An interesting question, firstly I have to admit to taking far more images than I will ever use, I just love taking pictures!

I think that when you first start to take aviation pictures, you blast away at everything and joy of joys once in a while you will get an image that really pleases you, that one image will encourage you to keep at it and take better pictures.

When I go to a show, I already have a good idea of the type of picture I want, sometimes that will mean using a high speed frame advance, sometimes I will quickly compose and take one image, it all depends on the location and the occasion.

Yes I sometimes get the process badly wrong and end up with an image that is clearly out of focus, or is really badly framed but these are generally a small percentage. The greater percentage fail because they are just not the image I am looking for, I do not delete these, they may be useful sometime.

Near the top of the heap are the good solid images that may be used to illustrate some article or other, while at the top are those that really please me.

The problem for those of us going to air shows is that we are taking pictures of a three dimensional fast moving object with a pilot in it, what the pilot does in his machine will greatly affect the image we take, the simple fact is that his reactions will be unknown.

Rather than dwell on the percentage of good and bad pictures, I think we are better off just looking at the results of our labours and asking the question, am I happy with what I have taken? If the answer to the question is No, then look your images, identify the problems with your technique and do better next time.

WF