Wednesday, October 24, 2012

What do I do with all my photos?

We have a very nice guest that has been coming every year. He mentioned that he had collected over 25,000 photos and didn't know what to do with them. I asked him what he like to photograph and he said, "Well, I just see something and photograph it."  25,000 photos would be overwhelming. No wonder he can't get started doing anything with them. There are just too many. Yet, buried among them might be some incredibly good --- award winning photos. My suggestion may not be for everyone --- but, maybe it will help those who don't know what to do with their photography.

Suggestion: Identify a specialty. Spend the next month photographing only flowers (macro lens if available); then the next monthly animals; the next month only birds, then landscapes, then buildings (architecture), then people,  (maybe also industrial if you are so inclined). At the end of each month, look at the photos you took that month. 1) Did you like photographing that specialty? Which photos did you like best? Why those particular photos? What was it about them you liked? Show them to others. Which did they like and why? After six months you might find that you were particularly good at one (or two) of those.  That's your specialty. Now, go through your 25,000 photos creating a library of just those photos (plus the new ones). I use iPhoto Library Manager to create multiple libraries. You've probably narrowed down your photos to between 5,000 to 10,000. 

Next, begin to work those photos. I usually delete 80% of the photos I take --- immediately. Some are out of focus, some the object is too far away, some are nearly duplicates, some -- like animals or birds -- the subject matter has turned its back to you at the moment the shutter released. These can all be trashed. You may be down to a couple of thousand now. 

Of these remaining photos, rate them. Most photo software not only allows you to rate your photos but sort them by rating. So on a scale of 1 to 5: "5" is the very best, i.e. perfect focus and detail, great coloring, great composition; in fact, a photo that is "sellable." It should represent no more than 10% of the photos you have left in your library. A "4" is a photo you would be happy to show other people. It's either not quite as good as a "5" or you already have a very similar photo rated a "5." "3's" are photos you want to keep for some reason (maybe because it was taken in a particular place, maybe because you don't have a better photo of that "thing, animal, bird, landscape etc.").

Now, return to your "5's." Go through each making sure you have all the information you need for each one: where it was taken; when it was taken; a title and a description for each. Do any editing that adds value to the photo. I limit my editing to cropping, bringing objects out of shadows, and removing blemishes. 

Now you are ready to share those 5-rated photos. You can do that by creating a 1) "slideshow," 2) DVD; 3) book; 4) greeting cards; 5) start a photo blog; 6) create a photo gallery that can be seen on the internet by others, i.e. website, flicker, facebook, twitter, etc. 

Want more? Create separate libraries for the other specialties. Then one at a time go through each library, but this time be much more selective. I only keep "4's" and "5's".  So, 75% of the photos in those libraries get trashed. You might end up with 100 or less photos in each of those libraries.

So that's it. Hope it helps. If you have ideas please share by "commenting".

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