Photo How To

How do you determine whether a photo you shot is good or bad? This is the eternal question for many photographers trying to separate "the wheat from the chaff" during the grueling editing process.

And it not only can save you a lot of time, it can also make you a better photographer, argues Nigel Danson in the below video. As the saying goes: "Good photos come from experience; experience comes from bad photos." Or, as Ansel Adams put it: "The single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it."

"In this video I want to talk about how you analyze your photos when you come back from a trip…and you maybe find some good ones and bad ones," Danson says. "And there's some tips I can give you that will really help you improve your photography by analyzing those photos and understanding why they haven't worked and why they've worked as well."

Watch Danson's tutorial below where he offers five handy tips to help you determine whether a photo is "a keeper," or one you might want to file away on your hard drive. Here are the five things he says you should look for in a photo to determine whether it's good or bad:

#1 Balance

#2 Flow

#3 Attention

#4 Simplicity

#5 Distractions

"It only really matters what you think of your photos," he notes. "But do you know why a good photo is good and a bad photo is bad? Understanding this can massively help you improve your photography."

Check out the video and then go visit his YouTube channel for more enlightening photography tutorials.