EJMcD

Many times after taking multiple images of a subject, I often find that my first shot was the best. Does anyone else experience this?

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Many times I do too, or the last, after all the consideration and adjustment.

davidrb Loc: Half way there on the 45th Parallel

If the first shot was the best why was there another?

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

If you're not wasting your time chimping shots, you don't really know until later.

EJMcD

Did not know it was the best until I compared it to the additional images!!! How would anyone know it's "the best" if there were no others to compare it to????

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Yes! Funny. I guess that proves that we're great photographers, and one shot is enough.

EJMcD

That's one theory (that I don't believe) but I like the way you think!

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

Yes I do a lot of the time

DougS Loc: Central Arkansas

I have found this to be true for me, also... most of the time!

starlifter Loc: Towson, MD

10-4 on that one.

Sunrisepano Loc: West Sub of Chicago

That reminds me of the story of the photographer with the view camera on the beach. He was setting up while the models in bikinis were getting their hair and makeup done. When all was ready, the models got into the water and on signal, they ran toward the beach. The photographer snapped the picture and proceeded to pack up. The art director approached the photographer and quizzed "Only one shot?" The photographer answered "How many are you going to use?"

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I have had the first shot of a burst turn out well, but it is not something that happens frequently enough to make me avoid bursts.

I used to shoot events for PR for an organization I belonged to. There were frequently shots of someone at a podium, speaking. There were two guys, high up in the organization, so they were frequent subjects, who would contort their faces into the most amazing expressions while speaking. Their face could do that in the few milliseconds between deciding to take the shot and the shutter opening. The ONLY way to get a good shot of either of these guys was spray and pray. Many times I would take 3-5 shot bursts, winding up with 50-100 shots to choose from.

Another thing I encountered was when doing group shots with flash. Many times I would encounter a blinker. There are two kinds of blinkers: most frequently someone will blink in response to the preflash and their eyes are closed when the shot happens. Another kind has a delayed response, so they will blink after the shot. The first kind is addressed by raising the ISO to the point where it doesn't affect the IQ too much but allows the flash to loaf so it doesn't dump all the charge in one flash. Then you can use a high speed burst and get 3-4 shots of the group on a single charge. The first kind of blinker usually recovers by the third shot and you can get their eyes open. If you have both kinds of blinkers in a group, it's tough to get everyone with their eyes open in one burst. If that happens, the only remedies I have are (1) take longer bursts; (2) swap heads in Photoshop. Since you took a fast burst the background doesn't change much so it's really easy to swap heads without worrying much about the background changing.

Sometimes multiple shots are necessary.

This is digital. The shots are essentially free. The cost of a shot is (1) amortization of the capital costs of the equipment (so the more you use it, the less the shots cost); (2) your time in selecting the shots. The second cost is the most important one. However, multiple shots provide some insurance for those shots that are nonrepeatable.

EJMcD

I have two theories...a) lack of confidence but more likely b) we're always striving to improve our skills. Probably a little of each.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Yes, or the last shot. So say of 5 to 8 takes of a subject, numbers 1 & 5 or 8 are most often the keepers.

EJMcD

All so true for portraiture. However, landscapes, still life and other subjects do not blink.