Hi...my name is JamesAg and I have a problem...

[JamesAg96]

I can't seem to delete any of the pictures I take.

Even the obviously bad ones, I think oh well I like that out of focus shot of a strangers bum in front of my kid...hmmm, it's either a strangers bum or the back of a couch, oh for goodness sake {delete}.

Ok, maybe it's not that bad but it's bad. When taking pics of my son, or my son with his class, or really him doing anything I take a ridiculous amount of pictures so I can "catch everything". I have 110 pictures from his Trunk or Treat at pre-school yesterday, and that's after a once through to delete a bunch.

Similarly, I STILL have 305 pictures from our visit to the airport last week to see the B-29 and B-24 parked and flying around. Heck, half of those (more than half) look identical because I'm firing at 8FPS while they're in flight. Somewhat slower when they're on the ground. ;)

I'm losing it...or am I? Any of you folks experience something similar? Please tell me I'm not the only one...lie to me if you have to.

How does everyone else choose what to save and what to delete? Seems like a stupid question as I read that out loud, but I apparently can't figure it out.

I think some of it is wanting to capture as much as possible while lil dude is growing up, which I think is a side effect of me traveling so much and kids growing up too fast. It's only going to get worse on that point...baby 2 will be here in January.

[auddii]

I tend to still have a spray and pray attitude, and unfortunately my lens does not like that and will randomly go out of focus. That means I do end up with a fair number of out of focus photos. I really do need to realize that even a really cool idea that was not well executed does not make a good photo.

In fact, I recently posted a photo I took at the Renaissance Festival, and I really liked it. However, someone pointed out that it wasn't in focus. (It would have been a narrow depth of field, but I was too close for it to completely focus anywhere.) I had noticed it, but I posted anyways because it would have been a great photo. But, it wasn't.

I need to accept that I will miss some things, and I will mostly likely get better shots if I can anticipate something happening and plan for it. Also a better lens that can focus quicker would help, but I need to learn to use the equipment I have well.

Don't worry, you are not alone!

[prncfarquad]

I have done the same thing with my son as he has been growing up. I finally realized after I bought my second 2 TB hard drive something was going to have to change. Now unless a picture is in focus and I mean it has to be real close to perfect or perfect focus, I delete it. The number of good photos I keep out weighs the ones I don't get focused properly.

[groovyone]

Yeah, I am just now getting to the point where I will delete OOF shots. I somtimes delete them from my processing list but forget to delete the RAWs.

[ChrisTX]

I've gone through old photos before and had those 'holy crap' moments. I'll spot something in the corner I didn't see before. I end up cropping it out and that's what I end up printing later on. I've done that a few times. When I get home and go through so many photos, it's easy to overlook a little interaction in the background. I usually delete blatantly bad shots as I pull them off the camera though.

[BenE]

Easy to solve. Burn them to a DVD, and or

External hard drive. Storage is very inexpensive.

[scottbuckel]

These days storage prices are so low, why worry? I only discard the really bad images - the out of focus, poor exposures are quickly deleted, the rest are kept for the most part. Don't fret about stuff like this, just go out and take a more pictures.

Scott

[kenw]

It takes dicipline. I just went thru the folder for my grandson's 1st birthday and deleted the majority of the shots...maybe 70%. Especially if the bulk are of the spray and pray sort where the differences are indistinguishable. If I can delete those kind of emotional shots, anyone can!

There's just no reason to keep so many, go thru and delete some, then sleep on it. Then go back and delete more. eventually you'll have it beat and won't be buying new HDDs every week.....

And do yourself a favor: turn off the high speed advance!