Australian_Photography__Digital_-_September_2015_

you pick your best image, how important is creativity? Does

the image need to be sharp? Does a landscape need to work in

thirds? What about that leading line? They can be important

points for defining your best work in some images and in

other images, perhaps not.

Remember, the most important point is that you like it.

I rarely bother thinking about whether others will like a

particular shot. But I will consider some images for specific jobs.

This could be for use in a particular magazine. I rarely enter

photo competitions, but if I do, I make sure that any such images

are clearly marked in my filing system and easy to find.

This f lows on to downloading and it finishes with sorting and

rating my images in the field. When I’m on a tour I download

my images into one folder per tour, or country, each day.

This year I have created a King Island folder for our tour there.

I am also visiting Guatemala and Cuba so I am creating a folder

for each country. The images are in date order, organised by

simply dropping them into the folder, so it’s easy to manually

backtrack through and find something if it’s required.

I use Adobe Lightroom for my post-production work, to

import the images and to undertake sorting. One key for me is

that I have a strong memory of the day’s best images, fresh in my

mind, so I can rate these images using this starting point.

Sometimes it’s not until you look at the results on large screen

that you’ll see a photo’s true impact. I start with a ‘one star’

rating, which in my system means that I think they’re great

images, but they are not yet processed. I move through the

images and rate them as I go. Later, I will process the image

and once it’s finished, I will give it a rating out of five stars.

This tells me it’s ready to send to an editor, add in a book,

or use in some other option. Lots of variations to marking

images are available in different programs. Use the one that

suits you best, but my big tip here is ‘KIS’, or ‘Keep It Simple”.

Who wants to be working on a laptop for hours in the field when

you could be shooting, or simply enjoying a stunning location

(another important element of exploration which can sometimes

be overlooked)?

02

Redefine your best

At the end of an adventure, especially if I’m sitting

in an airport, I’ll go through my images for a second time.

I work on the basis that I’m looking at them with fresh eyes,

because I’ve had a break from my initial sorting. I confirm my

best work, but I will go through this time looking specifically

for images which might have another use. Images which will

work in black and white don’t always show themselves straight

away. What you think is a ‘hero’ image might not interest a

magazine editor. What you think will work well in a photo

36 AUSTRALIANPHOTOGRAPHY.COM AUSTRALIAN PHOTOGRAPHY + DIGITAL SEPTEMBER 2015

ABOVE
The Flinders
Ranges offers
great landscapes
and iconic outback
shoots. This shot
is an iconic Aussie
outback image.
Canon 5D Mk III,
70-200mm lens
@ 200mm,
1/750s @ f/8,
ISO 400, hand
held. Vibrance,
contrast, shadows,
sharpened.
Adjusted in Adobe
Lightroom 5.

HOW TO Pick Your Best Images