To curate your photos means to ‘care’ about your photos. So when you’re curating your portfolio; figure out which photos really speak to you — and why they speak to you!
ARS BETA: Photography Feedback Platform
If you’re not sure which your best photos are, share it to ARSBETA.COM to get honest and real feedback from other passionate photographers.
Keep or ditch?
A very simple way to think about it:
Do I want to keep the photo or ditch the photo?
Or even simpler,
Do I want to keep this photo? — If so, why?
Why don’t we know which photos to keep or ditch?
The difficult thing about discerning which photos to keep or not is because of the following:
- We aren’t sure which of our photos are our best photos.
- We aren’t sure which of our photos that others will like or not.
- We don’t have enough visual education to discern whether the photo is good or not.
- We don’t have the vocabulary to describe why we like or a photo or not.
Practical solutions:
- The photo is either a “HELL YEAH!” or “no.” If you feel luke-warm or “so-so” about the photo, it isn’t a meaningful photo. Therefore, ditch all “so-so” photos. Or the simple saying, “When in doubt, throw it out.”
- Decide whether to keep or ditch the photo in about 5 seconds. If you hesitate, ditch the photo.
- If you’re looking at a photo, and you feel your heart flutter a bit (in a positive way); keep the photo.
- Don’t worry whether others will like your photo or not. Rather, only keep photos you like.
Which photos I care about:
For myself (ERIC KIM) this is how I choose my own photos:
- Do I feel the photograph is simple enough? Are there too many distractions in the background?
- Does the photograph have an emotional impact to me?
- What does the photo say about my personal view about humanity and society. Is this photo opinionated enough?
- Is the perspective unique or interesting? (I generally like photos that surprise me a bit– photos shot from a super low angle, or a super high angle)
- Does the photograph have emotional impact? Does my soul feel anything when looking at this picture?
- Will I still like this photograph 10 years from now, 20 years from now, or 50 years from now?
- In terms of aesthetics, do I think the photograph is beautiful or ugly?
You choose.
Ultimately, you choose. You are the ultimate judge of your own pictures– whether you decide to keep or ditch them.
Be brutally honest with yourself, and disregard what others may say.
If you like your photo, it is a good photo.
JUST SHOOT IT.
ERIC
If you need assistance keeping or ditching your photos, upload it to ARSBETA.COM
My personal favorite pictures
