[steelese]

My last bridal set I took somewhere between 4-500 pictures in about 2 hours. From that I showed 36 images. I picked 10 that I thought where the best and a really highlighted them, and the others were a just in case kind of thing. Needless to say the ten I highlight were picked.

My work flow is pretty regimented. Once I get to my office after the shoot I copy all of my pictures to my hard drive. I then push a copy over to my external drive. From this point I can work.

I then quickly delete everything that isn't even worth looking at. Pictures of the lens cap, feet, underexposures, the wall, you know the crap you usually get into the shoot when your not thinking (man digital has made me lazy). Then I take that folder and copy it over again to the backup drive and delete the original copy. Yes I delete because I don't want to look at them.

In Lightroom I then go through and give every picture that meets the minimum qualifications of lighting, exposure, composition and positioning one star. Then go through those and pick the ones that are exceptional and give those a second star. From those, if there is one that is, I give the portfolio worthy ones a third star.

So I set aside those then, and then pick about 20 more that are interesting, or funny and entertaining, or characteristic of the couple. Those go into a second pile and I use those as ice breakers. I don't necessarily show those to buy them, I show them to set the mood. When you show them pictures that entertain them they relax and can make more rational decisions about they good ones.

So there you go.