4 reasons why you shouldn’t delete images

When you join an event and other photographers are there too, you see it doing them all the time. They take some snaps, they look at that LCD screen and they start deleting all the pictures they just took. I have to admit I’m guilty as well, but I try to minimize the action. Let me explain why.

1) The LCD of your camera lies. That’s right, it lies!
There is no way to calibrate that little screen at your camera. And even if you could, you couldn’t control the ambient light. So, sometimes that image that looks like crap on your LCD, looks great when you print it. Wait till you get on your Mac (or another screen but please use a well calibrated screen) and then start erasing.

2) Don’t trust your hands.
If you delete images from you camera, you will, at some point, delete an image you didn’t want to erase. It can be clumsiness or plain bad luck – but whatever you call it, it’s too late. You can try to recover it afterwards by special programs on your computer but in the meantime, you can’t use your memory card.

3) Your batteries are weak.
The LCD is a power sucker and the more time you spend reviewing and deleting images, the less time you have to shoot. If you keep deleting images, you’ll end up with an empty battery before you know it and most of all an empty memory card.

4) You’re too slow. Slow!
Even the best photographers don’t shoot and review images at the same time. When you delete images, you miss everything you do want to shoot. At the end of the day, all your shots will be memories.

Conclusion: Resist the urge and get your finger off of that delete-button.
Buy a bigger memory card and a hard disk. Tape that button off so you won’t touch it. Reflect before you start shooting, so you have enough memory left. When we shot analog, we had to be careful with our films too, remember? Take pictures with your camera and erase them with your computer. Or even better, save them. You might need them later for an artistic project…