Photography help: Trust your gut

So have you been working away improving your photography skills?  One little tip because it is usually the most important thing about a photo.  Think about how it makes you feel first.  Is it technically perfect? If yes good! But if there is nothing that makes you feel it might not be great.  Conversely if you get a good feeling from a picture but it isnt technically perfect it can still be great, depending on the strength of the emotion.

 

Take this photo:

I was trying out a new camera for the first time in a set up as a practice, not work, just messing about in my studio (I would never take this chance on a paid gig).  The picture has lots of terrible technical flaws....  I was unfamiliar with the camera and didn't have much experience with the set up so its not up to my usual standard. Yes even pro photographers make mistakes! And we need to practice to learn with new cameras just as I always tell you lot to do.

While technically there is terrible framing, flary exposure, low contrast, etc, it has got a great "feel" for me, my daughter here was just dancing away with her favourite moves and I think it shows in her face and body.  

She loves Dance, she dances with her feet at the dinner table, in her room when she is supposed to be asleep, basically she is as passionate about it as I am about Photography, its always in her head even when she is not doing it.

I think this captures it, her pose, her fingers, her face, something about the picture relates that to me when I see it.  I think when I saw this it was the first time I realised how passionate she actually is about Dance.

 

So dont scrap "bad" photos, always trust your gut, if it speaks to you then keep it, maybe try to recreate it with better execution, but keep pictures that drive emotions, they are the best kind.