Too much of a perfectionist? (sharpness vs emotion)

[The Photo Tuell]

I think I'm too much of a perfectionist when it comes to photography. Of course 'perfect' is all subjective...

For example, even though the seagull in this shot is in a cute pose, it's out of focus, so I hadn't posted it to my gallery. http://www.pbase.com/image/28586821/original

I like this shot from the same day better, because it's much sharper around the eye: http://www.pbase.com/image/21491564

Then there are some situations where looking at the shot again I probably shouldn't have posted it because it's too blurry: http://www.pbase.com/image/23432456

My point is I see a lot of pictures (here and other places) that aren't perfectly sharp, but have some emotion. Worrying too much about sharpness I think I often ignore the emotion/feeling that a picture has.

Does this happen to anyone else?

Also, check my out gallery, I updated and re-arranged things.

http://www.pbase.com/the_photo_tuell

[Conk]

Well Jonathan, I wouldn't tell you that you should or shouldn't post your shots with a slight blur but even if you think them not worthy you can still always edit them so they are more useful.
You could try to add a slight soft focus to give the shot a different feel or you can go to a more extreme and give it a artsy look and give it a painterly effect.
After a couple years of posting photos on Pbase myself I have looked at some photos posted a couple years ago and thought them to be somewhat crappy by my standards of today. My skills have improved as well as my photo quality in the last couple years. Should I take them down? Na. I leave them. I don't use Pbase to advertise my work but rather to share my shots with my friends.

[nosquare2003]

I like your cute bird -- I don't mind it's being a bit blurry.

If I can get either emotion or sharpness, I will choose emotion. (Certainly, everyone wants both.)

[shniks]

I think I am a bit like you when it comes to sharpness, I really don't think a picture is very good unless it is sharp. I will, however, appreciate one if the blurriness adds to the effect of the picture, eg to show movement, or for an arty look. On rare occassions a blurry picture that tells a story does stir emotion in me, which is good, but it has to be relatively strong in emotion to do this. Otherwise I am just left wishing the picture was clearer.

[stopbath]

Looking at the blurry faced bird (and guitarist) and the sharper image, the clear winner is the sharp one (even though it looks underexposed)

The others do contain value, but mostly as historic value (oh, and I shot this too...)

The 'failed' shots, might be able to be resurrected into main stream acceptance by altering the shot by using some darkroom or artistic techniques... Perhaps a treatment on the whole image can bring the image to life.. Sort of like make a pencil sketch, or a water colour. Perhaps a high contrast image...