Showing Off Your Photos

In this digital age, we often take lots (and lots) of pictures. When we sit down in post, it is easy to write off some of our pictures as horrible and useless. The hardest part is choosing which ones to share with others.

When you start going through your pictures, after you download them to your computer, it best to take it in stages. Start by deleting the pictures that turned out under/overexposed that you can't see much detail in as well as the ones really out of focus. Next, remove the pictures that the background or foreground is in focus but the subject is not.

Now, assuming you have pictures with the subject in perfect focus (which should be a goal every time you press the shutter button) remove the pictures that are even a little bit fuzzy. For now, just separate these from the rest of the pictures; you can delete these later if necessary.

At this time you should have only the best focused pictures immediately available. Now, you want to choose the best of the best to display for your viewers. When you put together your photo album/portfolio, whether paper or digital, avoid "overwhelming" your viewers by too many pictures of the same subject.

You may have difficulty choosing the best one out of a handful of similar pictures because you really like something about each of them. Get past your own bias and get nit-picky. criticize your own work and pick the one that is best exposed, focused, posed, framed, and with the least number of distractions.

Once you get passed that phase, you now have the "Best of the Best" to share as part of your display. You know how entertainers always leave their audience "wanting more"? That is the mind set you want to have when showing off or promoting your photos. Leave 'em wanting more!

Have fun with your shooting! ~ Michael