Why Take So Many Photos of One Event?

Most of the parade photos taken with the Canon 7D Mark III and a 70-300mm lens. Click the image to see a larger version.

Why do event and assignment photographers take so many images?  I am asked that question on a regular basis.  For this year’s 4th of July parade I captured 138 images. 135 of them were taken with a pair of DSLR cameras and 3 with my iPhone.

This simple answer is you never know which image of a subject will be the best image of that subject, so you take several. Your first image of a subject might be a good one, and maybe even the best one, but you won’t know until you take several more. The second or third or fifth image might be even better. With a promising subject you shoot several images and then pick the best.

Let’s look at a couple of examples.  At the top of this page is a screen capture of Adobe Bridge with most of the parade photos taken my Canon 7D Mark II and a 70-300mm zoom lens.  (My other camera had a 24-105mm lens.) My camera captures a RAW and JPEG file every time I click the shutter so you are seeing two images of each photo.

Adobe Bridge, early parade photos. Click the image to see a larger version.

Early in the parade I took several images of the approaching color guard with the U.S. flag. Not far from me was a girl in red, blue, and white stars, so I took some photos of her. Then a photo of some people across the street Then I went back to the girl. Then some more photos of the color guard.

Adobe Bridge: the girl in red, white, and blue. Click the image to see a larger version.

When I went through my images to pick my favorites, I definitely wanted one of the girl.  The first two photos of her were good, but not quite what I wanted. Photos 3-5 were the better. There is good eye contact between us.

Lamoni 4th of July parade.

After going back and forth to take another look at the last 3 images, I finally decided photo 3 (file number 6082) was the best. She has a great smile on her face. I marked it with 3 stars.

Adobe Bridge: Color Guard images. Click the image to see a larger version.

Of the two groups of color guard images, I liked the second group best.  The differences between the photos in the second group were less obvious. I took a second and third look at all five of them and finally decided I liked the third image (file number 6087) best. I marked it with 3 stars too.

The U.S. flag leading the 4th of July parade.

Taking more photos gives you more choices. Of the 138 parade photos I created, I picked a dozen of the best (first link below) and sent them to the local paper. They ended up publishing 5 of them.

National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore takes from 20,000 to 40,000 images on an article assignment. Only 10-20 of the images end up getting published with the article. See the second link below. If NatGeo photographers, as good as they are, take lots of photos, think about how important that is for the rest of us.

Taking lots of photos does not automatically make you a better photographer, although it can help. You become a better photographer by reading “how to” photography books, going to photo seminars and workshops, taking photography classes, and then going out and practicing the skills you are learning.  When you go out on a photo assignment (whether it is your own project or for someone else), take enough photos so you have some choices at the end that make you happy!

Links

4th of July Parade, Lamoni Iowa

How does the National Geographic assignment process work? by Joel Sartore