To delete or not to delete, that’s the question

And I say “not”. Especially when you are learning to photograph.

Never mind what other leading photographers say: I am not a fan of deleting images in your camera. And I do not think you should be, either. And here’s why not.

  1. You are using up your camera’s battery.
  2. You are using time that can be used better in other ways.
  3. You are looking elsewhere than at your subject, so it stops you from taking pictures.
  4. You will delete the wrong picture – or rather, the right one, by mistake. It is not a matter of “if”: it is a matter of “when”.
  5. The bad image may not be as bad as all that – or it may be the best image you are going to get.
  6. Most importantly: if you are learning, you need those bad images. You need to hold them by the good ones and look at the EXIF data, and determine why you went wrong. How you can do better What modes work, and which ones do not. By deleting the bad,you are depriving yourself of a great learning opportunities. Delete them when you have done the learning – on your computer.

That is why I am not a fa of deleting images “in camera”.

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