What makes a good photograph? There's no single unified answer, but I would argue that a good photograph is one that has a clear structure, draws the viewer's eye towards a focal point, and tells a story or evokes an emotion. In my dalliances with photography as an art form, I've deleted far more photos than I've saved, let alone posted - to the tune of 2-3 shots deleted for every shot kept.
When I think about the photos I delete, usually they're variations on a shot that I tried a few different ways before settling on the "right" one. Maybe the subject didn't have enough room, or the framing felt wrong, or I didn't like the angle. This is reasonable enough, and how most photographers who shoot in digital work - digital memory is cheap these days, and it's easy to just shoot away when you don't need to worry about expensive film.
An example of a photo I followed my gut on - saw the juxtaposition of the man at the bus stop and the Tiffany ad, and just took the shot because I didn't have the luxury of time.
On the other hand, when I look at the photos I keep, the shots that stand out the most to me are the ones I took because of a gut feeling. With these shots, I didn't need to play around with framing and positioning much, I just saw a subject, composition, and framing in my mind's eye (mind's viewfinder?) and took the shot.
Sometimes these shots are prompted by urgency - like the previous shot of the man at the bus stop. In other instances, the subject is static, but I am immediately drawn to it and don't need to do much work on the composition. It just falls into place, like it was meant to be shot and framed in that light.
The Local 9 IBEW tag - this was next to a much larger mural that would've normally been a primary subject, but for whatever reason, this smaller tag stood out to me and felt compelling to shoot.
So what's the lesson here? Only take a shot when your gut instinct compels you? To the contrary, unless you're exclusively shooting film, you should take a wide variety of shots, then edit ruthlessly.
This is the second place where gut instinct comes in - choosing what shots you keep and discard. When you're scrolling through 200 photos in Lightroom, you cannot be precious about keeping similar shots or you'll very quickly find yourself drowning in almost-identical shots with no distinguishing features. That is not what I would consider a good time, and is an easy way to make photography a very unfun hobby.
One of my favorite gut instinct shots - I saw the sign and the stairs, and I just knew someone would walk up them eventually.
When choosing what shots I keep and throw out, my first metric is: does this photo inspire a strong emotional response in me, or tell a compelling story? If not, it's going out, no matter how technically sound.
It can be hard to do this! Sometimes I take a technically sound photo, with good composition, framing, and structure, but I find myself lacking a strong emotional attachment to the overall shot. To me, this is not a shot worth keeping.
This is where gut instinct plays a big role - you, as an artist and a human, have a gut feeling about whether something is compelling - whether it is art or simply an image. When looking at photos, whether on social media or in a museum, keep an eye out for ones that create a sense of aesthetic pleasure in your brain, and try to interrogate why that is - it will help fine-tune your sense for what kinds of photos you want to keep.
This shot of a guy working the grill was a keeper because it evokes a strong sense of place and stimulates the senses - you can imagine the smell of barbecued meat and the smoke stinging your eyes.
Another way to hone your gut instinct is in cropping the images you do decide to keep. Don't be afraid to shoot a little wide and then crop the image down later - any relatively modern digital camera sensor already shoots large enough images, especially if you're shooting with a full-frame sensor.
Crop distractions from the edges of your shot whenever you can - try to ensure your composition draws your eye to your subject. Obviously, it's best if you don't have to crop, but don't throw out a compelling photo if you can salvage it by cropping out a minor annoyance.
Additionally, don't be afraid to crop to reframe an image - if your image has too much sky, just crop it. It'll make your photo look better, and unless someone is pixel peeping, they probably won't notice!
Another favorite gut instinct shot - I love this one because it's an action shot, and asking my husband to reproduce the pose wouldn't have had the same outcome. I only got one shot, and it landed.
To be clear, I am not a professional photographer, just a passionate hobbyist, and this is what works best for my style of photography. I do think all photographers use a degree of gut instinct in their practice - getting better at it is simply a matter of fine-tuning that instinct, not being afraid to try new things, and pushing yourself to think about what makes a photo compelling to you.
Ultimately, photography, like all art, is simply an expression of the artist's creative spirit. Don't sweat the small things. Get out there, take some photos, and have fun with it. When all is said and done, creating art should be an enjoyable process.
A shot that I could've easily missed, but something drew me to the bench with a couple sitting on it - I'm glad I took the shot.
