Some days I find it really difficult to pick the one image that goes into my main 365 album - sometimes because i'm not 100% in love with any of them, and other times because I'm excited about different ones for different reasons. How do you choose?
I always end up shortlisting my favourites and letting my husband pick! It's nice to get an outside perspective when you've been editing for an hour and lost all objectivity.
I find it hard sometimes too! That's usually when I do a collage lol. However, when I do pick only one I try to go with the clearest or the one that has the most meaning to me. I agree having an outside opinion is nice. I let my boyfriend pick sometimes.
Sometimes I ask my kids or my husband to help me choose. Other times I will rely on feedback I get on facebook from friends and family. Even then, its still hard to choose sometimes. Hahaha! :0)
i narrow it down to a few, and then i ask the husband which one he thinks....and i'll usually go with that one...
but, i do have ace, so sometimes i put stuff in the 2nd album if i'm having a hard time deciding...the only issue with that is, the stuff in my 2nd album doesn't get much notice
Yep, narrow it down to a few and then use a critical eye to pick the one. My personal priority; once in a lifetime shots, personal moments to me, then narrow it down to a few and I ask myself how did I feel today and how does it relate to my project. Can it fit into a series? After that I try to use these rules: http://photo.tutsplus.com/tutorials/composition/how-to-choose-your-best-photo-in-a-series-every-time/.
Lately, I've been taking lots of pictures and I find doing collages helpful but even then I've got to use a sparing hand in choosing pictures for it. I try to simply create a mood or an overall feel and then link to my flickr pictures if there are more to the group.
There are no hard fast rules on choosing though, these are mine. I don't ask anyone for their opinion because this is my project. I took the pictures for a reason and I am the one who knows why. And I don't overthink it. I find if I start second guessing I get a bit crazy about the details. Life is not perfect and neither will my project be. I just pick the one that stands out the most and go from there. Seldom do I change my mind about what I posted. There have been times I've needed to do some tweeking of a picture. For those I use the picnik.com feature here.
I remove the obvious duds (if there are any, ha) and duplicates and can usually narrow it down to a handful. Then I do quick post processing on them and view them in a slideshow. Pick the one that gives me the best emotional response, if you know what I mean. Usually the more I look at my images the harder it gets - that first gut instinct is usually right. THEN after picking one, I do more editing on it if it needs it. So I try to decide pretty quickly before I've stared at them too long and talked myself out of picking the one I know deep down is "the one".
I ask advice sometimes, usually from my 11 year old, but I think it's cheating in a way. If you want to improve and develop a style I think you have to force yourself to pick your best work, and understand what you like and don't like. If you've looked at them too long and can't decide, I'd walk away for an hour, then come back and quickly look and one really should stand out.
It is good to hear what other people think (otherwise why are we posting them up here) but ultimately you're doing this for yourself right? So pick the one that means the most to you, not hubby.
That's excellent reasoning behind choosing your own image - i have to work to develop my eye, not rely on someone else! That's a new project-within-a-project for me, thank you!
I narrow it down, then knock out shots that are similar. Yesterday I had three shots of myself laying in the grass, but I liked all of them. My arms and expression were slightly different in all. I took out the one with my eyes closed first, then I decided between the two left. Some days I have a very hard time deciding. On those instances, I'll pick one, after much debate, and the rest go into my extras album on days when I'm not so inspired.
I have been known to post a photo, and then come back an hour or two later and change direction by posting a different photo. I look for clairty, happy accidents, unexpected photos that turned out differently. if I am between two or three I decide do I want what will make me happy or may appeal to my followers (about 50-50) on my decision making. And then at the end, go with my gut.
i choose the one i'm most proud of,sometimes there is more than 1 from that day so i add them to my fb page and occasionally i fall back on them as filler shots if i miss a day with my camera
I became an ace so i can pick 3 per day! No kidding when I can't make up my mind I ask myself if i'll be able to do the same one another time (like architecture or cityscape). If the answer is yes I don't choose it!
When I get down to a handful I go through them quickly... looking at them as large thumbnails and picking two or three that stand out. You have to be quick and ruthless.
I narrow mine down to a select group (3-10 images). I put them in a folder for consideration. I sometimes ask my husband to select. I often select the one image that has the most meaning to me, one that I want to talk about, and/or one that is the most typical of what I did that day.
@dmortega Thanks for link to that good article! I find I don't like looking at collages very much - so as a "cheat" to get in a bunch of images, it's not my favorite. I guess my real goal every day is to try to put up something that is a photo I feel good enough about but which I hope is arty or funny (with the occasional beloved cat). I don't take a lot of photos, but I spend a lot of time thinking about what I want to take and, now more often, fooling around with editing to get some kind of arty effect. Many times I put the photo up and see something I don't like about it and pull it right back down and edit or replace it. I'm AMAZED how much time I spend - a lot of it though is looking at, faving, and commenting on others' work - this is such a goldmine.
@reba --- Yep, collages are hard to do but they do have a place in photography and in our projects. I've seen some really creative uses of them here. They are a part of almost all editing programs and should not be counted out for use in processing anymore than b&w's or sepia or any other editing feature out there.
If it's a choice between a really nice picture picture of a vase, or an action shot of a gecko riding a skateboard, I'd choose the gecko every time! Because, hey, I can always take another picture of the vase again tomorrow, but when am I ever going to see a gecko on a skateboard again?!
My 365 project is all about creating a visual representation of my year. I try to make each daily photo a reflection of what my day has encompassed or the main thing/highlight/feeling I've had going on that day.
Eg. if it's a day when I'm going to the dentist then working then walking my dog, I'll pick which of those things best summed up my day overall and use that as my shot. (For the record, I'd probably go with something dentist-related for the day I just described because that's not something I do everyday :) That's how I choose between multiple shots of my day.
My photos are certainly not always what I'd consider 'visually pleasing' or even 'well composed' but as I look back on them I can remember each and every day for what it was.
I have a few steps.
First, I make an album that particular day. Then I go through all of the shots and place photos from that day into that album based upon technical excellence. I then go through that album and compare similar photos and delete from the album until there's only one left.
If I am stuck between a few, I usually try to pick the one that I feel represents my day best, since for me that is an important aspect of this project; creating a sort of visual journal of my year. If I have a more generic photo, I keep it in the back of my mind for use as a filler shot.
I sometimes get my cat to pick. I stand him in front of the computer and see which one he pays any attention to. Usually he just turns around and sits down, so which ever direction he turns in, is the winner. Very scientific.
I just try and go with one that sums up my day or just my favourite from that day. That's why I found the 30 Day Challenge so difficult and have practically given up on it. I don't always want to use one of the challenge ones, I'm still following the challenge, just not religiously because I want to put up my favourite =)
remove the duds. Go through one by one, if still can't find just one, I go away and do something else. When I come back later on it's usually much easier.
Sometimes I've had a specific idea in my head- my selfies were all preplanned so I just picked the one that came out best. The gratitude one is harder, some days I'll have an idea of what I want to portray, others I have a few possibilities.
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but, i do have ace, so sometimes i put stuff in the 2nd album if i'm having a hard time deciding...the only issue with that is, the stuff in my 2nd album doesn't get much notice
Lately, I've been taking lots of pictures and I find doing collages helpful but even then I've got to use a sparing hand in choosing pictures for it. I try to simply create a mood or an overall feel and then link to my flickr pictures if there are more to the group.
There are no hard fast rules on choosing though, these are mine. I don't ask anyone for their opinion because this is my project. I took the pictures for a reason and I am the one who knows why. And I don't overthink it. I find if I start second guessing I get a bit crazy about the details. Life is not perfect and neither will my project be. I just pick the one that stands out the most and go from there. Seldom do I change my mind about what I posted. There have been times I've needed to do some tweeking of a picture. For those I use the picnik.com feature here.
I ask advice sometimes, usually from my 11 year old, but I think it's cheating in a way. If you want to improve and develop a style I think you have to force yourself to pick your best work, and understand what you like and don't like. If you've looked at them too long and can't decide, I'd walk away for an hour, then come back and quickly look and one really should stand out.
It is good to hear what other people think (otherwise why are we posting them up here) but ultimately you're doing this for yourself right? So pick the one that means the most to you, not hubby.
If it's a choice between a really nice picture picture of a vase, or an action shot of a gecko riding a skateboard, I'd choose the gecko every time! Because, hey, I can always take another picture of the vase again tomorrow, but when am I ever going to see a gecko on a skateboard again?!
Eg. if it's a day when I'm going to the dentist then working then walking my dog, I'll pick which of those things best summed up my day overall and use that as my shot. (For the record, I'd probably go with something dentist-related for the day I just described because that's not something I do everyday :) That's how I choose between multiple shots of my day.
My photos are certainly not always what I'd consider 'visually pleasing' or even 'well composed' but as I look back on them I can remember each and every day for what it was.
First, I make an album that particular day. Then I go through all of the shots and place photos from that day into that album based upon technical excellence. I then go through that album and compare similar photos and delete from the album until there's only one left.
Sometimes I've had a specific idea in my head- my selfies were all preplanned so I just picked the one that came out best. The gratitude one is harder, some days I'll have an idea of what I want to portray, others I have a few possibilities.