ENOUGH?

Sometimes we take too many pictures. Sometimes, but that’s not a problem. Extraneous shots can always be deleted but you can’t add photos of something you photographed in the past. (At least most of us can’t.)

Photography is all about timing and framing, getting that perfectly composed shot at just the right moment. And how many right moments are there? How long is time?

It’s not unusual that I wish I had gotten more shots, especially when they are shots of people. I love the process of shooting one totally focused shot at a time rather than doing bursts and often I am waiting for that perfect moment to click the shutter, right when the person is making a great expression or a flamboyant gesture.

But sometimes I find, after the fact, there had been opportunities to get a more shots. Shooting a few more clicks. There was more than one decisive moment or I missed the shot.

For example people often blink when their ears hear that shutter and getting two or three shots instead of one greatly increases the chance of getting a no blinker. I find that about 40-50% of people blink in a photo but less than 1% blink repeatedly. It isn’t hard to take a second or third shot, but more than that gets annoying.

On the other hand when doing a photo essay, you can almost never take too many individual unique photos. There are unlimited decisive moments that you can capture but it takes effort. I try not to hold back when shooting essays yet frequently find that I’ve taken fewer photos than I thought I did.

So, don’t hold back, shoot prolifically and edit judiciously. If ten photos are nearly identical, delete nine. We really only want to see your best shots.