On many of my workshops, I get asked this question a lot “which ones are the keepers.” it sounds like a question with an obvious answer. However, is it?

My short answer is that it is purely up to the individual and learning a few key guidelines can help thin the pack. As I expand on those thoughts a few things come to mind. It takes a lot of time and more importantly, a trained eye. Training your eye is the easy part. Studying your images and comparing them to other images is a good start but may not be the absolute. Sometimes, we fixate on one thing or area within the frame and miss lots of other key elements.

To judge your own images on pure merit you will need to be objective. Good luck. Many of our photos can go under the umbrella of art and art can be very subjective; the guidelines almost non-existent and feelings can be a very strong component—and they should be. So, by now you can see the exacts are no longer exacts and the guidelines are becoming less visible.

Many times, as photographers, we form a bond with our subjects, and we want so much to have captured a good image in the field that we almost ‘will it.’ But that does not actually mean you have captured a good image. Even if you like it, you sometimes cannot trust your judgement because you are influenced by your feelings.

When sorting through my own images looking for keepers, I first start with dismissing all the obvious deletes; they are described as completely out-of-focus, out of the frame misses and just pure “what were you even looking at.” Once that series of images is tossed, I do a second round of sorting. During this time, I am looking for images that evoke some kind of response from me-good or bad, happy, or sad, etc... It is important during this second round to be ruthless with my deletes. If the image is not technically good or does not have an emotional draw, I toss it.

My last and final sorting is more difficult. Here I am looking for technical excellence. I describe that as it needs to be sharp, well exposed and have a composition that needs only minor tweaking and a compelling subject/subjects. The other types of photos I keep at this point are images that have immediate visual appeal or the ones that I feel a connection with; they may or may not be technically great but that connection is what I focus on.

For the most part, I try not to leave a photo tour with a ton of images. Even though my keeper rate is usually fairly low, I know from experience that I may go back and sift through my old images looking for some shots that may have new appeal to me. I may not look back on my photos often, but sometimes I do. That is why I always keep what I call “the sister shots.”

The final answer is that there is no right or wrong here. You need to be the judge of your own images. You need to learn the guidelines then go out and change those guidelines. The keepers are the ones that appeal to YOU.

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