Keey rate on sports photography

difficult question to answer
when shooting football(soccer) I will usually shoot around 700 frames a game
and hope to end up with 40/50 shots worth "keeping"
this can be down to a sequence with two players and firing a burst of 8 to 10 frames
and only one or two being the key moment in the clash
or two players going for a header there will always be a shot or two either side of the
monent the ball hits head

Itz:

I agree with many others here in that it all depends on what your definition of keeper is. I can really only relate to hockey at this point and my "keepers" are those shots I deem worthy enough to post on a web site for the team to see and possibly purchase. Given this definition, I would usually shoot around 450-500 images a game (2 4GB cards) and from these keep around 70-80 (at the most) for the web for a rate of around 15-20%. This does not include any images already deleted in camera during intermissions or when chimping. Given the issues around lighting for hockey (in minor rinks) I suspect keeper rates for other sports may be a bit higher

thnx for the response

cstewart wrote in post #5532239
Itz:

Given the issues around lighting for hockey (in minor rinks) I suspect keeper rates for other sports may be a bit higher

good point, I believe this holds true of any indoor sports shooting. I shot a LAX tourney this past weekend and my keeper rate (defined here as images I'll make available for sale to parents) was about 86% (not counting images deleted while chimping). For indoor hoops, I suspect I shoot closer to 65-70% in a typical HS gym, maybe more in a really good HS or college location.

i think the process is... well, at least for me,

right in the beginning, you shoot only a few frames, with no keepers

then as you go into more games, you start to shoot alot more frames, with a few keepers

then you realize that it's all about timing and not spray and pray and you start shooting less frames and more keepers.

not really helping much, but i hope my rambling makes sense