13,794. That’s how many times Lightroom tells me I clicked the shutter last year. Thirteen thousand seven hundred and ninety-four. Who does that? Me, I guess. Even accounting for bracketing, HDRs, panoramas, virtual copies and other things that add to the count, that is a LOT of pictures. You would think there might be a few keepers in there. Thankfully, to my eye at least, there were.
Taking them was the easy part. It was the finding that was difficult. Although I was much better this year than in years past in reviewing, cataloguing and editing images after they were shot, I still have hundreds of images from last year that I have yet to review, much less edit or post. And I am continuing to shoot, so the pile continues to grow. Sometimes I feel like I will never catch up.
Just looking at the images I shot takes a lot of time. Even if it only takes 5 seconds. Do the math: 13,794 images x 5 seconds = roughly 19 hours just quickly scrolling through last year’s images! That’s a lot of time sitting in front of the computer instead of being outside shooting. And you can double or triple that, at least, to allow time for initial keywording of locations and a quick ranking of images to differentiate between those that deserve a longer look and those that can be ignored or discarded. That’s a week or two just to get to a place where I can actually start working the images.
The next pass takes even longer. I start stacking similar images together and looking at them side by side. First to identify the subjects or lighting or compositions that worked, and later to find the individual images in those groups that deserve further attention. I start making basic edits - exposure, tone, contrast etc. — to help the process along. Then I go back through the images again, honing in on smaller and smaller details to decide which are the best, and for what. It’s a long iterative process — reviewing, culling, ranking, comparing, editing and then doing it all again. And that’s still just the first step, before looking closely at, and doing deeper edits of, the keepers. Then I have to figure out what to DO with all those images. Which to print? Which to show to friends or family, or post on social media? Add to a portfolio or website? Enter in a competition? Use for a book or ongoing project? Hang on a wall?
I get overwhelmed just thinking about it.
The subject matter also affects how long it takes to review. Abstracts and blurs are challenging. I may come back from a day in the field finding that I’ve shot hundreds of images waving my camera around at something that moved or interested me. Finding those that worked amid all the chaos is a subjective and difficult task that always takes a long time. Bracketing in the field - for exposure or focus - can lead to long sessions in front of the computer peeking at pixels to decide which aperture or shutter speed worked best. And don’t even get me started on shooting on burst mode. I’ve shot hundreds and hundreds of pictures of waves and wildlife that way. Finding the single frame that sings (or deciding if there even is one) is a daunting task that can take hours to complete … often after days or weeks or months of procrastination trying to avoid it.
Sometimes its best to look at images as soon as you can after making them, while your impressions and memories are fresh. Sometimes it’s better to let them marinate, so you can bring a more objective eye to the work, free from the baggage of expectation and hope. But whether you do it now or later, it’s going to take time. A lot of it.
If I am coming back from a day trip where I shot a couple hundred images at one or two locations then getting through the images may only take another day or two. A weekend roadtrip where I shot a bunch of different subjects may take me several weeks to review and edit. A 2- or 3-week trip to somewhere I’ve never been before? That has taken me months … or years. I hate to admit that there are still thousands of images sitting on my hard drive from trips I took in 2017, 2018 and 2019 that are waiting for me to complete their review.
Where does all this lead? I’m not sure, to be honest. You would think it would lead me to take fewer pictures in the field, but it really hasn’t. Quite the opposite. When I find a subject that interests me, I tend to take more pictures, not less. I want to make sure that I take the time to explore it because the worst feeling after coming back from a shoot (or worse, a long trip) is realizing that I missed the shot. I should have moved a few feet to the right; changed my exposure to blur the water just a bit more (or less); not been in such a hurry to get to the next spot.
So I have started worrying less about the number of frames I shoot and more about the number of things I decide to point my camera at. My hope is that all that time in front of the computer will lead me to be more thoughtful when I am in the field. To be more selective about when to dig in, and when to just grab a memory snapshot and move on.
But even if I succeed at that, I probably won’t get through all the images I shoot this year either. But maybe if I am thoughtful I can get through those that matter.