What's your "keeper" rate? (and who cares?)

*cue "old guy" voice*...

When I was your age, sonny, we shot film.  Lots of it.  Our fastest film was Ektachorome ISO 200 - and we were grateful for it!  (Because Kodachrome was either ISO 25 or 64)

You kids these days, with your fancy, new-fangled digital cameras don't know how hard it was....  Now get off my lawn!

OK, enough of that.  

But back when I started in photography in 1973, we did shoot a lot of film.  Being a cheapskate, I shot almost exclusively with slide film, so I wouldn't have to pay for prints that I was going to throw away anyway.  

Even then, when it cost at least $0.25 per slide, my keeper rate was pretty low - and it's a question that I still get a lot today.

What makes a "keeper" is a personal decision.  There are no completely objective standards, so I'll give you a look at mine.

First, it depends on where I'm going to put it.  There are some images that get to live in my library and others that get to live in my portfolio - and there's a big difference.

My library is the collection of images that I keep for a variety of different uses, ranging from an image that I might use here in my weekly articles, to writing I do for others, to examples to use in classes.

To live in the library, I require:

1. Proper exposure (either in camera or in post)

2. Good composition (again, either in-camera or in post)

3. An interesting or useful subject, or at least the potential that the image will have a later use.

 Mule Deer (Library Image).  Canon 40D.  Canon 600mm f4 L IS.
ISO 320, f5.6, 1/1250th second.

That's not a bad shot of a Mule Deer.  But there's not a lot of "wow factor" there either.  It's in the library.

On the other hand, my portfolio is the best of the best.  It requires a much higher standard, starting with all of the library requirements...and 

4. The subject must be compelling.  It must captivate me and the viewer.

5. It generally involves a "critical moment", striking light or really dramatic composition.

6. It's something that's especially unusual.

Polar Bear Mom, Playing with 1st-Year Cub. (Portfolio Image)  Kaktovik Polar Bear Photo Tour.
Canon 5D MkII.  Canon 100-400mm L IS @ 400mm.
ISO 640, f8, 1/1000th second.

This image meets those tests.  It's an interesting subject, a critical moment and one that's capivating.  It's one that I'm proud to have in my portfolio - and a great memory from Kaktovik.

So with all that out of the way, what's my keeper rate?

For the library, it's pretty high, probably around 25%.  For the portfolio, I'm somewhere around 3%.

That means that over 70% of my images either end up getting tossed in to the trash.

What?!?  over 70% garbage?  I can hear you thinking to yourself, this guy is either not so good at this photography stuff, or there's something wrong with his camera.

No, it's not that.  It has a lot to do with the kind of shooting I spend most of my time doing - wildlife.

If I were shooting landscapes, I'd have a far higher keeper rate.  The same for architecture and portraits.  That's because these situations are far more controllable.  Compose, expose - maybe bracket for HDR.  That's it.  My keeper rate will at least double.

 Autumn in Denali National Park, Alaska. (Portfolio Image) 
Canon 5D MkII.  Canon 100-400mm L IS @ 100mm.
ISO 640, f18, 1/100th second.

With wildlife, I'm working very hard to focus on moving animals (especially hard with birds in flight!), while trying my best to manage an often unmanageable background and hoping for a critical moment, interesting behavior or eye contact.

Osprey Take-Off with Fish. (Portfolio Image) 2012 Maine Osprey & Seascapes Photo Tour.  
Canon 5D MkII.  Canon 100-400mm L IS @ 400mm.
ISO 2500, f7.1, 1/4000th second.

But now, let me ask you a question...

Who cares what your keeper rate is?

Whether you have the "golden shutter finger" and nail every shot the first time (and I bet you don't), or you have to work harder at it, it's the image that matters.

Let your images speak for themselves and don't worry about the unimportant stuff like keeper rate, the brand name of your gear, what color your lens is or who thinks you're "cool".

Stop trying to live up to what somebody else or some blog article (including this one!) thinks you should be and just be yourself.  

You'll enjoy photography a lot more if you go your own way, shoot what you want, when you want and how you want.

In the end, as long as you have enough keepers to make you happy, the keeper rate doesn't matter at all!