I’ve been a photographer for a decade now.
During these past 10 years, I’ve accumulated a massive collection of images from all my travels and the various countries I’ve lived in.
Of course, not every image is a money shot. What most pros don’t tell you is that over 90% of what I’ve captured ranges from “pretty bad” to barely “meh.”
But one thing I’ve learned is that despite having thousands of pictures, I should never delete those mediocre images for one simple reason: I might be able to do something with them later.
One of the best things about photography is that you never stop learning. As technology advances, it means new tools and functions are added to cameras, and processing software such as Lightroom is updated with extra and improved features.
Because of this, you can learn new techniques, and then go back and apply them to transform old images that you thought were eternally doomed to remain hidden on your hard drive.
Doing this has allowed me to breathe new life into older work, and that’s an understated perk in photography. The images you’ve captured along the way almost never lose value. And, with a few tweaks, they can sell very well as stock while you travel to new destinations and enjoy the freedom your stock sales bring.
Here’s an example of a photo that I took years ago. For a long time, I never used it because I thought it wasn’t strong enough, and I lacked the processing skills to improve it.
Then, after learning some new techniques in Lightroom, I applied what I learned and I ended up with an image with that “wow” factor:
There’s no Photoshop, here. Yes, you can turn a street light from “off” to “on” in Lightroom. It’s amazing.
So, keep experimenting, keep learning, and stay updated with what Lightroom has to offer, and you might end up finding a gem in those rough old photos that you never dared to share before.