
Am I taking too many photos during a shoot?
Thursday 10 April 2025, 20:40 by Elja Trum | 2,897 views | 3 commentsThis article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.
Some photographers work out every photo meticulously before pressing the shutter. That's not me. I create a setup, take a few test shots and then let my model move freely, while I keep moving too, taking a huge number of photos in quick succession.

I once saw Annie Leibovitz walk onto a set in a documentary where her assistants had already set up the entire shoot, including the camera on a tripod. She arrived, pressed the shutter once and left again. That may well be the other extreme.
During my last shoot, as you can see in the screenshot above, I took a total of 2,906 photos in around 3 hours and 15 minutes. That's 15 photos per minute, so one photo every 4 seconds.
That's quite extreme, even for me. But 1,200 photos in three hours isn't unusual for me.
It helps if you have an experienced model, as I did during this shoot. A model with plenty of experience can often smoothly keep coming up with new poses. Combined with the wonderful eye autofocus of my Canon R5 and a zoom lens, I take a huge number of images in a short time.

So almost every image is different from the one before and after it. The downside is that picking out the real gems becomes quite a job. In general, I get around 25 photos from a shoot like this that I'm genuinely excited about.
Maybe I should try taking a bit more time over each photo. What's your approach during your shoots? Share it in the comments.

About the author
Elja Trum is the founder of Photofacts and online photography course website Photofacts Academy. He has been writing about photography since 2006. Elja is also the author of (Dutch) books on composition, black-and-white photography, flash photography and portrait photography.
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3 comments
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Donald Willemsen wrote on Thursday 10 April 2025 at 22:50 | replyIn the analogue era I did virtually nothing other than model shoots. I used 2 cameras, one with black-and-white film and one with slide film. After about 4 hours (that long did a shoot last) I came home with 4 slide films and 4 black-and-white films. That did cost a fair bit.
Translated from Dutch.
Now with digital photography, I notice that I am still economical. I am no longer specifically focused on model photography, but photograph more broadly. Nature and landscape and street photography now feature much more and then I do come home with many more photos, but that does not run into the thousands per day. I take the time to make a photo, actually still too little time for my liking. For me it is pleasant to do it calmly. No quantity but quality.
Everyone works in their own way and that is what it is about.
Elja, you like working with experienced models, because they already assume a number of poses themselves during the shoot. In my eyes, you are then presented with a number of standard poses and you have to make do with that.
I do not like working that way. I as the photographer decide how I want to photograph a model. OK, in consultation with the model, but ultimately I decide. You know the saying: He who pays, decides. Of course a number of agreements are made in the preliminary conversation in which it is made clear to the model what is expected of the model. As a photographer I do take the model's wishes into account. That should therefore also be discussed in the preliminary conversation. In addition, with model photography I ALWAYS work with a contract. In any case, during a model shoot I never get over 1000 photos in 4 hours. -

Elja Trum
wrote on Monday 14 April 2025 at 13:52
| reply
The 'standard poses' are often the poses the model knows look good on them. And it certainly isn't the case that you can't give direction, that actually works a lot more easily with experienced models too.
Translated from Dutch.
Of course I also always work with a contract as standard. -
Jannes Nijkamp wrote on Wednesday 16 April 2025 at 14:30 | replyThe time you need to review 2906 photos would be better spent during the shoot. 1500 fewer photos should suffice in my opinion.
Translated from Dutch.
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