Photography

Nature and architecture, 20 years amateur: 90+% are technically good; of those, probably 10% are aesthetically good; of those, 1% I really like. So 1/1000 overall that I really like.

I shoot found subjects, so I take some shots immediately so that I have a shot of the subject; these have a very high failure rate. Then I compose a few different ways, to get different framings, backgrounds and exposures. Some of these are deliberately not what I want, so I am always pushing the envelope and trying new things. Then occasionally there is a shot that I want (typically due to lighting, as I shoot only natural light), and it may take me a dozen frames to nail it.

I also do street and wildlife photography, but have much less practice at either of these. Street I can do technically, but like others have said, it's 1/1000 aesthetically (most shots are just boring). Wildlife I have not yet figured out technically, so I have yet to take a good photo.

3 to 5%, roughly.

About 50% but I'm really choosy on my compositions.

I average out at about 10%.

I started in the '70s, as a broke teenager shooting film, so I've still got the habit of being stingy with my shutter button.

For 'live' circumstances where I have little control over what's in front of the camera like sports, I usually get about one keeper for 10 clicks. With a little more control or a planned event, like a wedding, I might get 3-4 keepers out of 10. In studio, with a model, I might get better than 5 out of 10.

From my hobbyist perspective. doing mostly street & portraiture with occasional event, of those I shoot, exceptional are ~1%, and worth a print.
Very good are ~5%, and they may or may not be printed.
Good ones are 10-20% - those are usually good enough for social networks.

This doesn't include any experiments with lights etc of course, since success rate for those cannot be measured - it may be a trash photo, but it may also give me a better understanding of how light works which is a success for me.

Also, since I have shaky hands, there tends to be slight motion blur that's not pleasing on ~30% of quick photos I take, which irritates the crap out of me, but I can't do much about it sadly :)

Oh, my, it's like someone took lines out of my Obsidian Daily notes and posted them online! I am 100% in your boat, down to when we bought our first real camera. Stay the path! The way I like to look at it is, as long as there was ONE shot during an outing it was all worth it in my opinion. I'm going to PM you to ask you some more questions!

If you speak about picture that I really like and would print at one point we're talking about 1 out of 10.000

I do family photos. I take an average of 300 photos per hour session and while I might have 70-100 that are great, I always choose max 45 for the gallery for the client. But outside of that, I’d say my success rate is about 75% but I learned film first so I don’t take extra photos, I snap one or two and move on

In my opinion, if you consider yourself a photographer and you have enough experience as a photographer and a bit of creativity you surely "see" the photo before taking it and when you do it will have all the elements to be a good photo both technically and in composition, now if you take 40 photos and then you realize that only one is apparently qualified as a good photo, you definitely do not have what it takes to be a "photographer".

If you have the knowledge and skill to master your equipment and artistically you can see a good composition, you have no excuse to say that out of 40 pictures you took only one or two that qualify as "good", it should be more.

Depends on what I'm shooting. My keep rate is usually around 60% for regular photos (portraits, landscapes, etc). But when shooting macro, that can drop to 30-40% and even less if I'm doing focus stacking. Those are the ones that are technically good and I'm willing to edit and possibly share.

Of those, around 1-5% are actually any good.

10-20% to show off to others from the esssion and maybe 2% to keep for portfolio also it means nothing to others around the world if you think the 1-2% keepers are good as they'll like your other ones better lol

I am a beginner photographer. Me and my camera and lens tend to go everywhere together these days. I put myself down as no rules photography. I'm mainly in do birds and creatures. But I would like to get into TFP. In my area. When I'm out I like to shoot people's dogs. And happy to give them a Email address if they wanted retrieve their photo. Most photographers have a limit on what they take. I don't. I think you can learn a lot by taking photos of all sorts of things? Just the other day a old photographer friend came with me and we took pictures of statue's. & she wanted some with the statues. I always happy to give her photos I take. She helps me out a lot with my photography etc. I have a old camera & a new lens. But not really limited to taking photos. Where most photographers have to be changed lens I don't. But saying that most photographers can't handle the weight I carry. You can get similar Lenses that don't weigh so much . I have learnt to take lots of photos and only keep a few. I shoot in manual mode 90% of the time . & Shoot Hand held. I carry a monopod on my pack. As sometimes you need stability. & A monopod that can handle the weight of my camera and lens. I use the three legged thing. Monopod. I also think lots of photographers give up because they don't have enough imagination .

I shoot a lot of nature and plane/automotive photography (so lots of close ups, not a lot of landscape).

I do wildlife photography. So my answer is "it depends"

I really do try to aim for ~1 in 5 to 10 being usable because I try to treat things like film. (Storage space and editing time get expensive if/ when you think about it)

But if I'm going for action shots, I will put on burst mode and shoot probably 20 to 30 shots in a couple seconds at high shutter speeds. Outside of action shots etc. I really try to keep burst to 3 shots max per set up.

It really does help that I started on film... So every 24-36 shots cost me $$.

So when I go out, I say "I have 2 rolls today" and take no more than 50-70 shots.

Event stuff usually 1 out of 4.
Working in the studio we sometimes spend hours to get one shot.

High volume school/portrait sessions I usually keep 50-80% for the client to choose between

Portrait photographer,

I tend to hit about 10% as “good” and 1-2% as “great” on shoots I’d consider as editorial or portfolio style, the stuff I do for fun and to be creative. Probably the same or a little lower for street.

For work in a studio for e-commerce use, maybe 50-80% depending on client and their needs.

This number will be all over the place though for different photographers and genres.

Been on and off with the hobby for over 30 years. Started with film so I learned quickly to get it right in camera so I had high success rate.

When I had the time to get back in, it was with digital SLR so my success rate went down a lot because I'm able to experiment a lot more. But it helps that I can see a picture and know what focal length I want to use.

I still experiment but I have reduced the number of shots I take, leaning toward get it right versus experimenting. My last two week trip, not took 800 shots versus my prior 1500 shots.

Out of that, may keep 75-100 and top 5 get printed.

But I do walks outside where nothing really stands out or nothing catches my eye.

So my rate is all over the place.

I stopped doing numbers and ratios. It is a relatively worthless metric. Instead see it more like, “did I get the shots I wanted or needed to get”.

That is a much more realistic metric to go by and much less frustration than pining over ratios.

I don’t think about my success rate? I guess 100% if I need 15 good shots I take 15 good shots if I need 100 I take 100. I won’t say I’m a pro but I’m highly seasoned. I’ve covered events and concerts race events done fashion editorials and portraits. I know not every shot is going to come out but it’s about getting the good ones. In time you’ll learn your camera and its settings so you’ll be able to quickly know what your settings are. Learn to “build” your shots. Scope your area before you shoot check vantage points angles check lightning conditions. Think about the shots you plan to capture. If you’re doing more portraits think about your lighting and what emotion you want the person in the portrait to have, are they confident, are they sexy, are they happy? Then think about how you can use facial expressions and body language to convey that. Props and style accessories are also great things to have especially when starting out. It gives your subject something to do. Adding a little movement can also help it doesn’t have to be crazy if it’s a guy try having them fix their tie or fiddle with their watch. If it’s a woman then you can try having them play with their hair or lean on one leg to extenuate hip curves.

Lastly, think of photography as a journey, no photographer ever starts off as a pro but that doesn’t mean you won’t capture amazing photos and experiences along the way. A great photographer is the one who tells a story and that’s at any skill level. Keep shooting and perfecting the craft 👍

P.S. some of my best shots are of my wife and dog too 😉

10% in studio, 5% outdoors

Your idea of ‘good’ will change as your experience grows

We need to coin a new term: Lucktographer -one who relies on his camera to automatically take hundreds of pictures, hoping that one will be somehow “perfect.”

Urban/Street: 40-50% (out of 4 to 6 shots per location)

Events (mostly birthdays): 20-30% (out of 150 to 200 shots per event)

Motorsports: < 10% (out of 300-400 shots per day)

Depends on the type of the gig. When I do generic event shoots, I take about 500-1000 in an hour (I shoot in burst mode), and about 30 of them make it at the most. So that makes it a success rate of about 3~6%?

Each time I raise my camera, I do like a burst of 5~20. Call me spray and pray. But hey, it works.

You can get to a level where a shot is successful from a technical (in focus, proper exposure) and basic photography (rule of thirds composition, level landscapes etc.) level rather quickly, particularly on digital where the cameras can do a lot for you.

Getting successful shots from an artistic perspective is an arms race between your increasing discernment of what makes a good photo and your ability to push yourself and raise your level to at least trail the former.

In other words its hard and tends only to get harder. But success tastes sweeter too.

I found a guaranteed way of increasing my share of keepers. I only calculate the share after culling out 1.9k of the 2k images I bring back from a birding session. This way I managed to raise my game from 0.5% to 10% of decent shots..