[Pho.Edit] Selecting your Best Shots: What to Keep vs Delete?

Selecting your best shots, also known as culling, is a key part in developing your photographic style.

It is this taxing process that most photographers hate, which involves reviewing a batch of very similar photos from a single shooting session, usually in the range of hundreds, and making a decision as to the final, best images from the day.

To make this guide more specific, let’s narrow down the genre to street photography, as an example of the general principles.

Throughout my 8 years of shooting streets, here are a few considerations I make in selecting what to delete and what to keep. Let me know if they apply to you as well!

Here is how to select your best shots:

  1. Compare the colours across the photos and keep the one which has the most interesting colour combination.

  2. Look for direct eye contact from your subject to the camera, as it elicits more powerful feelings in the viewer.

  3. Decide on how well interactions between the subjects are depicted. The photo that does this more effectively should be kept.

If you find this helpful, SUBSCRIBE to my channel via the box on the left to make the most out of my blog! Also, do share it with people who might be interested. Shoot me an email/ DM to share your thoughts too!

Also, Pin this article to your Street Photography/ Photography Editing boards in Pinterest if you find it helpful!

If you want an overview of my process of selecting photos, watch this video:

 
 

Why is Proper Photo Selection Important?

This process of deciding what to keep and delete is tiring for a reason - it forces us to make a deliberate artistic judgment as to what is good photography.

But don’t gloss over this process because even in a batch of near-identical photos, there are some that reflect your style better than the others.

These subtle differences can influence how the message itself is perceived by the end viewer, and of course, the intensity.

And from a practical standpoint, you should refine your judgment on which photos to keep and delete for the simple reason of keeping a smooth workflow.

Deleting shots that you are likely never going to see for the second time in your life does a huge favour to your storage too.

Colour Combination/ Colour Schemes

Why choose based on colour?

The most straightforward reason in this context is that colour is often the main difference between two near-identical shots.

One common practice of street photographers is to stand at the same position where you see a potential shot coming while people move across the streets.

You don’t know what is coming next, but you know if you wait long enough and keep shooting, you would be able to get a good enough photo that fulfils a composition you had in mind.

People walk into the frame from many possible places at any moment. So there is no time to review your shots on the spot and you don’t get to choose who comes into the frame.

Therefore, you end up with a set of images where the background is entirely the same, but the subjects are wearing different clothes. Colour then largely differentiates what should be kept vs deleted.

On a more personal note, this is a practice of refining your own colour palette, which develops your photographic style. Read more about colour schemes and why they are important in this article I wrote, “Effectively Improve Photoshop Skills for Photography Retouch”, and I shall not repeat myself here.

What to look for in terms of colour?

In most cases, you want to choose the shots where a subject clearly stands out from the background. In other words, create colour contrast.

You don’t have to be overly particular about the exact colours in the photo because if you wish, you could manipulate the colours in editing after you have decided which to keep and delete.

A rule that is generally effective is simply to look for cold and warm colour contrast. Where the background consists of reddish or orangey tones, flick through your photos and choose one where the subject wears blue or green, and vice versa.

As a matter of personal preference, I tend do keep the shots in which the subject wears a bright colour as opposed to dark ones, simply because the human eye is naturally drawn to bright areas in the frame.

The caveat for this though, is that you need a dark subject if the background is almost completely white and washed out.

Example

This pair of images were the final two that I got after deleting all the blurry ones and those where the person didn’t quite walk into the position I wanted them to.

These street shots were made at Kowloon City in Hong Kong during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Color Scheme Choose Best Shot Keep vs Delete.jpg

In this scenario, I saw the red pillars at the back, or orange if you will, and thought of the above composition in my head. I then stood at the spot and kept snapping as different people walked down the streets.

On the side note, people in Hong Kong tend to wear predominantly neutral tones, aka black, grey or white.

Technically the black outfit, as in the case on the right photo, would turn out alright.

But I wanted to create more interest in my photos as in the photo on the left, where this cyan outfit really stood out from the warm tones in the pillars.

To make the contrast even profound, I carefully matched the colours so that they are close to the complementary colour scheme. This is why the tones are different for the two pictures.

This exemplifies my thought process - considering colour contrast, I decided to keep the left one and not the right.

(Direct) Eye Contact

Why choose based on eye contact?

Rethink the times in your life when someone says, ‘look at me’. They were probably trying to say something important to you and want your full attention.

Eye contact facilitates the delivery of a message. When you, as a viewer, see the subject looking back at you, it stirs up more intense feelings in you, whatever that might be.

And generally the reverse is true - you can’t really tell what is going on if you don’t see the person’s eyes. A huge part of emotions are shown from the eyes, as I explained in greater length in a previous post, “How to Evoke Emotions in Portraits?

The funny thing is that street photography can be intimidating to both the subject, and the photographer. It takes practice to overcome the inherent guilt and fear of confronting someone by pointing a camera at them.

Often, you get a bunch of shots of people’s backs and you secretly hope that they would just turn towards you for one second.

And then they do. And you captured that moment before they could flee from your camera.

What kind of eye contact?

See how the word ‘direct’ is bracketed in the heading.

Direct eye contact is the strongest form of eye contact and therefore it can seldom go wrong.

However, this can be difficult to achieve in some circumstances. I feel anxious when the subject I want to photograph seems threatening or hostile.

And if people said that they don’t want their photo taken, you have the moral obligation to respect them. For matters like these, no is no.

Besides, sufficient interest can be created where the subject is looking at a direction. This directional eye sight creates an implied line in the picture, which leaves a creativity gap that is up to the viewer to fill. This concept is discussed in more detail in my previous article “How to Compose Interesting Instagram Portraits using Implied Lines”.

In simple words, select your best shots based on the strength of the subject’s eye contact.

Example

This line-up of shots were also made during the COVID-19 outbreak in Hong Kong. In fact, all examples shown are taken from a street shoot session I did around the Kowloon City area.

Select Best Photo Eye Contact Street Hong Kong.jpg

I saw a potential in this scene where a cleaner picks up trash along the streets, and the old man functions as a frame to add some depth.

So I held my camera and started clicking. I shot this on a DSLR and the shutter created quite a bit of noise, which caused this alerted look on the man’s face.

Once he saw my camera, he looked away. The rest of the shots didn’t speak to me as much as the first, because they just looked like two random people doing their own thing on a random street.

But the first one was powerful in catching the viewer’s attention because the man’s eyes breathes life into the photo. It invites you to engage in the scene as if you were there.

Therefore, I decided the first photo was the best in this series and delete the rest.

Interaction between Subjects

Why choose based on interactions?

Two dimensions are usually better than one, given that the context of the shot is about a relationship or a community.

You can’t have a community with just one person.

Sometimes, street photographers see one interesting subject and start shooting. But a while later, a second subject that is related to the first appears into the frame and the two start this little dance.

Once this context of community emerges, the point of interest shifts from being on the first individual, to the interactions between the two, and possibly to the implications of such interactions on the broader community to which the two belong.

While a better story can be told with two subjects, it also takes more skill to make sure they are not distracting each other from the viewer’s attention.

What is good depiction of interaction?

To be precise, you choose the shot that depicts this interaction the best.

There are many problems that can come up when shooting multiple subjects. But the general principle is that you want to delete the shots where the subjects appear to be fighting rather than dancing.

A common example is where they are blocking each other from the camera. Or that they are not showing enough chemistry due to where they are looking and what they are doing.

This is a very subjective decision - if it largely up to you as to which photo depicts the interaction best.

Simply put, choose the photo in which there is a nexus between what they are doing.

Example

This series of photos are taken through the window of a cafe in Kowloon City.

Choose Best Shot Street Hong Kong Interaction.jpg

At first, there was only one barista preparing some pour over coffee. However, moments later, a second barista appeared to take something from the cupboard on the right.

Based on these four shots, the top left gets rejected because we now have better choices that could display this interaction between two baristas.

Next, I decided not to choose the one on the bottom-right. The fact that the second barista was looking into the camera broke something common to them two - serving the cafe together.

Lastly, between the top right and the bottom left, I chose the latter because in the former, the second barista was blocking too much the way of the first.

Make a conscious effort in choosing your photos - you will then have your own set of philosophies as to what makes an interaction interesting.

Summary

In this article, we talked about:

  • The importance of choosing your best shots right,

  • Choosing based on colour contrast,

  • Choosing based on the intensity of eye contact, and

  • Choosing based on how well interactions are depicted.

More sharing coming soon!

SUBSCRIBE via the box on the left for more PRO tips, and follow me on Instagram (@_bjiao__) and let me know what you think in the comments!

Share this article on Pinterest too!

Keep shooting, keep creating!

Donate to Belinda Jiao Photography

The mission of this blog is to provide the best insider information in the photography industry, as openly as possible. You have direct access to my

first-person experience as an aspiring photographer who talks, but also works.

Honest opinion are rarely available as public resources because this is a competitive industry. Huge sums are made when such information is delivered in the form of mentorship and workshops.

This blog is a great way in which I cover my daily expenses, but also provide real value.

If you have learnt something that would be worth at least $10, please consider donating to the page. This enables me to keep creating content and helping more people sustainably.

Your continued support for the blog is appreciated!