Three Steps to Curing Picture Vomit (Step 3)

Here's what we've done so far:

• Offloaded images from the camera onto the computer (preferably backed up on a separate location as well)
• Weeded out the rejects from the lot (as described in step 1)
• Narrowed down the field of 'contestants' by placing only good images in a pick pile (as illustrated in step 2)

Take note that we haven't uploaded any of our pictures yet. At this stage, they're still residing in a folder in your hard drive awaiting the third and final step. 

Step 3. Create a 'diet' plan and stick to it.

If you've faithfully followed steps 1 and 2, then the last one should be fairly easy. Before you make your final selects for upload, think of a theme to the album that you are about to put out there for perpetual posterity  — a thread that ties all of your images together into one cohesive and beautiful tapestry. It can be as simple as showing the chronology of events as they unfolded or it can be as elaborate as allowing colors and emotions to meld together into one meaningful piece. 

It doesn't even have to be mind-blowingly profound each time; what's important is that you actually made a real effort to tell a tale with your pictures, rather than just splatter them all over a browser page. They deserve more than that. If you understand the need to organize your thoughts before speaking in front of people, then this process should make perfect sense. You want to be concise, comprehensive but brief.

Once more, allow me to illustrate my point further with an example using my own images. These are pictures I made during a family outing to a local beach, which should be an event that most of us (in the tropics) would have experienced at least more than once in our life. 

*The pictures are labelled in pairs to help me present the goal of this exercise. Hover your mouse over each image to view the label.

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I imagine you might have a set of images like this in your pick pile. Once you have a theme in mind, choose only one from each picture pair to tell your story. The photo that you choose must be the one that best conveys the message that you want to get across. You want each significant event to be represented, but you also don't want to diminish how special it is by identifying each moment as being memorable.

So, which three photos would you choose?

You can see what I came up with after the jump.

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From the first pair, I chose 1A.

Reasons: Both of the subjects are in the frame. There is a contrast in the expressions on their faces. And there's always something a lot more interesting about a picture where one of the subjects is looking out of the frame.

From the second pair, I chose 2B.

Reasons: There are clearly fewer distractions in the background. The ripples in the water make for a dynamic compositional element. The expression on the kid's face is priceless.

From the last pair, I chose 3A.

Reasons: The subjects fill up more of the frame (although I do consider myself a huge fan of negative space). The disparity in the subject's ages provides a contrast to the similarity of their hand movements.

I decided to tie the set together using images that showcased the blue color of the water. The color plus the expressions of the people in these pictures clearly convey that this is unmistakably a fun day at the beach (or the adjoining pool in this case). Once I am happy with my selects and their order in the album, I then proceed to upload the photos to my hosting site of choice. To go one step further, I can make a collage of my selects for a smarter and more elegant presentation (IMHO).

As much as I recognize the need to be timely in this day and age, I will not sacrifice my selection process for anything short of a real and urgent need. I would rather show my work in the best possible light, rather than race to the be the first to upload pictures that are hurriedly selected and rarely processed (if at all). I personally subscribe to the concept of quality over quantity because in almost all of the world's published media only one photo makes it to the cover.