“Discovering” pictures in your library

Something weird happened, after showing Emma’s slideshow, a lot of people, including the parents had the above shot as one their favourites.

But this image was actually recovered from my rejected pictures and almost found it’s way to the recycle bin.

When I browse through my pictures I pick/flag the best ones, these are also pictures that don’t need to any photoshop corrections besides the normal exposure and contrast adjustments. This is my A list and these pictures normally make the preview or slideshow presentation. Test shots , blinkers and under/over exposed shots get the rejected (Keyboard command – X) flag.

But there are usually a lot more images to discover in your library when you look at them a second time. What works for me is letting my images rest for a while before taking a new look at them. I exclude my A list and focus on the pictures that are less than good. I also check the rejected pictures before actually deleting them. I turn out the lights (Keyboard command – L) and use the crop board to see what potential an image might have.

This is what the original image looked like … a very uninspiring test shot