# Choosing Pictures: 7 Strategies to Pick Your Best Photos, Fast  ## About - Author: Melinda Smith - Title: Choosing Pictures: 7 Strategies to Pick Your Best Photos, Fast - Tags: #articles - URL: https://digital-photography-school.com/taking-out-the-garbage-7-tips-for-choosing-your-best-photos-fast/ ## Highlights As you’re choosing pictures you like, make sure you’re hyper-focused, not just on the main subject, but on the background, the foreground, and *any distractions that they might contain*. Distractions are easy to miss when out shooting, but they can seriously detract from an image, so it’s up to you, in the editing room, to identify them and send them packing. I’m talking about things like: • Telephone poles • Streetlights • Wires • Passersby • Cars • Fences • Trees Really, it all depends on the image – certain items can be distracting in one shot but work well in another – so take the above list with a grain of salt. But make sure you keep an eagle eye out for any and all distractions; that way, you can quickly reject photos that ultimately won’t work. - Note: This can help sort out personal photographs as well - are you distracted from the main image? --- If any photos have softness or blurriness, they’re automatically out. That’s my rule and I stick to it, no matter what else the photo offers. After all, if you’re shooting for a client and you include a blurry image in their package, what if they want to print it on a huge canvas? An image that appears blurry at low resolutions will look *horrible* when blown up big, so just don’t go there. Instead, get rid of blurriness as soon as you identify it. It’s often possible to instantly tell whether an image is blurry, but if you’re not sure, you can zoom in to one-hundred percent in your favorite post-processing program, check for focus/blur, then make your final decision. (This rule also applies to any photos that are way off with exposure. Just let them go!) --- When you’re choosing pictures, every time you come to a series of similar shots, be ruthless. Get rid of all but one photo, because no portfolio should include a handful of near-identical images, and no client wants to wade through a bunch of twin images, either. Even if both photos are amazing, just pick one. You can do this any way you like: flip a coin, always go with the one on the left, or (and this is ideal) pick the one that makes you *feel* the most, because one of the shots is bound to be better than the other. You might also consider checking sharpness, exposure, and thinking about which shot speaks to your style and your client’s interests. --- Sometimes, the best photos aren’t immediately visible. Sometimes, it’s the hidden gems that include the best expressions, the best moments, the most worthwhile scenes. So while you should go through your photos fast, if an image speaks to you, don’t immediately reject it, even if it has issues. Perhaps the shot could be great with just a little bit of magical editing. - Note: maybe keep tabs on photos the you love but didn't make the pick ---