I think it’s time to slow down. Everybody needs to take a look at their numbers and truly examine their shooting style, as in, how many frames do you typically shoot during a session or a wedding?
I’m not sure that there’s any magic number. We all just need to stop taking advantage of the 7 fps burst mode in the cameras and chill out a bit. “Spray and Pray” is not a philosophy to shoot by.
One thing that I do to limit session files is to only use a 2G card in the camera for studio sessions. I can only get about 150 or so files on a card that size. Way more than enough for a typical 60-90 minute session.
By limiting the files, I limit the amount of post-processing work. I typically weed sessions down to 25-45 of the absolute best shots. By weeding through dozens of similar shots because I pressed the shutter 5 or 6 times instead of once or twice, I’m just wasting my own time. My typical session results in 80-100 images.
For weddings, I shoot anywhere from 600-900 shots during an 8 hour day. That includes my second shooter, who only shoots if there is a balcony at the wedding site. Other than that – he’s my equipment mule. My wedding packages contain 200-400 proofs, depending on the package purchased.
The most shots I shoot is when I’m doing a theatre production. I run 3 cameras during the course of a 2 hour show and end up with about 1300 shots. I *REALLY* need to get a handle on that one, huh?
So – take a little time to review your shooting habits and really LOOK at what you’re shooting. If you see tons of repeats and very similar shots, you need to ease up on that shutter button, MKAY?