How Many Pictures Did You Shoot?

spent 3 weeks in France and have 3 albums of pix and this is after I deleted many and kept only about half and this was our 4th trip to france. I loved them all and couldn't get rid of any more. I get great enjoyment out of looking thru the albums with a good glass of wine. My suggestion is keep them all if it makes you happy, the price of printing the pictures in comparison to the price of your vacation is small and you will enjoy them for years to come.

That is not two heavy -- maybe 5 or 6 pictures an hour. Came back from one trip and my processing bill was nearly $300. A digital camera was my next purchase. With the digital I shoot a lot more than I did with film. In my film training I was taught to always shoot a half stop up and half stop down to bracket the picture. Never did not becaues I didn't want to burn that much film. However, with the digital I will shoot four or five picture of the same subject with full stop up and down. I have sometimes shoot over a hundred pictures a day --- But almost every evening I will hook the camera to a TV and quick scan the pictures. I may dump half of them. But I think my photography skills are much better with the digital camera than film becaue I am not afraid to experiment with the shot or the set up. Right now I have over 2000 digital pictures on the computer. Have got to clear some of them out.

Furnacefighter sounds like you had a great vacation, but I bet it would have been even more awe inspiring had you not seen the entire thing through that tiny little viewfinder on your camera.

However, if you loved your trip and love all of your pictures then you took the right amount of pictures. It all depends on what you find to be acceptable. The most I've ever taken was about 100-120 on a 13 day trip. But that's just me.

Remember that your camera will instantly put a barrier between you and the culture you've paid so much to experience. When your camera is out locals immediately know that you're a tourist. In some places you wouldn't care, like the Tower of Pisa. But if you're taking a picture of the restaurant you're about it eat in then everyone inside will treat you like a tourist. It's not that people don't like tourists in Europe, but you won't get the proper perspective on the culture in many places. You can't photograph a culture, you can only experience it.

That is jerrod's opinion. But it is certainly not an opinion I would completely share. First, four or five pictures an hour is hardly seeing the world through a viewfinder. Second, I have seen "photographers" loaded down with long lens, camera bags, tripods, and would apply Jerrod's comment to most of them. But they have a different objective than I do. At one time I did have multi lens, different speed films, camera bodies, and was constantly fussing with lens and tripods. And it did get in the way of enjoying the trip. Cannot tell you how many hours of 8mm video I have that has never beem watched. For me, the digital has simplified my photography life. I use a very small, high end, point and shoot digatal and now I find that I focus on the picture rather than the equipment, I taking better pictures now then when I had better equipment. Anyone want to buy a complete Contax G-1 (RF )set up with three Zeiss lens?

We are leaving for our trip today, 2 weeks in Italy... and I full expect to come back with thousands of pictures. I like taking photos... so there will be times when I'm going to be standing in one spot for a while waiting for the perfect shot. But there are also times when the camera will be put away so I can enjoy it with my eyes. I'm going to Italy to take pictures... and to see it with my eyes.

When we visited Italy for two weeks., we used our digital camera and almost filled the memory stick.. took it in to a local camera shop in Aviano and had a CD burned and started over.. We took over 900 pictures and as was posted,. three to five shots of almost everything. ( gotta get that perfect angle, frame, light, face etc.) I did ask permission to shoot children ( good GOD that sounds horrible.). Let me rephrase.. to take their pictures... what fun we had on our way home .. It was an 11 hour flight with a five hour layover in Frankfort, We merrily deleted naked cherubs, dozens of views of San Marcos Basilica. my thumb, and an entire series of the alps!! Now we have 300+ on a CD and lots of perfect prints in albums and relive our wonderful vacation any time we like.
You just cannot take too many pictures. That award winning photo is in the next click of the shutter.,

Like Heath I love taking pictures. Took over 3500 in three weeks in May(deleted about 500)and have them on my computer to view and relive great memories. We only printed out about 100-200 so far but have the option to print more later if so inclined. We enlarge a select few for framing. Driving through the Dolomites we would stop every few miles and take in the scenery and the photo ops were endless. Having a car did result in more photos since we could stop when we wanted to and snap away. Don't mind being viewed upon as a tourist because I am one and locals will know I am whether I have a camera or not so I never try to hide my tourist idenity. Rather than feel like I spent my trip through the lens I feel it enhanced it. Visiting the Alps, Tuscany, Rome, Venice, the Dolomites, Austria and a couple of days in Germany with a car made for stunning scenery and the lure to capture it in photos was irresitable for me.Post processing that many phots on a computer is a huge job however.

I have 2200 from my recent Swiss Alps trip for two week and 2600 for 3 weeks in Scandinavia. Digital of course. But I tend to take a few different angles of interesting shots. I keep about 1/3 or 1/4!

I'm with Jarrod on this one. I stopped taking a camera on vacation many years ago. Two reasons for this: First I would take lots of pictures, and when I got them back from the developer look at them once, then they would sit in a drawer and collect dust for eternity. Second to save money (I realize this isn't as big a deal these days with digital cameras). Last year I went to China and took a digital camera with me because my coworkers were nagging me to bring back photos. I found it really took away from the overall experience. I was so consumed with taking photos, I felt the camera "removed" me from taking in great sites like the Great Wall, Forbidden City, and the Terra Cotta soldiers. Taking "mental" photos works better for me.

I was in France and Italy from 9/11 - 9/24 and took 694 pictures.

Lane and Tom.. WOW.. I'm totally impressed..Good for you. . I can understand not wanting to be burdened down with a camera and feeling like you HAVE to take pictures for the folks back home. But when I see something unforgettable; like a child sharing a gelatto with her grandmama... and watch the love and joy on their faces, it's a treasure for me to see it and capture it so I can revisit the moment.
Same with the Dolomites.. how quickly we can forget how the mist shrouds their tops in the morning and how the church bells ring out each hour..but if we have an 8x10 glossy hanging in our hallway.. we can say ciao bella each and every day. Furnacefighter.... you just keep snapping away.. tossing those pictures are like tossing memories.. or worse yet.. giving away your puppies...

I only took 244 digital photos while in Italy for 2 weeks. I would have loved to take many more - but museums did not allow it.

Travelers and Tourists alike take photos. I will never apologize or feel bad for wanting to capture beautiful moments to enjoy later. I say "click with class" and enjoy :-)

Gela, click with class is the most important thing. I only take enough so that I can remember the highlights later on. For me I remember the smells, tastes and sounds of a place as much as the sights. I could ramble on and on about how photos only fail me later when I try to capture the true essence of the experience I had in a particular place. So I take those can't miss photo ops and that's about it.

Again, forum, this is just my own opinion for myself on the matter. By all means take as many photos as you feel you need to. It's all a personal preference. If you're a photo fanatic then I'd tell you to take 10,000 photos. For me it's not my deal.

Jarrod, we've heard of "smellavision" too bad there isn't smellaphotos :-)

Thanks for the replies everyone! My most valued possessions are the picture albums that we assembled after our family vacations. They are my time capsules. On the way back this time I removed the flash card from the camera and placed it in my moneybelt. In my mind the memory card was more valuable than the camera.

Since I had a card go bad and lost about a hundred pictures, I now take 4 or 5 small cards instead of one big one. I will deal with losing a card if I have to.

Kate you said it all and much better than I could have. Thanks. Digital certainly has changed thngs and it is so easy to snap away knowing you can delete any you want, print only the ones you want and put them on a web site for friends and family to view. While staying in Heligenblut, Austria I fell in love with the little church there and took about 40 pictures of that little jewel. Took pictures late in the day and got up early the next morning and walked the whole town and took more of it from just about every angle I could. I realize that is overkill but I just could not help myself. When my computer is idle for a few minutes the slide show of all those pictures start and it takes me back to a special time. A nice feeling.
That being said I can appreciate those who only take a limited number of pictures amd if that is the way they can most enjoy their travels then that is what is important.

Like a lot of topics on the Helpline, this is also one where personal preference, and comfort level is key. Some of us don't shoot photos while travelling in fear of missing something while doing so. For others, the idea of travelling to such wonderful places and not taking a photo (or a thousand) is a completly foreign concept. (no pun intended) Today's point and shoot digital cameras make it easy to be inobtrusive while still getting a wonderful memory to take home with you. Cost is now not an issue -- shoot away then burn your images to DVD backups.

Glad to know I'm not the only one who shoots tons. I bought a new digital camera for my first-ever European adventure this summer, and came home with 3350 images, and short video clips. My friends and family will only ever get to see a tiny fraction, but the remaining shots will bring back warm memories of my great five-week trip for a long time to come.

We took tons of pictures and short video clips with our Cannon Elph. This is the 6th trip we used it on. I bought extra SD memory cards that were on sale just before we left. One card is full of Rome, one has Cinque Terra, and one has Venice. I bought 2 GB cards and changed them from the camera as we left for a new area. I am downloading them now on my Mac Powerbook. Plan to edit and delete as necessary and will take the pictures and video clips from I Photo and place them in Imovie. I will add music and them put the movie and slide shows of pictures into IDVD and then burn the DVD so we can watch it on our TV. Many times my huband will put a trip DVD into the DVD player and I will find him watching one of them late on a Saturday night on our TV. I love having these memories to relive our trips.

Kent, the screen saver slide show is nice. I have it set to show all my pictures and they will randomly pop up. Some of our travels, others of our grandchildren, family and just my general photography.

Marie, I do the same thing with slide shows to DVD's with music. The music adds a lot to the viewing of the pictures.

I understand exactly how you feel furnacefighter. I also can not bring myself to throw out the photos later, except the obvious blurry or dark duds. I too like to bring my little point and shoot digital camera and take a ton of photos. I have to say though, that I understand Jarrod's comments about the smells, tastes, and sounds of the country, but you see I stop and really take it all in when I am there and then when I look back at those photos later at home, I can bring those memories sharper in my mind through looking at the beautiful pictures. It's not that the photos can exactly capture all those beautiful places the way it does in person to be there, but some of us need that little extra help in our brains to relive it again. That is what photos help me to do. You need to figure out what will best help YOU to enjoy your trip to the fullest.

It's personal preference. Some folks like to take pictures, others don't. Some want to take pictures, other feel they have to - there's a big difference. :-) While photographing autosports, I'll take 1000+ photos per day. While on a vacation, not anywhere near as many. We will be travelling to Europe within the next year in large part for our photography hobby. That does not necessarily mean we will "miss out" on anything - we haven't on any of our previous trips....

I am a poor photographer but my picture albums of my travels are precious to me. I always buy postcards of the inside of churches etc since there is no way I can take pictures of that quality. My house has many framed pictures of favorite travel moments that are meaningless to others unless I explain them; I try to take a photo looking out the window of each hotel room just for fun. The three best shots: Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Berlin and Santiago, Chile.

We just returned from our first trip to Italy, Spain, France and Croatia and there were a lot of places that do not allow you to take pictures inside, the Sistine Chapel, The Treasury of Saint Peters, St. Anthony’s’ Basilica in Padua and the Accademia Museum in Florence (the Statue of David). We purchased postcards and put them in our albums and they look great. We had two digital cameras 5 -1GB memory cards; we took 1296 pictures and developed 1080.

I like Gela's idea of "Click with Class!" good words of advice - we should all be travelers - not tourists! I have to say tho, that going through all the photos a few weeks later is fun for me - brings back fun memories of a laugh at some funny moments. I say I take so many to share with family/friends- some who appreciate the photo-blog and feel they were there - but in reality - its a nice replay for me and maybe i get some great art-shots that further help me remember a great trip! so keep on travelin' AND Clickin' WITH CLASS!

We took 797 pictures and 11 hours of film covering 8 countries in 8 weeks.

Very nice memories!

To shoot or not to shoot. 366 in seven days is good. I took 511 in three weeks and wish I'd taken more. Probably some of them of no interest to anyone else. Like the one of piglets at the farm at Lands End. The throwing out part would be hard..after all they don't take up that much space.

Just got back from 21 days, I shot 1200pics, about 100 or so were great. I have a Nikon D80, averaged about 50 a day, as some museums don't allow photos...Uffizzi..Accademia..in Florence

We are just back from almost a month in Europe and I am in the process of going through all the digital pictures now. It appears that we took 5022 pictures that is alot. We also have about 4 hours of video. Every year we take more and more pictures. Of these we will have about 2000 developed and just keep the rest on CD's.

We took 900 pic in 3 wks. Love everyone

2200 images in 16 days....Best of Europe 14 days...small Canon digital...took enough AA batteries to replace every 2 days, along with extra memory cards. Upon return, I put together an online scrapbook, printed several for my home and classroom, and still enjoy daily as screensaver pics. Only deleted the blurry or too dark. You can't take too many pics in my opinion.

two week trip...250 pics...

Was in Italy and Greece for 10 days and took 1500 photos, 2 digital cameras 1 digital slr semi pro and my little pocket elf. I hardly threw out any photos. I ordered some memory cards from www.overstock.com for cheap so I had two 1 gb cards for each camera. I used my small elf for the short movie clips and "sneaking" photos of where I wasn't suppose to shoot. LOL And my digital for well everything. I felt like I had a neon sign with my camera around my neck pointing at my head saying "Tourist HERE!" But hey its Europe and realistically how many of us can afford to return.

I was in Florence, Venice, the Dolomites and Rome for just over two weeks and I shot about 5,000 photos. My wife shot 3,000 and my brother, 2000. We knew we'd be shooting a lot so my brother brought along a notebook computer and external hard drive and every night we'd dump the pictures to both and clear them off for the next day's shooting.

I'm a little worried of the amount of pics i'll be bringing home!! I'm over there for 8 weeks!! I think I had better buy some more memory cards!!

How many memory cards do you guys take??

I average 1000 pictures per week traveling. That's what digital is for :)

Years ago in a class a professional photographer told us that of all our fancy equipment, the cheapest piece of equipment was the film. Meaning, use lots to get those good shots. Even easier and cheaper now.

this is a great question.........I live with an avid photographer and shutter bug.....and in May he couldn't go with me so I ended up taking 2900 photos in 29 days..........but I have a great slide show!

Leeana,

To answer your question about memory: I honestly take enough to take 1000 pictures a week! Which adds up to almost 20 GB per week. (I shoot RAW with a DSLR).

Pete

When I travel there are times I do not touch my camera at all, quite on purpose. And there are moments I have it out and shoot every single architectural detail that pops up in front of me.

I don't care to replicate a shot that's already known in postcard views or popular travel books. But if I see a different perspective that intrigues me I go for it. Not always do I manage to capture the atmosphere that I felt while at a special site. In those cases I have no qualms to delete the shot. If I kept it it would only create disappointment. But on the rare occations I do come close to capture the mood of the moment the photo creates a true memory.

In the end I come home with about 500 pics for a 2 week trip. Of that I usally keep about 100-150 in edited form. That's also about the maximum number of pics you could comfortably share with family and friends without boring them out of their minds.

Furnacefighter, I take heaps of photos also. When I have been lucky enough to have a special OS holiday, I have calendars made and last year, through an downloadable programme, 'made'my own coffee table size book of special places, special memories. I don't print many pictures, but have them scrolling by on the laptop. Happy Kodak moments - Pat

The digital age has certainly made things easier. On my last four week trip, I kept a little more than 500 but took at least 900. I often take two or three pictures of the same thing and keep the best one(s). With a good size display, you can edit your pictures on the road to clear up memory.

When I get home, I put the pictures on my PC and set the screen saver to show a slideshow of My Pictures. That way I look at them all the time.

Before 2001 I was bringing back a daypack full of spent 35mm film canisters. I had to get them all processed before deciding which ones I liked enough to put in an album. I had to worry about high speed film getting damaged by the security x-rays. The worst thing was getting close to the end of my last roll of film (before going to a store to buy more) and "rationing" my picture taking.

I haven't done the SLR with lenses, filters and tripod since a trip to Asia years ago. Now it's the smallest good digital I can find. I trade the wrist strap for a thin neck strap and keep it stuffed in my shirt or jacket when I'm not actually taking a picture.

We took just over 1,000 on 2 memory cards. In retrospect, I wish I would have taken more cards.

Juan, that's the advantage of (and the reason I own) an ipod. Ideal for zipping the photos over, then reusing the memory card. When my laptop hard drive (with all of the photoes nicely transferred) crashed and died some weeks after an Italian trip, and I almost crashed and died with it (!!), my sanity was saved when I realised that all of the photos were on the ipod. Phew!

Any vacation we take it seems like at least 300 per sightseeing day. It really depends on how much room we have left on our digital cards. Better to take too many, then not enough.

I am just amazed at the number of pictures some of you are taking -- assuming a 12 hour day, some of you are taking a picture every other minute. Are you doing anything else except looking thought a lens? And I thought I took a lot of pictures when I used to shot a roll of film per day. I am not even close.

Frank, you can't compare film to digital photography. Film is inherently limited due to the cost of processing and the number of exposures per roll. One of the benefits of digital photography is the freedom from thinking in 24- or 36-exposure increments.

If you're serious about your photography, you have many variables to work into your photos - bracketing, different lenses (focal lengths), flash vs. non-flash, taking multiple shots to set up panoramas, etc. In many cases you have to shoot indoors without a flash, meaning you'll be shooting at slow shutter speeds. If you value your images you'll take multiple shots of each subject because most of your shots will probably be blurred.

Averaging it out to one every other minute is pretty much irrelevant. If you figure the average exposure time is 1/125 of a second, then those 5,000 pictures I shot only took 40 seconds out of my trip, right?

If you're shooting 24 shots a day, it's clear photography isn't that important to you. That's fine, that's the way you travel and that's your priority. For many of us, photography is very important. My photos will remember the scenes far better than I will, and in the coming years I'll look back at these pictures and be reminded of the fantastic sites I saw.

I shot 5000 pictures in 15 days. Many places I went to didn't allow photography; if they had, I have no doubt that I'd have taken 2000 - 3000 more at least. I had plenty of time to see what I was looking at without viewing it thru the lens. And I'll have tons of photos to look at in the future to help me remember it as vividly as possible.

"If you value your images you'll take multiple shots of each subject because most of your shots will probably be blurred....Averaging it out to one every other minute is pretty much irrelevant. If you figure the average exposure time is 1/125 of a second, then those 5,000 pictures I shot only took 40 seconds out of my trip, right?"

If the shots took only 40 seconds out of your trip, no wonder most of them are blurred! You can't actually believe that the shutter speed is all that matters as far as how long you spend taking pictures. A picture every minute and a half means you spent a good portion of that minute and a half framing the shot, changing settings, etc., unless you just shoot blindly and hope for the best.

I take digital pictures, too, now after reluctantly switching away from film, but I prefer to experience my vacation and the people around me and take pictures to remind me of those things, not to BE the vacation for me.

"If the shots took only 40 seconds out of your trip, no wonder most of them are blurred! You can't actually believe that the shutter speed is all that matters as far as how long you spend taking pictures. A picture every minute and a half means you spent a good portion of that minute and a half framing the shot, changing settings, etc., unless you just shoot blindly and hope for the best."

LOL I was being facetious, Nancy. I just thought it was silly to concoct some ratio of shots per minute and was responding in kind.

If you're setting up a panorama, you might shoot anywhere from 6 to 12 shots in a matter of 3 seconds. If your camera is set to automatically bracket, it will take three shots almost immediately. If you are recomposing your view by changing the zoom or shifting to the side, your shots will happen very quickly. For indoor shots your shutter speed will be very slow. It's wise to shoot multiple shots of the subject to allow for the risk of hand shake. These do not need setting changes and happen quickly.

The amount of time to set up for shots is typically very minimal because most often people shoot in program mode and they're not constantly changing environments; e.g., you pick a higher ISO when going indoors but you don't have to do that for every shot after that.

If you're spending upwards of a minute and a half to set up every shot you take, you may want to practice more with your camera or get a better camera. Doing this should take a matter of a very few seconds on the average.

"I take digital pictures, too, now after reluctantly switching away from film, but I prefer to experience my vacation and the people around me and take pictures to remind me of those things, not to BE the vacation for me."

I certainly experienced my trip and the people around me, and the pictures I have will help me remember the trip all the better. If you choose to do this with fewer pictures, well, that's up to you.

10 full days on the ground in Italy = 1368 pictures

It was the darn Palio parade in Siena that really racked em up. And hiking the Cinque Terre trail.

Oh, and the fact that I felt like I had to justify the purchase of the $800 camera for the trip!!!

I should add, I took a lot of pictures of food- the wonderful sandwich from the tiny shop in Florence, the gorgeous panforte in Siena, etc. It keeps those tastes fresh for me, and many people have commented that they enjoy those pictures.

I also shoot sometimes from waist level, getting pics of the beautiful bakery cases, or seeing anything from a child's perspective. It is neat to look at those later on.

And out of my 1300+ pics? I would say a dozen are "money shots", 150 are worth having printed, and 400 are deletable.

Most of the digitals have a video capability. In some places this is great to use. Examples, Trevi fountain at night - video captures the sound and movement of the fountain; Acupulco divers - video of the divers worked so much better than trying to get a good picture mid-dive, which would have been impossible because I was shooting at a distance at night. Any time movement (or sound) is part of the scene consider a 5-15 second video. I also like doing video panoramas rather than taking a series of shots to create a panorama.

I have not read all the our 4,803 pictures we took in England and Wales over a 3 week period. Ha, I scoffed at one lade (Polly) that took 3,000 pictures last year in Italy.
I take pictures of traffic when my husband was driving, I took pictures of the truck that we "met" head on, on a one lane road trying to go around "two" cars. I want to "remember" what I saw. It did not take away from us enjoying what we were looking at, cathedrals, street scenes, dogs/cats enjoying the day, etc. I have them run on my computer throughout the day and as I pass I have very fond memories. I'm still trying to figure out how to store them (this is time consuming taking so many pictures but worth it) AND what photo program to use to put captions on them. Any suggestions? We just want to open the picture and put a caption at the bottom. We are NOT very technical savvy.
I've made separate Kodak Albums and sent them out to friends and relatives. They like this way of viewing the pictures at "their" leisure. I was told it would take 13 hours at 10 seconds each to view every picture. We have deleted some. I have backed them up too!! Just keep on taking those pictures! It's worth it.

I love taking photos, and while I understand where Jarrod is coming from in saying that photography puts a barrier between the tourist and the culture (maybe that's a Minnesotan thing because my husband would agree), I found that it is an opening for a conversation. When I see other tourists (mostly European) taking photos, I offer to take a group photo. Often we end up speaking...However, in trying to be respectful of people's situations, I find that the best photos cannot be taken. Sometime you just have to file things in your memory!

600 photos in three weeks - but considering where we went: Athens, Santorini, Naxos, Cinque Terre, Siena, Florence, Orvieto, Rome - I thought it would be more. We did bring out laptop though so deleted many throughout our trip.

I just moved all my photos from a windows based computer to a macbook pro...what a difference! It's much easier to work within iPhoto. I can tag them with key words much more quickly. I am busily trying to reclassify all my pictures. Also, while my vacation is not all photography, a lot of it is. I like photography. I also like history, I like Scottish music, and whiskey. I find that the mix is personal and judging anyone by the amount of pictures they take is not considering their interests which are not the same as everyone else.

Pam