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Image selection - not as easy as I thought it to be...


NdV

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Hi

 

I have spent quite some time in the darkroom recently to print photographs I have taken from my Asia/India trip. The image selection I do based on contact copies of the negatives.

 

What I realized when I reviewed the contacts with friends is that picture selection is a very personal, subjective matter and may differ greatly between individuals. Having a target of 2 to 4 good shots per roll of film (which I do not always achieve), I realized that other people would choose different pictures than I from the same role.

 

It makes me think that the image selection process has a substantial meaning and determines the final outcome more than I was aware of. Also, I realized there is a huge learning process behind it, selecting the good shots is not easy at all.

 

Thoughts, experiences welcome.

 

Regards

NdV

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For some, a contact print is good when they favor simple, strong composition but subtleties cannot easily bee seen. In the days when newspaper reproduction was poor, and just survived the kind of resolution one could see in a small print, the photographer would not even make contacts, but look at the film directly using a loupe and use a paper-punch to notch by the frame to print (in fact, I think Leica made a small device to simplify the process.)

 

I had a roll of 30 exposures printed at once on an 8x10 enlarger fit on 16x20", but it was to illustrate to a class how a photo emerged from alternatives. Fun but expensive.

 

It is still disparaging at times when someone says, "That's not a good picture" - most recently from my brother when looking at pictures of my Mother's funeral rites. But he's my brother and I can say he's just full of it. :) (He's a very successful writer)

 

OH - last word - Good photo or not - I came back from a day of shooting quite discouraged by my own work. The editor looked at the strips of negatives and said, "That one. Front page over the fold." I was amazed. I said I thought it was a rather poor picture. He answered, "Look, you were the only one there. You got the picture. That's how it works sometimes." Wise man.

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Did you see the recent thread that discussed looking at photos upside-down to make it easier to see the composition without being distracted by the subject?

 

There's no set way of choosing pictures. Here's something that may help you get into the swing of it. First, image selection is easier if you are doing it in the framework of an assignment or narrative. One way is to divide the images into four groups:

 

  1. No
  2. Only use if essential to tell the story
  3. OK
  4. Use if possible.

This sort of categorisation also helps when you don't have a particular story to tell. Start with group 4 and experiment with different orders (by country? time? subject? separate stories on various places or incidents?). Then - when there's something you like emerging, try choosing some from group 3 to enhance the transitions between the strong pictures. Or even from group 2.

 

Do your principles allow you to crop your images? If so, you have one more degree of freedom:).

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Photography is all about having a good eye. This aspect spans every action, from selecting the subject and taking the photo, to editing, refining and printing that photo. It's the hardest part to teach and learn (unlike technique), but is at the core of every step. The scalpel cut from the surgeon is cheap; knowing where to cut is the expensive part.

 

Each person needs to develop, and trust, that eye. Others will always apply their own vision to your work; you can't let that intrude once you gain your own understanding and confidence.

 

BTW, I raised the point in another thread about turning a pic upside down. That's just one of many techniques; the key is having a trained eye to know when a picture works (for you), or not, regardless of technique.

 

Jeff

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It is not exactly on topic, but I soon learned to take both a horizontal and a vertical shot of any subject, where possible, thus giving an editor a choice to suit the requirements. I was never a purist regarding cropping, although I preferred to utilise the whole negative area, even though I rather disliked the 2:3 ratio of 35mm.

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Hello NdV,

 

Welcome to the Forum.

 

Equipment does not compose for you altho it may to a certain degree define the parameters of your composition.

 

Composition is learned in the same manner whether you are painting, drawing or photographing. Film or digital. Light in all of these mediums is the same as are perspective, color, etc. You see something & capture it either as a moment in time or as a concept. The only differences are in the technology of final image capture: canvas, paper, etc as well as film or sensor. The final result is the same.

 

That being said you might consider looking @ the work of people who do work of the type that interests you. Whichever of these fields you find them in.

 

Look in magazines & on the web. Go to museums of fine arts & look in books.

 

It is important to take pictures & look @ them. It also helps to walk w/ a camera & visualize a scene & study it before taking a picture. You might, for example, set yourself a goal to only take 4 pictures of a subject maximum to capture what you want & try to do it in 1.

 

The more identifying & composing you do either w/ film/sensor or simply by pre-visualization alone the easier it will get, the more comfortable you will feel & the more capable you will become.

 

It can sometimes help if you put your camera on a full sized tripod & use a cable release. Doing this makes you define a structure to formalize your ideas of the final image by requiring you to purposefully compose. A really steady tripod w/ a large ball head.

 

In spite of the fact that @ first it might seem silly to carry such a small portable camera around on such a big clumsy tripod.

 

Another thing you might consider is working w/ someone you know who is also interested in photography or appprenticing yourself to someone whose work you like. The second you can do to a certain extent thru this Forum.

 

1 thought: If you do decide to talk to someone else interested in image capture, apprentice yourself to someone else, or even if you just read someone here for advice & you find you have a disagreement or you are disappointed w/ something they say it is often good to talk to them about what upset you or what it was you disagree w/ rather than to just walk away.

 

Enjoy your photography.

 

Best Regards,

 

Michael

 

BTW: As per Jeff's Post above: When I teach I often turn what we are talking about upside down. Whether it is a painting or something else. Sometimes a different perspective gives you a different outlook. You might try it w/ your photos.

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Selection is indeed not so easy. I print up likely images and stick them on a wall and live with them for a while before making my mind up. It is best to be ruthless in the cull and reject images unless you are sure about them as mediocre images detract from your good ones.

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