Poll: How good a photographer are you?

photoholiko said:

I think I'm a great photographer until I review my photos and those from this web site and Flkr a month later then I realize I'm not so great. After many years in amateur photography I can say I produced only around a dozen great photos but that doesn't prevent me from enjoying my hobby, not to mention my addiction to the gear.

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did the poll but not accurate in the question presented

JP Scherrer said:

CharlesB58 said:

JP Scherrer said:

JanelConlan said:

I am very good wedding photographer. You can check from my blog http://www.focusphotoinc.com/blog/ rate me how good is am i

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...but his english isn't as fantasticly incredible as his photos !

.....well, just now I have a doubt : he's he REALLY serious ? Or not ?

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Actually, many of his photos are exactly what a lot of wedding clients are buying right now, so what's your point?

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My point simply is that I consider as extremely presomptuous to say "I am very good..." ! The others are the judges of one's quality, not ourself !

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Speaking of English...the word is 'presumptuous'.

I couldn't respond to your poll. Around 5% of my photos are great, but I can't day that this is because I carefully plan ever shot, nor that I never use my camera's burst mode.

Marty4650 said:

Anyone reading this takes a lot of photos. We wouldn't be using this website if we didn't.

And we all have some idea of how good we think we are at taking photos. The people here run the full range from novice to professional photographer.

So my question is:

What percentage of the photos you have taken in your lifetime do you consider really great?

I don't mean your keepers. Those are just the photos you decided not to delete. I mean the photos you would post in a portfolio of your best work. You can define great as being art, or being historically or commercially significant. Just as long as they are outstanding in some way.

Try to be objective! :-D

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apparently better than the OP.

Mark B. said:

JP Scherrer said:

CharlesB58 said:

JP Scherrer said:

JanelConlan said:

I am very good wedding photographer. You can check from my blog http://www.focusphotoinc.com/blog/ rate me how good is am i

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...but his english isn't as fantasticly incredible as his photos !

.....well, just now I have a doubt : he's he REALLY serious ? Or not ?

Click to expand...

Actually, many of his photos are exactly what a lot of wedding clients are buying right now, so what's your point?

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My point simply is that I consider as extremely presomptuous to say "I am very good..." ! The others are the judges of one's quality, not ourself !

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Speaking of English...the word is 'presumptuous'.

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Next time, I'll write it in french !



NB. Thanks anyway ! I didn't even check the dictionary... Now I'm happy: I've learned a new thing today

Jim Salvas said:

An uncritical photographer may think a very high percentage of his photos are great. After more than 60 years of photography, I'm very self-critical and rate my own work very harshly, allowing only a few to squeak through my own filter.

I took 75 shots while on a walk yesterday. Someone else may have been happy with every one of them. I was almost satisfied with about three of them. I don't think that makes me a bad photographer.

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I agree, percentages are absolutely meaningless especially in the era of digital photography. You are judged by your portfolio and not by the total number of the photos you have shot in order to create it.

Moti

I would have worded the poll differently using numbers. For me it's 3 photos.

I think you have a low standard for greatness. I don't think greatness can be evaluated during an artist's lifetime. Ask me again twenty years after my death.

Hi Marty,

I'm finding it difficult to agree with the premise of your question which seems to be: "great photographers have a high percentage of great shots (that is, using the number of times they press the shutter button as the denominator)".

I suspect folks like Ansel Adams had a low percentage of shutter presses that wound up in the "great" bin. I mean, how many times do you think Ansel pressed the shutter button in his life? And can you find 20% of those in the "great" bin today?

Just a thought.

Cheers!

jfw

ttbek said:

I would suggest that this 10% (or lower I suspect) portion be the ones to look to for judgement then. Self critique is not reliable in my opinion. Even if one is a harsh critic of oneself, one may not have the requisite knowledge to know if one is doing well or not.

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One can develop the requisite knowledge. Part of that process is seeking feedback from the right "10%", something a lot of photographers fail to do. Fellow forum posters seldom fall into that 10% category IMO. I've seen too many threads full of "nice shot" responses to someone posting a rather mediocre photo.

The biggest obstacle to overcome in developing realistic self-critic is emotional investment in the image. I have a lot of photos of my kids. I regularly go back through them and assess them with the same expectations I use on photos for clients. I find that in retrospect, I rated some photos higher than they warranted because they are of my kids and so they were great photos from a personal point of view, but not so much objectively.

When I cull through the shots from a concert, I am in fact looking for those "WOW factor" shots because that is what the client and the public who view the photos expect. Of course, not all of the photos I select have that factor: some are selected simply because they are a photo of a back up player or offer an angle that an audience member wouldn't normally have a chance to view. Still, I can tell at the time of capture when I have a potential "great shot", and that is usually reinforced when I'm looking at the image on my monitor.

Your mileage my vary and kids, don't try this at home. The ability to self critique adequately to please clients takes a lot of failure based experience and time spent looking at what are good and great photos, and especially learning why they are great.

Therein lies the truth of your statement about not having the requisite knowledge: many people haven't learned why a given photo is great, at least from the standpoint of being able to give a sensible, point by point critique. They go no further than "I really like it". That's an alright attitude, because not everyone who picks up a camera needs to develop the critiquing skills of a curator for MOMA or Hamilton's.

And on top of that, my photos require very little PP.

Playing percentages is a self-defeating game.

More important are the inspired moments. You can have one great photo from an inspired session or a hundred. How often do you have inspired moments? It must come naturally from within. It must be translated fluently in execution.

I know of a foolish photographer who boasts of the few Firsts that he has attained in challenges. But, his average score is @20. His photography in general fails to inspire because it does not come naturally from within.

In the end, you are the only person who can judge the progress of your work. Has it been worthwhile? Doesn't matter how many 'keepers' you think you have.

jfw said:

Hi Marty,

I'm finding it difficult to agree with the premise of your question which seems to be: "great photographers have a high percentage of great shots (that is, using the number of times they press the shutter button as the denominator)".

I suspect folks like Ansel Adams had a low percentage of shutter presses that wound up in the "great" bin. I mean, how many times do you think Ansel pressed the shutter button in his life? And can you find 20% of those in the "great" bin today?

Just a thought.

Cheers!

jfw

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People like him would actually think and use their imagination before they pressed the shutter. That's why their keeper rate was so much higher.

Today I was shooting corporate portraits and my keeper rate is very high.

During the weekends I'm out shooting motorsport (lots of panning) and my keeper rate is not that high, same goes for BIF's.

I wouldn't call the portraits great but I do get paid good money.

JohnJ

JohnJ851 said:

Today I was shooting corporate portraits and my keeper rate is very high.

During the weekends I'm out shooting motorsport (lots of panning) and my keeper rate is not that high, same goes for BIF's.

I wouldn't call the portraits great but I do get paid good money.

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I think we can all agree that it's "great to make good money."

I deliberately left the definition of "great" up to each person. Because it is a vague word, and varies for each of us. Some people will call any keeper a "great photo." Others will think only artistic, memorable, or iconic photos are great. I've been taking photos for over fifty years, and I don't think I have produced one of those yet.

I would consider none great. The number that I would call excellent or beautiful I could count with my ten fingers. I would say I have shot about 100 good photos, and about 500 somewhat interesting photos.

The low range is a bit narrow, ie., "less than 1%". I would claim maybe 1% to 2 % are "great"; perhaps a little more if I can exclude photos taken deliberately for a record, like family snaps or shooting away on a stroll just relaxation, with not particularly with a creative purpose as the main intent.

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Marty4650 said:

Anyone reading this takes a lot of photos. We wouldn't be using this website if we didn't.

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Actually, I think it's beacuse we're using that website that we're not going out taking pictures.

Marty4650 said:

And we all have some idea of how good we think we are at taking photos. The people here run the full range from novice to professional photographer.

So my question is:

What percentage of the photos you have taken in your lifetime do you consider really great?

I don't mean your keepers. Those are just the photos you decided not to delete. I mean the photos you would post in a portfolio of your best work. You can define great as being art, or being historically or commercially significant. Just as long as they are outstanding in some way.

Try to be objective! :-D

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In 8 years , since my first DLSR, I've probably taken about 50000 pictures ( a lot of burst mode in the beginning), I've kept about 10 000, and among those, 1000 that I really like, but just 100 that I would consider putting in a portfolio.

that's a mere 0,2% that I think are great , low but i'm ok with it. I'm really strict with my pictures while people on those forums think all their pictures are great because as long as they post a picture of a kid, an insect, a bird flying, a sunset, there's always gonna be people complimenting on how great the picture is.

I opted for the second answer although I really had trouble with the term "great photos". In general I like the landscape pictures I take overall. However there are other photography genres I'm interested in and where my results are mediocre so far. But that's also one of The cool things about photography: it's such a versatile hobby with so many facettes that will keep you busy for your whole life.

Cheers!