daledo Loc: Billings, MT

I just spent several hours reviewing photos and the relevant data for each. I found it very helpful to view the pictures and data about which camera, fstop, iso, shutter speed, exposure comp, lens used and the mm at/with which they were shot. I found several issues (habits) that repeatedly explained why some pictures turned out well and others not so good. It helped to see which cameras handled the iso and which didn't. It helped to see when I had neglected to appropriately reset fstop and/or shutter speed to match the new situation. It helped to see which lenses were sharper at what fstop. It helped to see which camera and lens combination handled which situations the best. I believe the hours of going through thousands of photos and data was a very good way to improve my photography results. Maybe not as entertaining as watching youtube videos by accomplished photographers. Of course, it is yet to be seen if I will remember and modify my practices.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Then, did you delete the failures, or continue to admire them?

That's a jokey serious question. You've described a very effective method of leveraging the benefits of modern digital photography. It can be distilled into:

Shoot
Review and evaluate
Research and plan corrective actions
Repeat

Missing as an explicit step in the learning process above: delete failures, keep only the best. If you can't find and compare best to best, how do you know you're getting better over time? Also, as well as looking at the EXIF, assure you're reviewing your images at the 1:1 pixel-level details, aka 100% zoom. At that level is when you know you've succeeded or should <delete>.

daledo Loc: Billings, MT

Yes the review at 100% was critical to the review. As many of the pics were of priceless moments with my grandchildren I didn't delete them unless the were bad. Not good does not mean it didn't capture the moment.

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

If a shot is terrible, I immediately delete it. If not, I tend to keep all shots (hard drive space is cheap) but only show the best. Of coarse, the bar has gotten higher as time goes by.

ronpier Loc: Poland Ohio

I try to cull my images at least once every year. Usually takes a lot longer as the library expands. Some shots would never be deleted, especially those of our children and our grandchild. Others get deleted very quickly but each review is treated as a learning experience for future shots.

Traveller_Jeff

And what about the 4-8 photos that you took at 1/10 of a second apart from each other to try to get the best fleeting expression on the subject's face or just the right moment that the bird's wing wasn't obscuring its beak. Do you cull all around the shot that you consider the "keeper"? EHD space is cheap enough, to be sure, but certainly you don't keep every single shot you took? Or do you?