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How to Improve Your Photos By Ignoring Them
There’s not many times I’ll be able to advertise an effortless way to improve the quality of your photos, so listen up! Today we’re going to improve our photos by leaving them alone. That’s right. Go out, take your photos, come home, download them, and then forget that they exist.
Why? Because you just took the photos! You’re riding high on serotonin (or whatever; I quit biology) and aren’t making objective decisions about the quality of those shots. So as Kevin Smith would say, just “pimp away.”
Let Your Photos Steep
I make much better choices about which photos to post and which to hide when I let those few days pass between shooting and processing. This pays dividends in terms of my photo quality. It comes at the cost of a lot of time, though. This system only works for those of us without strict deadlines.
By waiting a few days, the excitement of having just taken those photos wears off. This helps you judge the quality of your photo more objectively. I can’t speak for everyone, but I’m pretty biased about judging my photos right when I get back from a shoot: Everything is awesome!
A System That Works
In the end, I’ve developed a two-pass system for selection. As soon as I download my photos, I’ll quickly go through them, to mark Picks and Rejected. I don’t spend more than five seconds thinking about any individual image, this is zippy.
Then I leave those photos alone for a couple of days; I just pimp away. When coming back to them, I re-evaluate my choices. Anything still rejected gets deleted and anything that’s still a pick goes into my development queue. Skimming the unflagged ones looking for more picks is good too, but repeat the process of letting them sit a few days.
My photos aren’t the best on Flickr yet, but making this change to my workflow improved the quality of photos I post. Amusingly enough, this is a trick I learned from writers and editors instead of other photographers. I started applying it to my blog for months before I made the connection with photo processing. Go figure!
Ross Said,
August 31, 2007 @ 5:17 pm
excellent tip. everything does always look completely awesome after a shoot. ive posted many a picture on flickr only to take them down a couple days later because of this very reason. i like your system. ive tried waiting before but tons and tons of pictures just kept on piling up on my hd. doing a quick run through and marking the bad ones seems like a good idea, ill definitely be using it. thanks!
Brian Auer Said,
August 31, 2007 @ 11:47 pm
This idea is crazy enough that it just might work! Actually, I usually end up doing this, but only because I’m too lazy to jump all over my photos as soon as I download them. Waiting 10 minutes for photos to download wears me out, so I don’t really have the energy to look through them and think at the same time. I end up coming back to the sorting phase a couple of days later (as you’ve suggested), and all I do there is throw the good ones into a “Process” album that I can come back to.
Then I take things a step further — I wait even longer to process the photos. This helps me weed out about 50% of what I originally put in the “Process” album. I have photos in there from almost 1 year ago! The other reason I do that is because I have to be in the mood to edit photos, and my specific photo editing mood determines which photos I will even consider processing at that time. I just took a look at my album, and I have over 300 images waiting to be processed (though half of them will drop out eventually).
Giving photos time to settle is a good thing.
Link Roundup 09-01-2007 | Epic Edits Weblog Said,
September 1, 2007 @ 8:42 am
[…] How to Improve Your Photos By Ignoring Them goldengod It turns out that being lazy with your photos can actually improve their quality! Who would have thought? These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. […]
Anne Davis Said,
September 1, 2007 @ 12:22 pm
Just wanted to let you know that I recommended your blog as part of BlogDay2007. Thanks for sharing all the wonderful information. I always learn a lot!
http://anne.teachesme.com/2007/09/01/blogday2007/
Best,
Anne
wim van es Said,
September 1, 2007 @ 1:43 pm
Hi, you are absolutely right! I use the same system. One tends to lose objectivity by viewing and (post)processing images too soon.
Greetings
Wim
Avoid Over-Processing by Cleansing Your Visual Palate | goldengod Said,
September 1, 2007 @ 2:05 pm
[…] bursts and step away from the computer every five photos or so. This is similar to the technique of letting photos sit I wrote about yesterday, but on a smaller […]
aCoolDryPlace Said,
September 3, 2007 @ 5:23 am
I’m impressed that your photos are all great immediately after the shoot. Initially, I tend to think most of my photos are terrible (perhaps because they are?). I normally download my photos, have a quick browse, get depressed, contemplate throwing my camera away and smashing the harddrive…. enforced time out is then required!
Andrew Ferguson Said,
September 4, 2007 @ 2:40 pm
@Ross: I completely understand what you mean about pictures piling up. If you work the system right, and set aside time every day it works out. You’ll always be working on the photos that you took approx. 5-7 days previous.
@Brian: I like the idea of your system, but my OCD just won’t allow it. I’m one of those photographers with a deep inner need to post everything in the order it was shot.
Partially, I’m being anal and partially I like being able to skim through pages of Flickr photos and see how my abilities are getting better/worse.
@Anne: Thanks Anne! Much appreciated :) I remember you from back when I wrote the ‘How To Find Free Photos For Your Blog’ post and I was beginning to wonder if you were still around :P
Ever since going to Saskatchewan and having about 80% of my extended family reveal themselves as occasional readers, I’m intensely curious about my audience.
@aCoolDryPlace: Hahahaha, yeah I do sound a little full of myself don’t I? There are times when I’ll swing drastically the other and berate myself for taking such awful photos, but I keep them to a minimum.
I’m fairly critical of myself, but I’ve never been comfortable with the whole ‘tortured artist’ mentality. I don’t mind if other people do it, but I get on my own nerves too much.
Tim Solley Said,
September 5, 2007 @ 2:04 pm
You know, I’ve also noticed that the photos I let sit for a while end up being chosen for picks or rejects different from if I had gone straight home and gotten busy. Granted, this is usually not by choice, it’s usually a little one year old boy who forces my hand. So I just take another picture of him :-)
By and large, the photos that get some soak time end up being of a higher quality.
Saturday Link Lovin’ and Photo Highlights - Sept. 8, 2007 | Sublime Light Said,
September 7, 2007 @ 10:02 pm
[…] How To Improve Your Photos By Ignoring Them - Goldengod’s Andrew Ferguson takes a look at how letting your photos sit for a few days before choosing keepers or rejects can really affect what you consider to be your best work. […]
Andrew Ferguson Said,
September 15, 2007 @ 5:42 pm
I don’t have any one year olds running around that I need to worry about…
…I hope.
The Good, the Bad, and the Iffy « Forest Rat Said,
May 24, 2008 @ 6:46 am
[…] of taking photos for me is deciding which ones to keep and which ones to throw back. I ran across a post about this subject where the author advocates letting your photos sit for a few days without […]