano, for example, you should get a good pano, and on every second one you might be able to get a good 8x10 or even 4x5 crop out of it too, for a totally different perspective.

frank · Nov 2, 2014

Dr Croubie said:
Well, if you take a 7x17" pano, for example, you should get a good pano, and on every second one you might be able to get a good 8x10 or even 4x5 crop out of it too, for a totally different perspective.

It's just a "rule of thumb", and wouldn't stand up in court.

erikg · Nov 2, 2014

10% per 36 roll would be high for me most of the time. So why the others? Theme and variation. You work with something, try this, try that knowing that there will only be one choice in the end. That's the beauty of a small camera. View camera is another story. I don't know if Ansel was right or not, I'm not sure if there is a right or wrong in this. It depends on your standards. For Ansel that was good. I imagine that for Paul Strand it would've been overly optimistic. I'll have to dig around and find a good example to get back to the OP's theme of this thread.

Nige · Nov 2, 2014

isn't this thread about why you picked one image over another, not keeper rates?

baachitraka · Nov 3, 2014

In a small format world, I happy if I come with a distribution of keepers like a bell curve.

pdeeh · Nov 3, 2014

A Bell curve? What are the axes?

baachitraka · Nov 3, 2014

In small format world,

http://courses.ttu.edu/rreddick/images/law/bell_curve.gif

Something in-between SD +1.5 <-> SD +2.0

analoguey · Nov 3, 2014

Not sure I understand the curve, baachitraka!

Btw is this thread about keepers and binned from the same composition?

Sent from Tap-a-talk

baachitraka · Nov 3, 2014

That is how I end up with 36 exposures on shooting street scenes.

analoguey · Nov 3, 2014

With the curve, you mean?

Sent from Tap-a-talk

frank · Nov 3, 2014

analoguey said:
Btw is this thread about keepers and binned from the same composition?

Sent from Tap-a-talk

Yes, that's what I was hoping for.

blockend · Jan 20, 2015

Looking back over four decades of photography, the images I saw as printable back then aren't always, or even often, the ones I'd wish to print now. Keepers and binners change as our tastes change. I'm more open to accident than I used to be. I saw anything unintentional as a flaw, now I positively encourage happen-stance and serendipity.

pbromaghin · Jan 20, 2015

Just a few seconds apart.

OptiKen · Jan 20, 2015

Rick A said:
St Ansel once said that a dozen good negatives a year was a good crop.

If my prints sold for what Ansel's do/did, I'd be happy with a dozen good negatives a year too!

Maris · Jan 20, 2015

All keepers, no binners.

I do large format photography of mainly static subjects which affords the opportunity to identify the "binners" before exposure and just not take them. Everything else, the badly seen images, the blunders, and the triumphs, are finished as the best possible gelatin-silvers I can make. The work is the work is the work and that means the totality of all the photographs.

Remember, the great renaissance artists kept all their drawings, even the bad ones, as an affirmation of the highs and lows in the stream of creativity. They called their mistakes pentimenti and the study of pentimenti by subsequent scholars has enlarged the appreciation of their most successful works. I guess photographs, contact sheets, negative failures, can be pentimenti as well.

Keeper vs binner

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Keeper vs binner

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