what's your % of keepers?

[roteague]

I'm too critical of my work sometimes which frustrates me no end, and it's often to the point where it saps alot of my motivation.

Chris,

I was that way for many years as well. I finally learned that I had to accept the work I am doing at the moment, as the best I can do at the moment. That doesn't mean I don't keep trying to get better, or that I don't accept everything I do. I just realize that I am not a Jack Dykinga or Ansel Adams, and that I know I will get better over time. You will as well. So, enjoy the work you have done, and don't be overly critical of it.

 

[Wayne]

After years of effort I finally got to about 10% with color LF. That was trannies I was proud of; it dropped to 5% or less when I tried printing them.


Wayne

 

[ChrisC]

Chris,

I was that way for many years as well. I finally learned that I had to accept the work I am doing at the moment, as the best I can do at the moment. That doesn't mean I don't keep trying to get better, or that I don't accept everything I do. I just realize that I am not a Jack Dykinga or Ansel Adams, and that I know I will get better over time. You will as well. So, enjoy the work you have done, and don't be overly critical of it.

I'm slowly coming to that conclusion which feels alot better. I think buying myself a 35mm camera to just shoot without thinking too much with is helping a bit. I haven't shot with the 4x5 in a long time, but I'm slowly getting quite a large desire to go back to it.

Thanks for the words though. It's always helpful to know other people have been here and have got through it to produce some absolutly brilliant work.

 

[IloveTLRs]

When I shoot 35mm I usually like at least 5 or 6 photos.
When I shoot medium format, I usually keep 7 or more. I slow down and choose frames carefully with MF since 12 ain't that many. I think of 120 film as cigarettes; they're gone before you know it and you keep buying more

 

[coigach]

I'm not exactly a big-hitter I'm afraid. I shoot 6x7 medium format for all my landscapes, and all is shot as transparebcy (b+w dr5 processed).

All things considered, I'm somewhere around the 10% mark, although that's an average which is sometimes dependent on the very changeable light here in Scotland - sometimes my ratio of keepers is lower than that, sometmes higher. I'm hoping to gather enough material for a book, but it often feels like I'm crawlng rather than running towards that goal...!

Onwards and upwards!

Best wishes,
Gavin

 

[Ricardo41]

Portrait/People/Modeling Session:

On average eight rolls of film, 150-200 backup digital images. Keeper rate: around 5-8%. "Keeper" often means images I would have discarded but that are wanted by the people I'm shooting.

Urban/Documentary Photography: Extremely low rate of "keepers". Often no more than one or two images per roll or a few out of hundreds of digital shots.

Unfortunately, because my documentary project is financed in part by grants, I have to retain some to integrate into conference presentations, grant applications, etc.

I'm sure I'm not the only who often walks away from a shoot feeling that this day's harvest could quite possibly hover around 0%.

Of course, for me "keepers" does not equal "great pictures," it often means picking or having to pick the "one eyed kings" amongst an army of "blind people" (to paraphrase an old proverb).

ricardo

 

[Richard Boutwell]

Myth Busters?

Shooting LF, I feel happy if I get more than 10% that I REALLY want to print and show, and if I get better than 25%, I'm ecstatic. I know that Michael A. Smith claims he has a 100% keeper rate - he says he prints 100% of the negs he shoots. Somehow I find that claim to have 100% perfect clarity of vision to be suspicious, but it's nice to know that someone out there feels they can have that kind of hit rate.

I am NOT turning this into a Michael Smith Thread, but I will clear up your confusion. You mis-interpreted him saying that he PROOFS everything he shoots. PROOFING everything is important so you can tell what you actually have in your film, and to decide what you really want to print without holding 300 8x10 negs up to the light. I can't say how many FINAL PRINTS he makes from any given trip, but it sure as hell isn't 100%.

And who cares about percentages really? This is photography, not baseball.
__________________

www.RichardBoutwell.com

 

[jstraw]

I am NOT turning this into a Michael Smith Thread, but I will clear up your confusion. You mis-interpreted him saying that he PROOFS everything he shoots. PROOFING everything is important so you can tell what you actually have in your film, and to decide what you really want to print without holding 300 8x10 negs up to the light. I can't say how many FINAL PRINTS he makes from any given trip, but it sure as hell isn't 100%.

And who cares about percentages really? This is photography, not baseball.
__________________

www.RichardBoutwell.com

Is there crying in photography?

 

[Richard Boutwell]

only when you drop an 8x10 on your toes

 

[Ian Leake]

This weekend I shot about 35 polaroids across two sessions (a mix of 5x4 and 10x8, plus one 14x11). Of these I made 24 film versions. Of these I've just finished developing 17 and have the 14x11 left to do which makes 18. Of these I will probably print 12. I think 10 of these are good, but I know I should have done better with the other 2.

 

[bjorke]

100% unless I screw up

 

[jstraw]

100% unless I screw up

So, over time, what's your percentage of screw-ups?

 

[Area51Resident]

Hmmm...

I never discard and negatives and do contact print everything. even the stuff I know is a complete waste. You get the odd one that works despite looking like a disaster. I superimposed about 8 images on a 35mm roll due to a problem with film not advancing - made a cool "montage" type scene. By that count all are "keepers".

I find I get in the zone and can create several really good images per roll on a shooting expedition and other trips are just a waste of film. I get a great feeling of relaxation by "gunning" through a roll of film sometimes even if the results are not anything special (or complete junk). So I don't worry about it too much.

When an artistic dry spell last a month or two that however is not fun.

I do get highest "yield" with MF work. I assume that is because I am more deliberate in what and how I photograph. On a good day 3-6 per roll (120 645 Mamiya) is typical. On the low end 35mm and a motor drive and a kids hockey game I can get one or two printable frames out of three rolls if I'm lucky. I don't have autofocus so that causes a lot of lost shots.

To put it in numbers, I'd estimate an average of 1.5 frames per 120 and 2.5 per 35mm.

Interesting thread...

Cheers,

JB