Um yeah, that's what I thought I said. The idea when looking at a set of images, in this case 36 since that relates to this stuff people used to use called film (It's a long story, just trust me on this one) where 36 was pretty much the longest roll of film you could get.
So you look at a set from a single roll and that is your "batting average" if you will. If you hit the ball out of the park every frame, well then, you are hired. If you only get one or two good shots out of a roll, then you should keep your day job, but not quit photography either. That's more than many people get.
My point was to post 36 consecutive images, I'm sure I used that word, to see hoe frequently you hit the ball out of the park slugger. Also looking at a set of images of a single subject tells a lot about how you approach making a photo. Do you stay with a single M.O. and hammer away or do you hunt around searching for the right POV? Do you change lenses (or zoom) or do you stay with a single lens?
In martial arts there are said to be ten different directions an attack can come from; the four cardinal points, EWNS, plus the ordinal points, and above and below. You can approach your subject the same way. Decide which position gives you the best result. Each position has meaning. Generally speaking, when shot from below, the subject is monumentalized, from above the subject is diminished. These are generalities and not rules, there are many other elements which conspire to present an overall effect.
A question to constantly be asking yourself as you look through the viewfinder (instead of the lcd screen) is "Why am I doing it this way? why am I in this spot instead of over there? What am I trying to say about this subject and is this the best way to get that across? What can I do differently? What could I have done differently? And finally, the crusher: Is this the best I can do? or as someone else once asked me:
"Are you satisfied with that..?" Another teacher I had set the standard for a well resolved compostion (note the use of the word resolved, for it is a problem) as being such that if any single element were changed the entire thing would fail. Again, one teacher, one opinion, but very helpful excercise.
And when all else fails some fortune cookie wisdom:
If you hit the bullseye every time, then the target is probably too close.
Some awesome images here BigV, keep it up.
My secret to increasing my batting average is to destroy any negative that doesn't pass muster. My pile of negatives gets smaller, but the ratio of good shots gets bigger.
