What is your keeper ratio?

I just calculated mine and it is around 1:60
(keeper for me are ones I will proudly show)
It has to qualify as both technically and esthetically well done.

You'll find that your definition of "keeper" will change over time.

I have plenty of shots that are well-exposed and well-focused, but I don't class them as "keepers" because they have little in the way of asthetic appeal.

As I get better technically, I get more self critical in the art of photography.

It depends on what, as well.

Everyday photography has a keep ratio of about 95%, if not higher. I don't throw away any of that photography, but I don't choose any of it, either; it doesn't go anywhere.

Recently, I went on a week-long trip to cover a class working on houses in New Orleans. The keep ratio was only about 25% there (about 500/2500 photos taken).

I am actually asking about the ration of picture you will proudly show
It has to qualify as both technically and esthetically well done.

The definition of keepers change by person, and within a person by time, as Pete the comedian said. Some people i know will show 100% of shots to everyone, even those shots that would have been deleted in my library, not even flagged for deletion. Others i know don't show any photos, and with good reason sometimes. It also varies on if you are pro,semi pro, amateur, less than amateur, in the order of least shown to most.

Personally, of the non-commissioned photographs I take, I can divide them into two categories: public events, personal events. Of the public events, I release between 2% and 20% to my website, with an average of about 15%. For personal events, I generally release 40-80%, but I also take a lot less photographs, often 10:1 for public vs private events. For commissioned photographs, I release an average of 1%, with about 10% for certain non-exclusive events shown, and 0% anything shot specifically for the client with exclusivity, only the client can see those.

omer wrote in post #7889837
I am actually asking about the ration of picture you will proudly show

I don't know enough math to find that small of a ratio. I do post a lot of shots, but many, maybe even most are just part of a story I like to tell of a bird. And not all are even technically correct. It's like taking one frame out of a Peanuts cartoon in the Sunday paper. Nothing special by themselves, but worth a laugh or shows some odd behavior in aggregate.

Check the signature line for my average...

I think it was a lot higher when I was shooting film and had to pay for every shot.

About 1/30

mastertech01 wrote in post #7890696
I think it was a lot higher when I was shooting film and had to pay for every shot.

My good pictures with film are nearly 100%. The only pictures, if any, I delete are OOF. Storage is cheap.

It depends to be honest

If I'm out shooting birds? Generally not too high because of duplicates or missed focus...

Flowers and landscapes and anything else is much higher, I can nail it with one, but i usually take 2 or 3 just in case the wind moves the subject [Its happened]

This is an interesting question. I learned a long time ago, if you got 5 great shots today, it doesn't matter if you took a total of 10 pictures or 300 to get those 5. Bottom line, you got 5 great shots! I know someone at work who said they have a keeper rate of 98%. I finally saw their collection, and out of 3000 kept shots, about 100-150 that were very good and about 10 were really outstanding! Some folks just like to fill up their hard drive.

I'll keep maybe 1 of every 12-15 or so attempts. As far as pictures that I would proudly show, that qualify as both technically and esthetically well done.... maybe 1 of every 40-60.

98%

Sorry, but division by zero is not possible...

:p

Seriously, by your definition I would put my keeper ratio in the 1/500 to 1/1000 range out of thew camera.

Cropping and PP probably pushes that in to the 1/50 to 1/10 range. I shoot a lot of event stuff, so esthetically well done at capture is tough.

I "keep" probably 98%. I only print maybe 1 in 1000 so far, but about 10-20% get "shown" to others that I am not embarrassed to show. Probably about 5% that I am actually proud of.