One thing I love about my photography business is that I get to share everything I learn with you and that includes knowing which photos to keep! Yes, taking your family’s photos and capturing that magic is number one on my list but a close second is helping moms and fellow photographers take better photos, understand new tips and tricks with photography, and have access to as many resources as possible.

So for this week, I wanted to talk about something that I feel is relatable for all moms and new photographers out there: Being obsessed with every picture of your kid because it’s your kid, and not knowing which photos are worth keeping. How many of you have camera roll sections just full of the same moment but each photo has tiny differences that you can’t seem to part with? I get it!  I’m here to help you understand which photos are keepers and which ones you can delete and I promise you won’t miss them.

How to choose between good and great photos

Let’s say you’ve just taken 20 photos of your kid in his or her Easter outfit and you don’t know how to choose between the good ones and the great ones. (Because let’s be real, we all know which are bad pictures and how to delete those.) I always ask myself “What story does this photo tell?” There is a place for “it’s just cute!” but which one would you want to print or put into an album to tell your child’s story? When I ask myself that for my photos or for culling a client’s gallery, it makes it a lot easier to sort through.

What is a bad photo?

Now I mentioned “bad photos” before and I want to be straight on what I mean. Don’t delete photos simply because you think it’s not perfect. A great photo could be blurry but it’s capturing pure raw emotion or a beautiful happy moment and that is most definitely worth saving. For a photo to classify as a great photo, it doesn’t mean that it’s “technically” correct with perfect lighting and posing. A great photo is an image that makes you feel something or helps tell the story.

What are you doing with the photos?

Think about what you’re doing with the photos. Do you have Chatbooks linked with your phone or Instagram to print them? Do you make an annual family yearbook of photos? It’s wonderful to have lots of photos of your beautiful children, but what are you doing with them??? Ask yourself what you are planning on doing with 20 different photos of the same moment and maybe it’ll be easier to whittle them down to just one or two.

Or maybe there is a purpose for each one of those photos, if that’s the case then you can in good conscious keep them all. You could make a cute grid of all their little faces from one moment. Kind of like a photo booth. But you’re not going to do that with every moment, just be real with your expectations.

Slidebox

I’ve started using Slidebox to help sort and delete pictures on my phone and I highly recommend it. Slidebox is a photo organizing app that makes it way easier to organize all your photos and cull through them when you have a million of one shot. I originally heard about it from Janssen, tried it out and I’m never going back.

It can be overwhelming to sort through photos with only slight differences especially when they’re photos of your kids and each one makes your heart melt. Find some quiet time later in the evening and sort through them when there aren’t a lot of other distractions going on. Pick the ones that tell a story, capture a moment, and have a purpose. Then let the rest go. You got this!

Check out my blog for more photography tips and tricks!