How many shots per roll are you happy with?

[daninjc]

I voted 1 per roll - but that's way too high. Shots I'm really satisfied with (not talking of exposure and focus) are probably less than 1 in every 5 rolls, or something like that... (well, we have to set the bar high). Shots I can show to friends, maybe 2-3 per roll. Obviously much depends on what kind of photography I do - with street photo having the lowest success rate.

[Brian Levy]

Though I shoot very little 35, my satisfaction level standard is the same 100% safisfactory shoots. However, if I get 1-2 excellent and good enough to printg and hang and the balance are decent to very good, then I am a happy camper. Of course this does not count when shooting new film, a new camera or testing something else. Then if by the end of the roll if I've dialed it in, I'm satisfied.

[p.giannakis]

I shoot a roll per month so i suppose i will be very have if in one year i have 12 good pictures taken....

[tokengirl]

I guess it depends on one's definition of "good frames". If "good" means correctly exposed and in focus, then I strive for 100% and maybe one or two frames should be cut from the strip and tossed.

But that's not how I define "good". For me, "good" is a photo that just works visually, irrespective of the technical aspects. If I get one "good" photo from a roll of film, then I consider that success. Anything above that is a bonus.

[sepiareverb]

I'm more in the rolls per shot category.

[sjw617]

I am surprised to see that over 50% of responders have 3 or LESS shots per roll that they think are good.
This makes me think of guys complaining about digital post processing. If you get one good shot per day / week then your digital post production should be minimal since you wouldn't do the non-keepers.
It also gets me thinking of archiving... do they throw out the 'bad' ones or have an archive of over 90% bad shots?
And it gets me thinking of the people who say digital users over shoot. If you have 1 or 2 keepers, aren't you doing the same.
I think this poll tell us that we have to think more of composition and exposure.

What do you think? What does the poll tell you?

Steve

[DNG]

I don't use all 36, maybe 30x, but I will photograph 2-5 frames of the same thing in a few different angles and or f/stops, and see which one works best. (I generally know ahead of time, But I like options later when I re-visit the photographs later, I might see a different variant as the better photograph).

So I voted 6+, Because that would indicate that a few photographs in a small series where good to go, instead of 1 photo, in that series.

Edit:
Let me be clear, these 6+ are good photographs, I may not have any "outstanding" photographs in that 6+, I may have 1, maybe.
So, as far as keepers, 6+, as far as "outstanding", 1 maybe

[DNG]

Originally Posted by sjw617

I am surprised to see that over 50% of responders have 3 or LESS shots per roll that they think are good.
This makes me think of guys complaining about digital post processing. If you get one good shot per day / week then your digital post production should be minimal since you wouldn't do the non-keepers.
It also gets me thinking of archiving... do they throw out the 'bad' ones or have an archive of over 90% bad shots?
And it gets me thinking of the people who say digital users over shoot. If you have 1 or 2 keepers, aren't you doing the same.
I think this poll tell us that we have to think more of composition and exposure.

What do you think? What does the poll tell you?

Steve

I don't delete "bad" photographs, unless it just OOF. I may find, down the road that one of those photographs works for different reasons. Or I may find my Post skills can "make" it a better photograph.
So, yes, I do archive the whole roll. You never know what the future brings.

[ooze]

Looking back in my archive, so far it's been about one frame per ten rolls that I've been really happy with.

[menthel]

At the time I shoot- lots. By the time I dev and scan, a maximum of 1!

[dct]

If good means "winner", those few photos I (would) print and put it on a wall, show it to other... I would be around 0.1 per roll.
Looking at the discussion here I suppose the OP equals "good" to "normal personal keeper". Than an average of 3 out of 36 images is my personal feeling.

[mike rosenlof]

Too many variables. What defines "happy with"? There are lots of different criterea...

Good enough to upload to flickr.
Good enough to E-mail to your mother.
Good enough to print.
Good enough to hang on your wall.
Good enough that a friend will hang it on his wall if you give him/her a framed copy.
Good enough that someone would buy at an art fair.
Good enough that a gallery would represent.
Good enough that a museum would buy.

or maybe...

Good enough that your client will pay your invoice.
Good enough that your client will use it more than once.
Good enough that your client will use it more than once, and pay for the additional use.
Good enough that your client will hire you again. (maybe these last two are the same!)

[bgb]

"happy with" to me means good enough to show to my friends and good enough to have an enlargement for the wall done.
I figure one per roll whether 35mm or 6x6 more is nice but one image that exceeds my expectations is a great feeling.
With digital my success rate is higher ... but only when i shoot B&W

[mnmleung]

two on a very good day ...
but I like them all, because photos are like a journal for me

[chathaway]

...to slap on flickr, a couple per roll...to print and put on a wall...one or two a year, maybe...

[Godfrey]

How many good frames do you need from a 36 frame roll to be happy?

Any is good. ]'-)

[JayM]

Originally Posted by chathaway

...to slap on flickr, a couple per roll...to print and put on a wall...one or two a year, maybe...

Ditto. Flickr for me is more of an edited contact sheet.

[thirtyfivefifty]

One day I would like to shoot a photo set on a slide roll.

[Sylvester]

I never had my "perfect" shot that I would blow up the size of my wall if I could, but normally I have 3 or 4 pictures that I like enough to post on Flickr and print 5x7... maybe 1 for a 8x10 blow up...

[Rayt]

I would be happy with one per roll.

I am beginning to throw away the negs that didn't cut it due to space limitations and ease of cataloging. However people I know prefer to have the entire roll intact in a Printfile even though they are rejects. With mounted slides I just toss the rejects but seems people don't do that with negs.

[Araakii]

Originally Posted by SimonSawSunlight

somewhere in between 20 and zero (on a 36 exp roll). hardly ever more than twenty. but even in the rare event of 20 satisfying shots (happens more in 'reportage' rather than 'street'), I'd still edit them down to a selection 4-8 frames, usually.

I don't think I ever had a roll full of craps but I largely agree with your range. For me it's roughly this:

Happy: 3-20
Proud: 1-6
Lifetime keeper + large print: 1 every 2-3 rolls

[BobYIL]

When I estimate as close as possible, I think I have seen around 1.000 photographs of HCB since 1964, including books and online sources. Assuming I was able to see only half of them, let's think that he had some 2.000 to 2.500 pictures all together issued, printed and exhibited. These all in 50 years, roughly 2.500 weeks... meaning more or less a picture a week. Probably Henri was shooting 10 rolls a week, if not more.

So if I get one frame per 10 rolls worth of keeping then I am pleased tremendously.

[Dektol Dan]

Photography is the same as shooting skeet. If I don't make at least .500 on a roll I can't live with myself. I live for making the shot, I have learned to see compositions 'come together'. That's the skill and the joy, it's like improvisation in jazz, one plays to what is on his plate at the moment. The rest of it can go hang.

[Peter^]

Originally Posted by charjohncarter

I need 3 but if I get even 1 that is a triple A winner I would be happy. The problem is the 1 winner I get is usually not the one I thought it would be, which means I get zero intentional winners.

I can relate to that. It's never the one I expect to be good, but the one I just shot without thinking about it.

[DSkjaeve]

I would be very happy with 1-2 keepers per month. Didn't see that option so I went with 1 per roll.