How many keepers do you normally get?

I thought I would pose this question to the masses. It seems like I am never happy with my photos, on average I may keep 10% of them and it can be a little frustrating sometimes.

From time to time I get the perfect quality but the photo just doesn't look as interesting as I thought it did when I took it. I also have the opposite problem where it's great composition, etc. but it's crappy quality. It can be a tough road to ho sometimes lol.

im like that..i keep very few, i now some of htem are very good but i always notic little things and then i dont keep them

I shoot tons and try to keep 10%. Otherwise I have too many of the same type of shots.
On a good day, I'll keep 50%.

My problem is that I 'keep' them all, but probably only 10% are 'keepers'

I would have to say, that fo rme 10% is about right...

I end up with about 10% of all my stuff too, in film or digital.

10% is a good average to keep. If you keep more than that your markin' out to yourself.

sugarzebra wrote in post #3075749
My problem is that I 'keep' them all, but probably only 10% are 'keepers'

I have the same problem, I never delete the ones I don't keep in fact it's almost time to upgrade my hard drive again.

ericgtr wrote in post #3075797
I have the same problem, I never delete the ones I don't keep in fact it's almost time to upgrade my hard drive again.

Well I'm glad there's at least two of us!!

Great question! This has been on my mind for so long!

I'm new to the DSLR world, but I've had other cameras since 1998. I always snapped tons os pictures with my other cameras and always noticed an average of only about 10% of them were keepers. I thought this was a very bad thing, and that I was doing something seriously wrong, since every time I download pix to the PC, I delete about 90% of them.

If I find an opportunity for a nice picture, I usually take many shots (if time allows me to do so) and I like changing settings along the way...this usually results in many pictures of the same thing, and sometimes it's hard to decide which one to keep...and THIS usually results in full Hard Drives and a hard time to organize!!

Another issue with this is the shutter's durability, which worries me...for my XTi I read that it is estimated to last about 100,000 shots. How does this translate to "time" in you guy's opinion?

Sorry if I changed the focus of the post with my comments...one thing lead to another...

I shoot for money..with those, 8 out of 10 are good (some are a burst), 4 out of 10 sell.

Generally speaking from a shoot, I expect to get between 10-20% of images to show the client. That's not to say that there aren't more "good" ones, but quite often, especially when shooting in bursts, I'll have several shots which look almost identical, in which case I just choose the best one.

I think it really depends on composition and how much time you have to get the proper composition. If I am shooting static objects or portraits, then I have a much higher keeper rate. Sports shots the keeper rate is much smaller because of the sequential shots.

Why are some people only getting 10% keeper rates? Are you just not satisfied with the image or are you really picky?

pagnamenta wrote in post #3076116
I think it really depends on composition and how much time you have to get the proper composition. If I am shooting static objects or portraits, then I have a much higher keeper rate. Sports shots the keeper rate is much smaller because of the sequential shots.

Why are some people only getting 10% keeper rates? Are you just not satisfied with the image or are you really picky?

Usually because I am just not happy with most of them for one reason or another. Every now and then I will troll through previous shoots and sometimes find one in there I didn't think was decent initially but found to be okay the second time I looked.

sugarzebra wrote in post #3075816
Well I'm glad there's at least two of us!!

Nope, there is three of us.

I consider a keeper anything that is in focus and eyes are open (unless they are sleeping). Storage is so cheap these days that I just don't see why you would throw it away. I rate my shots so if I want the really good ones I just filter out the 4s or 5s.

For me, most of my images (95+ %) are technically quite acceptable. By that, I mean that focus, exposure, and such are just fine. I expect this, though, because I've been at this game for a little while.

However, with live subject material, some shots are just plain better than others. For example, when taking a group shot of people, someone in the group is usually making a face or blinking, etc. Thus, only one or two out of a series like that are worth printing. Animals don't always cooperate for the best images either.

Then there's the experimental stuff. A lot of that gets tossed because I am working out lighting and other issues. Figuring out how to do new things does produce a lot of throw-away images.