Thought I’d pass this along to anyone who has struggles with editing their work. You have to break down an image and look at each separate part and how it adds to the whole. A good image talks to me; it’s telling me a story, so I look at the elements that either support the message or detract from it; and so it begins. For me, it’s a process. I first will look through all the photos to get a sense of what I have to work with. Next, I go through and tag the ones I feel in my heart, the emotional connection. Next, I start ripping them apart, looking for the faults in a photo. Composition – is it composed well, are limbs cut off, is there an awkward space in the image? Lighting – after all, what is photography but painting with light? Is the lighting so bad it takes away from the moment, or does it pull me into the moment? The background – is it distracting or enhancing the photo? Are the subjects in the photos drawing me in or drawing me away from the story of the image? Next I compare similar images. Which is better? Is the problem in the photo able to be cropped out? Was the lens choice appropriate for this picture? I then go through all the images I have not chosen because it’s always good to take a second look.

I go over the images quite a few times, deleting images with each pass. If this doesn’t help you, I can.