How Long Do You Wait Before Processing Your Photographs?

I will usually wait a day or two before looking at the images. I've found that I am disappointed that the image does not match what was in my head. I guess this is the emotional attachment Winogrand spoke of.

By waiting I get some distance and have a different perspective on the shot. Sometimes a day or two is not enough and I will hide them away to look at weeks or even months later.

problem with winogrand is that he took so many it would be impossible not to wait a year. there are still unprocessed photos. and considering he could shoot 8 rolls of film per block, i can't see how he could be attached to any of them.

for the most part, i do a few as soon as i get home. whatever was my favorite if there were any. i don't have any real emotion attached to anything. still though i will do a few now, and a few later and the further the way it is i am from it the more i erase. mostly its because i might have better stuff. and if i didn't do it in a year, it probably isn't worth doing.

for a long time i went to a critique site, and i can critique things pretty fast, which also means my own stuff. i edit in camera as i shoot, to prevent myself from having to edit later on. and as i make it i see where my eyes go and erase things that don't belong, balance things till it looks good. then move on to the next forgetting about the last one i made.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

Winogrand shot non-stop and ended the day with a bag of film rolls. I think he liked the act of pushing the trigger.

I shoot much more purposely so I tend to look at my stuff as soon as possible. I'll pull out a few winners although I may go back later and revisit the images to see if they fit a purpose.

There is no reason not to use the LCD and make sure you got what you wanted before moving on. Winogrand shot like a machine gun - pray and spray.

Nope.

I can't wait to see my images on-screen. I usually go through them the evening/night after shooting, and work on them over the ensuing few days.

Which is not to say that I don't often go back through my archived images, months and even years later, looking for overlooked gems and things that can be tweaked and changed along the way. It's an endless process, but I have to at least look through them ASAP.

I have zero interest in being emotionally detached from my photographs -- or any of my other creative efforts -- for any reason. I'm trying to think of why that might be a good idea . . . . No, I don't see it! ;-)

This year I processed files from even 2008 yr. Yep! Usually it takes a year or so. In some cases I process in few days, but only to see if all went ok.

Around 100 to 300 years.........just sayin'

Dave

It is the first thing I do when I get home!.Ok, maybe the second thing. I upload and process my fav. Especially if I am emotionally attached to an image that I love. If I am excited in the field, than I definitely am excited to see what I get at home..ITs like Xmass for me sometimes. There have been a few times that I waited over a year because I did not know where I wanted the image "to go." For instance, this image below:



I shot it in 2010 and did not process it until 2013. I didnt know what it needed. I knew I had something but just couldnt figure it out and I did not know how to process it properly.

I agree that Winogrand was a little exceptional/eccentric, having shot probably several million photos on film over his career. He obviously felt a need to be emotionally detached and perhaps concentrated too much on the the technical composition rather then the concept of an image "telling a story."

Perhaps the bigger question is "should we be emotionally attached to the image?" I guess there's a difference between what makes the artist "happy" and what would be technically great, or commercially successful.

- Richard Reeve
ReevePhotos.com

Depends on how long it takes me to drive home.

that guy would have been happy with a camera that had no film. i think he even clicked in his sleep. i saw a film on him and he seemed jumpy if he didn't have a camera plastered to his face. he seemed to point the camera at anything and anyone. sure he had a few ok ones, but i really wonder how many images were even close to being usable.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

I don't get out with the camera that much, and if I feel like I may have some keepers, I try to load them when I get home, unless something detracts from that happening. I do occasionally go back into my files and look at older stuff to check and see if anything can be reworked/improved upon.

"sure he had a few ok ones..." yes, Mike I guess he did :-)

However, my point wasn't a critique of Winogrand's work but of his philosophy of "emotional [temporal] detachment" from the work to allow a really clear critique of the piece.

- Richard Reeve
ReevePhotos.com

so was i, how could he have an attachment to things like that? why would it take a year? i'm sure that was an excuse for not having enough time to look at what he made because of all the things he shot.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

Not very long! Since its so hard to tell how good it is by looking in the LCD. But I do go back and look at stuff that I may miss. I don't see the point in waiting a year especially with film which can be tricky as it ages. If someone is that attached maybe find someone who is bad at shooting but good at processing.

Until seven months ago, I almost always loaded the images that night and began working on them right away. Now without my own computer and with my hospitizations there are images on my camera from July.

I like to upload right away and make a quick pass through them just to mark the best ones. I then can let them sit for awhile before going back through in a more detailed manner. I only delete really bad shots and will find hidden gems from years back that I'll decide to work on.

I don't delete in-camera at all anymore after this experience at the San Diego Wildlife Park, I would have lost an awesome image if I'd gone with my first instinct to delete the horribly under-exposed picture I saw on the LCD screen: http://www.imagesbydebra.com/blog/2013/10/various-animals-at-the-san-diego-zoo-safari-park-san-diego-scenics

I import images when I get home, but usually will only process maybe 1 - 3 and the rest will wait till I get around to them. I have images going back 5 yrs still waiting on me. lol Though I try to wait at least 3 months after I've edited an image, sometimes just cannot wait. And when I don't wait is when I usually miss things; i.e. tiny birds / items that should've been removed, messy edges, etc.

~ Charly

I like to pick out my favs and process them first, then look at the others maybe a few weeks later but I also am revisiting those from a few years ago

I do it very soon, but then I don't always upload them here. I will put the edited ones at the beginning or end of my file folders and let them sit a while. I have some I've not uploaded in over a year. After working on an image, I tend to lose perspective. I'd prefer not to upload something just to upload it. When I revisit my older folders something I've edited may jump out at me, and I go "whoa, that is cool." Lol. I like the surprise.

I do edit in camera, I hate clogging up my Eye-Fi, and thus target devices, with crap I have to delete everywhere. That being said, unless I know I got something phenomenal, I tend to wait weeks if not months to closely review my work. It's not to gain emotional distance though, I am emotionally attached to all my work. I just find I have a clearer, more critical eye if I let some time pass. I generally wait a day or two to upload after I think something is finished as well, just to be sure I was right.

I normally upload them as soon as possible and delete the ones that are obviously no good.
I will then go back to them a couple of days later after working on other images.I will then look at them in more detail and again delete the ones that I don't like until I'm left with the ones I want to keep.
They go to the back of the queue in my 'working on' folder

In this digital age I'm still cautious about carefully composing and making every shot count. That is probably from decades of conditioning from my darkroom days with the accompanying expenses, papers, film developers, drying drums,etc. I'm slowly getting a bit looser and take more and more exposures with digital than I ever would have with film. Yes, I process them immediately as soon as I can and I know which ones to look for as my "emotionally attached" favorites that I was very excited about at the time of exposure. To wait a year would be torture for me. When had a darkroom I just couldn't wait to start developing my negatives and making thumbnail sheets. Some ingrained habits are hard to modify.

I used to process right away. Now I find I wait a day or two. I'm getting pickier about what I keep too.

I have not read this thread .... I usually wait somewhere between two weeks and two years.

I make images that speak to me, then when I go back and look at them later I notice new things I didn't see when I clicked the shutter. Likewise, I also go back on images I have processed and use new techniques or technology to make them 'better'.

When I was in college, I would curate my portfolio and then put it on the shelf for some time and look at it again. I always found myself tweaking improvements.

It varies depending on what I'm doing, what else I need to do etching, so can be minutes to years. One of my favorite images took a few years to figure out how to process it.

I love going back through all my photos from years back and finding gems. I edit and post what hits me when I'm browsing through. It might be new. It might be a scanned photo from 20 years ago. If it doesn't hit me just right, I won't do a good job on it. It's all about inspiration to me.

Usually on the same day. During times when I have nothing to edit I will review older photos that I decided not to edit for whatever reason.

I load them into the computer as soon as possible and sort out the ones that have potential. I don't delete the others, just leave them aside.

I don't overthink that kind of thing. I see no need to. I rather prefer not waiting too long, so the details are not forgotten on an image before I do something with it such as uploading to FAA. This helps with my descriptions and related data.

If I take a lot of pictures, I'll start uploading them soon, mainly because I shoot RAW these days and it takes hours for a large amount of the files to upload. I also want my memory cards to be ready for another big outing when one comes up. If nothing much is pending, I don't bother uploading image files until I have a pretty good batch built up in the card. I certainly don't wait months or a year!

Now I will say this... I am still learning and improving techniques, skills, and I love to experiment. I sometimes view older photos and use them as a measuring stick to see how far I've come with something and as a result, have sometimes re-shot things a year or more after the original shoot. I believe that logic dictates I can improve with experience and experience has proven this to be correct.

for street photos maybe couple of weeks!

I wait too long. Although often I go back and find images that I like better than when I first looked at them.

I don't wait longer than it takes me to fix a cup of coffee or tea.... but I think it is true. Not just with photography but any art piece I have ever worked on. I see much differently months later.

Thank you all for your thoughts so far.
I guess it's obvious that when we review our work from a (temporal) distance we see the images differently. It would seem that many are happy to work the idea and image immediately, perhaps because it keeps the creative continuum in motion, whereas others prefer a bit of breathing room. I'm not advocating any particular approach, in fact, I think it depends not only on the individual but also on the uniqueness of the situation, and the enthusiasm that "the image" generates.
I have varied from processing and uploading within minutes, to leaving images for a few years to review in detail and even leaving processed images for a while before deciding that they weren't what I was looking for after all.

As an addition to this, do many of you also show your images to others before uploading to FAA to gauge an audience reaction?

- Richard Reeve
ReevePhotos.com

One month before I look at them
Another couple of months (at least) before I finish editing an image. I do it in small steps and keep on coming back to the image to see it afresh. This isn't hard and fast, some images are much quicker than others, but I see no point in rushing something that could lead to substandard results and a "What was I thinking?" a few months down the line.

The only other person I show my images to pre and post edit is my wife, who is my leveller and the only person I can trust to give me an honest opinion.

I wait as little time as possible...usually one of the first things I do when I get home. I have to at least open them and see what I've got, especially if there are any I feel particularly excited about. And if I open them, I will likely start processing the favorites right away.

I try to start editing as soon as possible after taking them, I usually have something in mind when I take the photo in terms of how the end result will look, so I think that working on it early helps keep the plan and the feeling of the location in my head while I edit.
I might not share or publish it at the time so I can go back a little later and look at it with fresh eyes and make some adjustments then, or photos that didn't immediately stand out to me I'll come back later on to see if I can make something of them by approaching from a new perspective.

Like Valerie said there is also the anticipation of seeing what you've got from the shoot, I don't know how people can leave it so long before even looking!

I show my work to my husby so he can fulfill his obligation to tell me I'm The Best Artist in the World. It's in the prenup.

LOL Susan!

It all depends on how many and what it was I took. Typically 1 day - 1 week before I look at them. For trips, I typically look at them after getting back. I move the photos I like onto my computer, and back everything up on to my external drive. I usually start working on a few right away, but then I switch back and forth between the new photos, and others that I have pending to be edited. Helps keep me from getting bored with the same scene. Sometimes it is over a year or more before I get to a photo.

It all depends. Anywhere from a few days to several months. If I know I got something that really pops, I'll work it as soon as I can.

As soon as I get home!

Since I started doing this full time, it seems I always have more images to process than I have time to process them. I often wait because I have to choose between processing and shooting. Shooting takes priority if I am in an area for a limited time. If I intentionally delayed editing and processing, I would have such a backlog they would never get done!

This thread got me thinking. When I was stationary, I had a normal cycle of up and down times with photography, and in the down times I would go back through older images and look for those that I missed on the first pass. Having been on the road for a year, it occurred to me that I don't really have many of those down times. I decided maybe I should set aside some time once a week or so to look back on the images I shot that week the year prior. This is one that I found from last September. :)

Aha! I recognize that amazing view, Loree. I wish I could have captured such a beautiful image when I was there in August, but unbeknownst to me -- it was Fahreeeeezing up there, and I was in summer clothing. I'll know better next time.

Perhaps the bigger question is "should we be emotionally attached to the image?" I guess there's a difference between what makes the artist "happy" and what would be technically great, or commercially successful.


Richard,

To me at least when an artist says they are producing only to make themselves happy....I see that as limiting oneself.

It is assuming dam the world I will never study how people see art and respond to art. If you make a work of art and do not care how
people see art......what was the point in making it?

If I make a sweater with no arms and holes in the body of the sweater to let the cold in.....because I do not know the human form....why
did I make the sweater? If I make a drab gray sweater for a friend and do not care that she will be depressed wear the sweater she will
not wear it. Why? For my happiness?


Dave

@David,

I like to believe there are people out there with the same or similar reactions as me. My photography is primarily for me. It brings me satisfaction and I constantly strive to better my own work. My windows wallpaper is set to rotate through the folder of all the work I have online for sale. I noticed the other day that seeing those images, some I had forgotten about, really does make me happy. It's nice to have that gratification when someone buys a print. But, even if nobody ever bought another one, I would still do what I do. Life is too short not to.

Well that's an interesting question, David.

I make art because I enjoy making it and it helps fulfill a sense of achievement. I would like it if others saw in it what I do, but this is not always the case as art is always a personal statement to the world. Now, what the world wants to do with it is up to the world. In my case, sometimes I create work because I want to tell a story, other items simply because I have a fun idea, yet other times because it's a technical challenge. I also have a big ego, so having a ready made audience on the web is great for that! Now, am I emotionally attached to my artwork? Well, yes, but not in the sense that I am emotionally attached to my family. As a photographer there is sometimes that feeling of joy that I have caught "that perfect shot," just as I planned. This may be directly ex camera or after some post-processing. The point of the original posting was really to ask whether people act immediately on this feeling and upload the work straight away, or do individuals wait a bit for a moment of emotional sobriety afforded by temporal detachment from the creation process before posting?

As an aside, I don't think your analogy to making a sweater is quite appropriate. A sweater has a physical function - to clothe - as well as a secondary one to be pleasing to the senses. Art on the other hand exists to please the senses and may only incidentally have a secondary, practical role such as covering a hole in the wall, perhaps ;-)

- Richard Reeve
ReevePhotos.com

Whoa Loree, how did you miss THAT beauty! o.O

Lol! I shot a lot at Crater Lake! There may be more still....

Thanks Susan!

I never, ever consider making art for anyone but me. Never. If others like it, that's phenomenally awesome, but I don't make it for them. I live for making art, the process is every bit as important as the finished piece. If I don't feel an emotional attachment to a piece, I move on to the next.