In the great olden times of photography, each shutter activation was tied to a fair amount of expense and effort. Every *click* was soon followed by an hour in the darkroom. Failing that, each shot would at least be developed at the drugstore and the results would all be delivered in hardcopy. Either method cost enough money/time that only the rarest photographer would be willing to shoot many photos of the same scene.
The result was that the older photographer would take time to frame a shot, viewing the scene their mind, making sure all the settings were right, and taking a single photo with their fingers crossed. Once prints were made, a good photographer might look each one over and decide how they would have improved the shots that failed.
And this is something I rarely do. Instead, I'll have 10 photos in a series, each taken in rapid succession, each with minor changes in settings. I'll modify the exposure slightly in search of a good setup. I'll take a few photos in hopes that one will be in focus.
And then I go to my computer and choose the best one of twenty, and discard the remainder. I rarely make prints. I don't look at the results too often, and the bad results are ignored before they were even half seen.
And this moment, when the photos are done, when nothing remains to adjust and all the light meant to be captured was captured, and all the light that could have been is lost, this is the moment where I have not been taking my lessons. Instead, I discard the results.
I know that print examination makes a difference. I know because my office has a dozen prints on the wall. And I look at each print and I know where I got things wrong. And each print tells me what to improve the next time I shoot. And I remember some of these lessons the next time I shoot.
But these few are the only prints I exmine. Thousands of photos and only a dozen get critique.
This is where I can improve.
