As we start the new year I’d like to invite you to embrace a concept that I consider the key to my success over the years. It’s something you’ve heard me talk about before, but I’m dedicating an entire page to it because I feel it’s that important.
COMMENT: Also, I’d like you to leave a comment if this affects you and more specifically, in what areas do you notice it?
The concept can be boiled down to one sentence that I did not invent but love to repeat…
Perfect is the enemy of Done
I’ve also heard alternatives like “Perfect is the enemy of Good” (meaning good enough is usually good enough). Another one I’ve heard and repeated is “Perfection leads to procrastination”. Again, they all basically mean the same thing.
What it’s saying is that if you wait to make everything perfect, you’ll rarely finish anything. I’m not sure where I first realized this and I’m sure it was a slow process over time.
Here’s an example of how I used this thought recently. I sat down to collect and post my favorite photos of 2022. Now, I have thousands of photos to go through. With landscapes, it’s a little simpler because you generally have less photos and it’s easier to find that one photo with the magic light, weather, etc… But it does get harder with wildlife, because we often shoot in burst mode, and I could have 50 photos of a bird catching a fish. But I just need one.
Some one who doesn’t subscribe to the “Perfect is the enemy of Done” thought, will sit there for 30 minutes going through a series of photos of say, a bird catching a fish. They’ll look through each photo, editing them, etc… hoping to find just the right pose. For me, if I had a series of photos of a similar thing, I stopped at a few photos that jumped out at me. I sat there for 10 seconds thinking “Well, they all look the same for the most part and they’re all good”. Then I just picked one, edited it, and saved it as a JPG and put it in my “Best Of” folder. Then I moved on to the next series.
Here’s where it’s hard. Are there other photos that I’m sure were great in that series? Yep! Are there other photos that MAY even be a little better in that series? Maybe… but I know I picked a photo that was great enough. And now I can move on. And that process continued until I had about 20 photos. Sure, I could have kept going, but I got to a point where I just thought it was time to stop. The photos weren’t edited perfectly (I never spent more than 60 seconds on any of them). I probably had more photos buried in those folders I could have posted, but if I took any more time I ran the risk of either not completing the project, or taking time away from other things in the business that need to be done.
The takeaway was that the project was now DONE. It wasn’t perfect, but it was good (if not approaching great) and it was complete.
I go through this all the time when I make a course. I finish the videos and I keep thinking “Oh… I should have added this”, or “I maybe could have said that better”. If I kept going back and adding and re-recording the course would never get done. At some point, I just have to release it. I know I’ll never stop thinking about “things I could have done”. But I have to feel confident that I know I did a great job on it and be DONE.
Software companies do this all the time too. There is no such thing in the world as bug-free-software. It does not exist. So they have to release the software knowing that maybe there are a few bugs that affect a very small amount of people, because that very small amount will NEVER reach zero. If they waited until it did, they’d never release the software.
And don’t get caught up on an online forum if you have an issue. The internet will always have you think that 90% of users are experiencing this bug – they’re not. At most you’ll find 100 people (which is small out of millions), but usually you’ll see the same 6-7 people in the online forum talking about the bug as if everyone is experiencing it.
There is One Catch!
The only catch to this and it’s the missing ingredient to adopting the “Perfect is the Enemy of Done” mentality. This concept is self awareness and it’s really important. You have to balance an attitude of “I did a really good job on this, and it’s now time to say it’s Done”, against an attitude of “I don’t want to work on this anymore. It’s marginally good, and I know it’s not even close to my best work and there‘s a lot of improvements to be made. Heck, I’m not even proud of it. But I’m over it, so I’m just going to call it quits”.
Just about every time I write a blog post or email, there’s a misspelling, incorrect grammar or broken link or something wrong. It’s great when I can have my wife proofread, but sometimes she’s not around. At that point, I look at it and weigh the consequences of waiting and not releasing it and not sending the email on time – and most of the time I just send it. 96% of people will just read past the mistakes and laugh knowing that they’re human and they make them too. 3.9% of people will send me an email correcting it, and they’ll brush it off probably forgetting it ever happened. And maybe 0.1% of the people will think less of me because of it. Maybe they unfollow me or won’t buy something. But I’m fine with that. I realize that my personality type would have ticked them off at some point anyway, and they should follow some one different. I’m okay with it and I’ve learned self awareness over time, to know when I’m being lazy, and when I’m honestly ready to release something.
And if you want a perfect example, I did that with this blog post. I published it before many of these paragraphs were written. And the chances are over the course of a few days I’ll go back and edit it more. But I pushed the Publish button at some point so I could cross it off the list.
Is “Good Enough”, Really Good Enough?
I recently got a very mean message from some one who purchased my Topaz mini course, and he obviously didn’t like it. In that course I suggest not to do things the way that Topaz engineers recommend – by starting your raw file in Topaz software. I wasn’t degrading toward the engineers other than to say they are not photographers (and that part is true), so a workflow they recommend (that doesn’t necessarily make sense for an Adobe user) is a fair point. Well, he was very upset by that because I kept saying my workflow choice was “good enough”. Was the perfect workflow recommended by them better? To my eyes, barely. And it wasn’t worth the hassle you had to go through because it made being “done” with a photo more complicated and longer.
My point is that most of the time, good enough is indeed good enough. He was very upset because he wanted perfection (he actually used that word). And to that I’d say you’re following the wrong person (well, I did say that to him). And honestly, I don’t know who the right person it. Nobody is perfect. He mentioned wanting to do it like the “pros” do it. Well, I can tell you the “pros” (whoever they are), don’t typically do things perfectly. They simply don’t have time if they’re successful at their jobs BECAUSE THEY’RE BUSY WORKING!!! I can tell you that just about every “pro” photographer I know has a MUCH worse organizing system than you do. They also edit WAY less than you and probably know way less than you about editing. Their organizational and editing systems are in shambles because they simply don’t have the time to make it perfect – they do what they have to – to produce a great job for their clients – and they move on.
Make It a Goal to Be Done
What I’d like you to consider trying to do is to start forcing yourself to be done with your photography projects – and maybe even let it flow in to other areas of life. When you’re editing a photo, I get it. Sometimes it’s hard to say you’re done editing and know when to finish. So force yourself to look at it, feel when it looks good, and be done. When you’re watching a tutorial on how to change the color of something, watch a tutorial, do it – and be done. Don’t keep looking for more tutorials on the topic. Let the technique develop over time, and maybe you’ll start to see flaws in the technique at which point you can then go look for another tutorial – but at least you have a purpose for it – rather than just aimlessly watching videos. When you’re shooting, try to gain the confidence to know that you photographed the subject well and stop. We’re always afraid we’re going to miss the shot, so I understand. But try to start developing a feel for when it’s time to stop shooting. I could give you a hundred analogies here, but you get the idea. Try to start forcing yourself to be done. Very few things we do are permanent and if you ever need to go back and fix it, you usually can.
Final Thoughts
I’ll leave you with some thoughts that I hear from people that I think hold them back or make them constantly feel they’re not perfect enough or doing things as perfectly as they should. Maybe some will resonate with you and maybe it’ll help to read that you’re not the only one that feels this way. Here goes…
• Stop looking for the perfect software. It doesn’t exist. Get good at what you have. Double down on learning it. And stop thinking there’s something better out there.
• You don’t need to be perfect at knowing every tool in Lightroom and Photoshop. Many are redundant or simply just old and no longer useful.
• Nobody… and I mean NOBODY… is perfect about going through all of their photos and diligently deleting, flagging, key-wording and organizing them.
• If you’ve got 100 photos of a bird in flight, pick a few, post them online if that’s what you do and be done. Even better, delete the other 95 photos that are redundant. Stop thinking the perfect photo is in there and maybe one day you’ll see it.
• EVERYONE’s Lightroom catalog IS NOT as tidy as they’d like it to be. Don’t beat yourself up if it’s not perfect.
• There is no perfect Color adjustment. Stop listening to people or looking for software that supposedly gives “Better Color”. Color is 100% subjective and is very rarely the issue with your photo unless you’ve simply added too much of it.
• Stop worrying about the Perfect order in which you do things. 20 years it mattered a little. Today it does not. If you want to sharpen first, sharpen first. If you want to sharpen last, then sharpen last. Try it both ways and see what looks better to you (you usually won’t see a difference). But stop thinking there is a perfectly order or right way, or that any of it matters.
• When you’re not sure about something and you want it to be perfect, stop going into online forums or social media and asking for random critiques and constructive criticism. Giving a critique is 100% a learned skill. And it’s a skill that I’ve found the vast majority of people on social media and online forums DO NOT have.
• Most people never perfectly finish a course or a book. That’s ok. Did you devote enough time to it to get the main points from it and did you learn something? Those are the questions to ask.
• Stop thinking there is a perfect photo editing environment (your lighting, color on walls, desk, etc…). There isn’t and your photos will not be better, or resonate more, because you spent time on this. There is not ONE pro photographer you follow that gives 1% of their brain power to this.
• Stop waiting until you feel perfectly good about using a camera, or tripod, or new filter (or whatever). Go out and use it and learn from it. Perfectionism leads to procrastination.
Thanks for stopping by!
I love teaching and photography... In that order. I feel that enjoying photography, and photo editing can get WAY too complicated. So my personal mission (and favorite thing to do), is to create education that simplifies the process of taking great photos, and how to edit them to get the results you’ve always wanted.
Wow! This article really hits home. I learned in college that I had to stop editing my papers at some point because they would never get done on time and handed in. With my photos, it seemed that I had to learn that process all over again, especially when I went digital. There are times I can go through my images and choose 1 from a burst and go with that, but the next time, I will spend too much time on a burst of images trying to find the right one. I am a work in progress.
Very true, Matt!
I found myself smiling at some of the comments you made … so true …
Learning and knowledge are important but indeed …. practice makes better !
Insightful. Thanks.
After reading this I feel ahead of the game! I am a totally hobby photog-er and have done pretty well in local competitions. I am a little short on patience so that may be a benefit when selecting from multiples – I do the ‘eye test’ trial – A or B? and move on. If I don’t see a significant difference then I just pick one. I’m the only one who will know, my audience won’t have a clue that there were even others. I’ve backed off asking for opinions and critique for the most part – it’s so subjective that the responses end up not being constructive and I get more frustrated. I just go with my gut on what I like, after all it is my photo and my expression. And finally, I don’t save the unused photos. If I’m not willing to share it with someone why do I want to keep it and just create clutter. (if only I was that way in other parts of my life!).
I’m trying to find something in this piece for which I can provide a constructive critique, and I’m at a loss because I agree with the content of the blog. During my career, I spent many sleepless nights trying to make a policy piece or a presentation perfect – never happened. Most were somewhere between adequate plus and outstanding, but not perfect. I have to remember that, especially when taking photos. I am a novice at photography, and a bit short on patience when dealing with my own shortcomings. My husband got me a nice camera that is much smarter than I, but sometimes I just don’t like how the “camera’s photos” come out, but if I’m unsure where to start with aperture or shutter speed, I’ll use auto, and then go to manual and play around, learning for myself what happens when changing aperture, shutter speed or ISO. The part of the blog that resonated with me was to stop searching for the “right” or perfect way to do something. Find a way, practice until you can do it, then practice some more until you have created your way and are happy with it and its imperfections.
Wow, you hit home with this. I think for the first time with a photo yesterday I didn’t keep going back to it and doing something more to it for weeks trying to make it perfect. Funny I posted it yesterday and read your blog today. so maybe I figured this out just before getting slapped. Thanks. Jim
Thanks Matt. Always good to be reminded to get on with it and quit stalling. And have fun becuase if you don’t enjoy the whole process of photography, find another hobby.
I feel like you’re talking exclusively to me. I needed a good talking to. Thanks, Matt.
You have hit so many great points in this blog and on your video. I catch myself tinkering with minute adjustments in LrC and it truly is a waste of time and energy. I will commit to a faster process that will lead to better output.
Thank you! I’m guilty as charged for trying to be perfect. This helps.
Well stated! I am always annoyed at those I refer to as NitPickers. Move on and get it done and realize the job done is well done. There is only so much valuable time available.
This article so resonated with me. I have procrastinated a ton because I don’t feel good enough. Thanks for sharing.
This article resonated with me. Never wanting to post something unless it’s perfect…..picking my faves was more difficult than I anticipated.
Words to live by. My new commandments for photography. Thanks Matt! My career was one of perfection (or close to it as possible). Unfortunately, it seeped into my creative side and now that I’m retired, it’s a slow process to transition. The point about constantly watching YouTube videos is dead on.
What you say is absolutely true. I know that I spend way too much time editing some photos instead of making some edits and moving on. At this point, I am definitely in the “perfection” mode. A change in mindset for this year is what I am striving to do. Baby steps. Thank you!!
What you talk about certainly resonates with myself. The time I have spent trying to create that perfect photo. Constantly searching for tutorials in the hope it will provide me with skills and technique to achieve my goal. Whether I can put aside that thought process only time will tell, but be assured I will try.
Great blog and so true!!! Being a member of a photography club for a number of years has helped and challenged me to get out there and try new topics:) Editting (LRC) is where i spend more time than i need to. PS is a mental block that it is so difficult. I need to get in, practice what I need to know and just keep working on it. I love the idea of keywording in LRC but it is so time consuming and tedious, I have let go of getting that done 🙂
This is such an important point – Thanks for emphasizing it !
Thanks for the blog. Your advice is well taken. I am going to use this in my photography editing and as I have just discovered in my work – its good enough, stop trying to be “so perfect”.
Good sensible advice. Many thanks.
Thanks for releasing and spelling out this concept because the expression “I am a Recovering Perfectionist” really resonates with me. I joined a local camera club mainly to mix with fellow minded keen amateur photographers but it soon became apparent that while the club members were friendly there was a very competitive side to the membership so I fell into the trap of entering club and competing in other clubs’ photo competitions and it soon became apparent that I was spending far more time processing images seeking “perfection” compared to the time it took for me to actually compose and take an image. It was almost an impulse to try to please the competition judges in order to gain kudos.
I actually spend more time now planning where, when and how to take images that require the minimum amount of time to process and as a result I am taking less but more satisfying images with a minimum of processing.
Cheers
Colin from Oz
Just getting time to start this and wow. I’m already blown away. I NEEDED to hear this SO much!!! Now to start trying to work on DOING this!!! Your sign of “Recovering Perfectionist” is something I need to plaster above my monitor to remind myself!! LOL Thank you!
Wow, did you write this just for me? 🙂 I have been so fixated on improving my work flow and editing that for more than a year I haven’t been posting or printing any of my images. It’s even got to the point I am shooting less as dread getting to the editing cycle of never being satisfied. I will read and reread your comments until I can break out of this cycle. Thank you!
This is such wonderful advice. I find that I do spend too much time on a large group of similar images and can’t decide which ones to keep. I test too much software. It is as if you are giving me permission to stop being so picky about everything and accept that it won’t be perfect but it is definitely good enough.
That certainly resonates with me. Probably watched too many photographic club competitions
So insightful. Thank you. Onward!
AMEN, Matt! I totally agree….I especially agree with this concept when editing my photos on Lightroom. With all the tools available — Topaz, ON1, DNX, etc. — you can edit and still not be “done.”
Thanks for the blog! Thanks for the excellent guidance! Ernie
Wow Matt!! Thanks I learned so much reading this. It has really opened my eyes and on a lot of things and things that I need to get done dickering around with and actually get them done and checked off my list!
Thanks Matt, perfectly summed up. This is exactly what I have been suffering from the last few months. I achieved an RPS distinction last year and working towards another this year but looking for those perfect images and trying to perfectly edit the images and knowing which perfect software to use has left me doing nothing. Before I would go out shoot, enjoy picking a good enough photo do a little edit then show to a few people. Now I have a lot of photos not seeing the light of day. I will adopt the good enough attitude.
Matt
Thanks ! This was one of the best posts I’ve ever read on photography !! (and life in general)
I have to say that I have not ever gone through and chosen my top 20 photos for the year. I felt that I had chosen well and posted them on Facebook and was astounded by the number of people who responded to them. After reading the blog, I think the advice is sound and I am learning to realize that the post processing of a photo can’t make it perfect and I am recognizing when I think it’s good enough.
In the context of “I did a really good job on this, and it’s now time to say it’s Done”, there is a truism I constantly remind myself of …10% of the effort yields 90% of the task – and 90% of the effort to achieve the last 10%.
The attached photo of mine is one of my favourite autumn scenes here in Muskoka. I have a series of these that I will use to follow along with this program. Comments please!
john rudderham fall 2023 for workshop.jpg
While I do try and perfect my craft – I have often found myself looking at my work and comparing it to others – often much better photographers than I.
I find this a hard block to my creativity.
What I must learn to do better is perfect the use of my camera and the phot editing software I use.
FWIW: I try to get out at least five days per week (rain or shine); just shooting what the day provides. When I get back, I cull thru what I’ve shot. Whether it’s birds, landscape, macro. Sometimes I’ve simply shoot clouds. I try to pick two to five picks of the day.
I started this part of the Fresh Start photo checking with 487 “picks of the day and have gotten that down to about 188 since Monday. That’s still a twenty-one page LR web album. For me, that’s progress on this exercise.
I don’t think that I’m going to pass this first task. 😉
I think it may be personally relative because “Good” is on a sliding scale with our level of improvement but I do agree with you
My takeaway is that I do not have to beat myself up. Just enjoy what I am doing. There is so much noise about the “right” way to do things that this blog post is refreshing. Thank you.
You are, of course ,right, but its a very difficult habit to break and not just in photography. I guess one of the first things to consider is what am i trying to achieve? What does good look like?
Great essay, Matt, and thank you for it. Your points are well made. I’d like to express some thoughts I’ve been having since I first heard you describe your “new” path.
Not too long ago, I approached my photo editing work with the belief that if I worked hard enough and learned enough about the process, I would eventually develop sufficient skill and knowledge to be enabled to achieve perfection in my work, and to do it in the least amount of time. I had thousands of photos (thank burst mode) and all of them were great shots, worthy of being made fit to print for public display, and I could do this. I really could! All I had to do was learn a little more when the editor was upgraded, watch a few more tutorials and write a few more recipes, and I could start. That all began about three years ago and, as a routine, finished a few weeks ago when Adobe came out with a much simpler way to do things.
Between watching Matt’s “Evolving With Lightroom” and signing up for “Fresh Start,” I’ve come to realize that for my own work for me, good enough is perfection. Only I know what I started with and only I know when I’m pleased with my work. If someone else gets enjoyment from viewing it, wonderful, and what more can I ask? If I misjudged my results, then I guess no one will buy it.
Matt, you have really opened my eyes. Thanks for the ideas you have given me, the time and energy I will be saving and for the money I won’t be spending on a new printer and inks, because inks for my old printer are no longer made.
Thank you for the great info. Perfectionism does lead to procrastination.
I’m, sitting here and rereading your blog and trying to get the important nuggets, not wanting to miss the crucial points and it dawns on me that I do this with most things in my life and that alot of things in my life don’t get done because I’m never quite satisfied with the current results (like this run on sentence!). But I can and will do better, I just need to realize that it’s good enough, not perfect, but seldom is anything perfect, and it’s DONE, as is my comment.
Thanks Matt! Well said. You bring up many good points. Although I have been taking photos all of my life, it has only been about 10 months since I decided to try to work on improving my skills. And about 5 months since I edited my first photo. I have fallen into the trap of not knowing how to start to organize my photos and how to develop a good work flow. Many of the final thoughts hit close to home. My goal for 2024 is to improve on work flow as well as to improve on my skills. As for other getting things done, it would also be nice to notice the typos before hitting send instead the instant after sending sometimes.
Excellent information Matt! I definitely need to recover from this “malady” of attempting to perfect every photo I edit. I edit and re-edit photos sometimes I can’t even decide which is the best, even though there may miniscule differences in each. I can see where I NEED to STOP that! I am going to take this Fresh Start to heart and make that move to feeling OK with doing the best I can and moving on to the next project!
Great exercise for me too, Matt. Closely related is another ‘issue’ for me to look at is imposter-syndrome. I think these are related with perfectionism. I’ve been dealing with these for a long time. Look forward to the Fresh Start!
Last year was kind of a light year for me, dealing with some health issues. Hoping these are behind me now and feeling good that 2024 will be a good year. A few of my favorites are here: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjB9Ryr
Excellent posting Matt! This might go a long way toward restoring sanity for a lot of us. It reminds me of something I heard many years ago about rating photos in Lightroom. (I think I was on version 3 at the time — that long ago.) The one through five rating system can drive you crazy. “I know this one isn’t a five, but is it a four or a three?” “This photo isn’t bad enough to be a one, but is it a two or a three?” Instead, use Pick and Reject. Good enough? Pick! Not good? Reject! Not sure, might come back to it later? Leave it alone. Bam bam bam DONE. (Then go back and delete the rejects so they don’t distract you later.)
Matt, you nailed it. I spend way too much time looking at software options in case there is something better that what I have already even though what I have does the job I need it to do. My aim for 2024 is to shoot more and study less. Great blog.
Thanks for this: I listen too much to my head and have lots of learning unfinished.
And not just learning: learning and doing
Great blog. The key is once you finish and publish to Smugmug or whatever you use- you usually feel good. It’s done and you and others can enjoy the work. How many people need to go back and look at the rejects to find the great one you missed? If it was that great, you would not have missed it.
More important, now you can move n to a new project that will be more stimulating than being bogged down in the minutia of an old project.
Thanks for the encouragement.
As I know you play golf and music, like me, perfection is impossible. Look at the golf pros on tour. Perfection is completely out of their reach, but good enough is in their back pocket and worth a lot of money! I can hang a photo on a wall anywhere and say it’s good enough, but don’t ask me where to put a new plant in the yard. You drove the point home quite well. And unfortunately, I always see typos in every book and blog I have ever read. HA.
Perfectionism is a definite roadblock to procrastination but so is self confidence.
So many of your final thoughts resonate with me. Now to just let go!
Thank you for the reminder. Yes, I am held back by “maybe it could be better” and not considering a edit completed or a vacation collection of shots completer and therefore never sharing it.. I will try to put an end on some of my projects sooner (rather than never).
Thanks, it´s a great starting point!
This is brilliant Matt – thank you very much for taking the time to share your knowledge and provide such clear advice to follow. Best wishes to everyone for a fantastic year of photography ahead.
You make some extremely good points here Matt. I know I can often fall into the “perfection” trap when editing and will spend way too long editing a photo that probably was 90% there to begin with. Thanks also for the tip about what to do with the 100’s of almost identical images you end up with shooting in burst mode. I have only one caveat to add – make sure you look at all the photos in the series before deciding on which ones to keep if you’re going to delete some. I had around 60 frames of a jacana walking on lily pads. At first glance they all looked the same. Weeks after I had done with these pictures, I was going through them to select one for a photo contest and it was then that I noticed that in the very last frame the jacana had a small crustacean in its bill.
There are many things in life I use this philosophy with. Photography and golf are the two things I enjoy to keep me out of trouble. I am improving at both of these activities and having fun learning as I go. Occasionally I take a really good photo, and very rarely I his a really good golf shot. In both instances I’m happy. That’s all that counts as I do these activities for me.
Thanks Matt for reminding me I’m not doing anything wrong
I have lots of series of 100 shots of a bird on a branch and initially laughed when I read about your experiences since I thought it was just me……but it is great advice(I don’t need 98 of those shots!!)
Well I left a comment earlier and then I went in and looked at my 2024 photos. There were some trips I totally forgot about. I have 29 photos posted at https://pwarrenphoto.smugmug.com/2024-in-review and they are straight out of the camera. I didn’t do any editing on these and there are some taken when I had a really dirty sensor.
Now I want to go back through these and do some quick editing as Matt mentions in this article. Some need to be cropped, cleaned, and touched-up. I think I’ll also send this link to some family and friends. If I wait to make these perfect I know I’ll never have anyone see them.
My goal for 2024 is to embrace imperfection. This fits in perfectly with that vibe 🙂
I have been doing photography and editing to the best of my ability. Knowing that I will learn as I go along, my method is to use the improved skills for photographing, and to go back and re-edit older photos using newly learned techniques. I end up with multiple versions of a photo and sometimes they are not that different from each other! But sometimes a new edit makes a huge difference.
I will delete photos that are way out of focus or very badly done more quickly, but some get kept to look at later. Sometimes I use part of one photo with another, or combine multiple photos to use the parts that came out the best. It’s fun to learn and apply to make improvements.
Thank you for this article! Many times I find myself not wanting to do something because it won’t be “right” or “perfect”. Time to reevaluate and rethink to be able to accomplish the task rather than struggle and stress with perfectionism.
Matt,
As I’ve heard in the past, it’s not about the destination, but the journey. For me I do photography because I love being in nature. Finding the joy while being behind the camera is what motivates my pursuit of progress.
Wow, Matt…very helpful and well said in a short post. I did portrait work part-time for about five years up until the pandemic. I stepped away from serious photo work…meaning mostly using my iPhone. My interest is ramping back up and it’s good to know I can do my best, work it, call it good and move on. As you said, this applies to many areas of life! David Welfelt
Thanks for sharing this. I am my own worst critic and I know I too often don’t share my photos because I feel they’re not done. Hopefully 2024 will be a year to get moving into photography again. I know I don’t have the newest equipment, but as you say learn what you have and do the best with it.
Quite a few years ago, I took a course that touched on perfectionism and I thought you might like it.
‘Perfection is a state in which things are the way they are and are not the way they are not.”
Thanks so much Matt, for helping us break out of our perfectionism paralysis. I couldn’t figure out exactly what my problem was until I came across your article on perfectionism. It makes perfect sense to me. Now maybe I’ll enjoy photography a lot more and not feel bad about shots I don’t think are good enough. Analyzing, learning, redoing is so freeing!
Thank you, Matt – – this is so on point for me. My perfectionism shows up in getting bogged down in learning the technical aspects of photography before I allow myself to shoot and, as you point out, nothing happens. That’s one reason why I registered for your course so I could get some ideas for doing it different this year. Doing instead of thinking about doing might work a lot better!
Thanks Matt – I remember reading this post when you first posted it and thinking he is so right!! It was great reading it again. I need to make this my new mantra
The desire to be perfect paralyzes me. I signed up for Fresh Start because, at the moment, I’m unable to shoot at all.
I needed to hear/read this. Excellent message.
Hi Matt
Your article is a good reminder to just do it
I’ve got a lot of other insightful things to write, but I’ll go edit some pix instead.
This is good enough
Great advice!
Hi Matt. I could not agree more. Although I am not a perfectionist, I like to do things what I consider right and to the best of my ability. When I switched to digital photography I wanted to learn everything about it. I spent a lot of money on books and, indeed, I taught myself a lot. But then I became stuck. No matter what I tried, I could not move on. I hired a professional photographer who made house calls. I had put a stuck of my photos together, including one of my “hero” photos. To my dismay, as he was looking through my photos, the hero photo was the first he tossed out. His comment, accompanied by a dismissive movement of his hand was “you will never get rid of this!” I stared at the picture and wondered what he was seeing that I could not see?? It was a light streak from the sun in the middle of the photo. Every morning after I got up, I looked at that photo. It took me about 6 months before I saw what he saw!! I realized then that my photos will never be perfect because I have to learn to see the faults in a photo first, e.g. chromatic aberration etc. I also gave up any idea of perfect photographs, which in turn allowed me to relax and have much more fun when shooting and editing.
Thank you,Matt.This helps me refocus my efforts and highlighted my need to get things done more timely. It’s energized me to “keep it moving forward”. I’m excited to dive in to my files and look for my gems and move on from the rest.
So much good insight here, Matt!
Thank you!
I worked for over 50 years, and within the culture of multiple organizations I successfully lived the motto of this blog. But when it came time for me to create my own art, such as photographs and drafting a novel, I had anxiety attacks about making them public. They all needed lots of improvements. If I made them public the village would be well justified in grabbing pitchforks and running me out of town on a rail. My only fix was to hire an online counselor and to read a good book about anxiety. I still have a minor flinch of doubt when making any creation public, but I can do it now. For some, the power of the need for the perfect cannot be underestimated. This was a good essay and useful for any creative endeavor.
I’m a senior. I don’t know how many more years I have but I do want to savour the time I have. I wonder how many hours I wasted of my life trying to make something better. What did I miss out on experiencing, learning, enjoying while I was aiming for perfection. Thanks for your article and this course.
Thanks for this post.
As an engineer, I’m always thinking about tweaking and making improvements. It took me a long time to understand diminishing returns and the value of time. I could spend hours on one photo, but then would anyone notice? Probably not.
Deciding when good enough is good enough is hard to do, but I think I’m getting better at it.
This blog was refreshing. Made me feel like I am a normal human being.
I needed to hear this! I’ve been paralyzed by perfectionism my whole life – but at long last I’m trying to let it go. And I’m getting better.
I have a lot of work to do! I am guilty of having/keeping photos on a similar subject, thinking that the great one is in the grouping. So hard to delete pictures in that frame of mind. Watching the accompanying video and reading this blog has given me a huge job to do. Thanks Matt. 🙂
Matt- Great post. Hit me square between the eyes. It’s good to be challenged!
I’ve been a subscriber to this theory for many years. Early in my career (as a software engineer) some 35 years ago, I had my boss tell me that I was a “pessimistic perfectionist” – meaning that I always strove for perfection, but didn’t feel I could ever get there. Definitely NOT “perfect is the enemy of done” (which I would also extend to “perfect is the enemy of good”). I’ve learned the lessons many times over the years and while I’ve learned to not go crazy with most things, I must confess that I’m still a recovering perfectionist. Interestingly, I’m less so with photography and I tend to subscribe to most of the things in your final thoughts list. I think it helps that I enjoy the entire workflow from planning to publishing. Since my general output other, than prints for the wall at home, is between daily to weekly sharing on social media, I tend to complete the process quite quickly so that I can create the next day’s post. I’m still my own worst critic as to the quality of my photos, but since most of my friends keep telling me what a great photographer I am, I guess I must be doing okay.
Thank you for this. At 74 years of age and taking photos seriously since I was about 10 years old my confidence began to decline some years ago. I told myself it is because of the digital age and I tell myself how much happier I was in the film days but that really is total BS because, as I learnt, digital allows me more freedom. Just one example was when I photographed inside a large open space ( a brewery and taproom) and the light sources were everything that you could think of from tungsten to daylight to incandescent etc. Taking a ‘White Balance’ reading solved all the problems and I thought back to how would I have solved that in my film days.
Thank you for saying this! I’ve been trying to get there – as a recovering perfectionist – and have deleted over 6000 photographs from my files in the last week with the goal to do 1000 per day to clean out! (Yes, I’m keeping track! lol) No one needs 60 photos of a hummingbird perched on a branch and one is likely as good as the others!! Here’s to making progress each day! Looking forward to another Fresh Start class!
I am happy to say that after 10 years in photography, I’m getting to that point where I don’t try to “put egg back in the shell” as my husband says…LOL. My shooting techniques are getting better affording me the advantage of less editing. Also, as my portfolio grows, I’m keeping less desirable photos as you have recommended. I am a person who is OCD although I do recognize that nothing will ever be perfect, so this is quite a step for me in my journey as a photographer.
Unfortunately, I suffer from an awful lot of these traits, for example, I wan the perfect bird in flight photo but don’t go out with my camera and practice, practice, practice. I will try to amend my ways this year, dust off my camera and get out there, thanks Matt.
Unfortunately I display a lot of these traits – when I’m out shooting I often stay with the same subject long after I’ve got the shot and it’s unlikely I’ll get a better one. When I’m editing I spend far too long tinkering. Even after posting or printing something I often go back and re-edit as I’m not satisfied with the first version. Food for thought ?
Thanks for the great thoughts in this Blog. I’ll definitely be changing the amount of time I spend going through them and deciding. Also, your photos are amazing…. pro level!
Spot on. I’m wondering–are you a closet therapist b/c I’ve many of these foibles, and it sure helped to read it. THANK YOU—I do NOT need 200 photos of a bluebird! But I’ve been suffering from ‘fear of deleting’. Now I can delete with confidence. Thanks!
Clearly many of us suffer from this. I have a sign in my sewing room, Perfect is good, Done is better! Now I need to put that next to my computer!
Love your teaching, Thanks!
I had to laugh reading this. I was a successful IT consultant that lived by “ good enough is good enough”. But as a photographer, I tend to fall into the perfectionist trap! In IT we use time-boxing techniques to establish the maximum amount of time we spend on an activity before delivering something. That’s exactly what you are suggesting! Thanks for this. Makes total sense!
I strive to be Done, but I’m sure I still edit to many photos. But I am using more of a synced editing approach, applying the same edits including masks, if possible, to multiple photos to speed things up and choose the best from there. My first step is to always go through the photos using LR’s Local flagging those that I deem “edit worthy” and only import those to LRC. And then delete the rest. A trick I picked up from your LR class.
I do revisit some old favorites and try the new skills I’ve learned in Lightroom. That doesn’t mean the first edit wasn’t done, I just want to apply what I’ve learned……. OK maybe there is still a bit of the reach for perfection in there 😉
Thanks for this. You are absolutely spot on. I spent many years fiddling about achieving nothing with my photos, but now I am just more relaxed and I enjoy it so much more. As an example in another field, I’m currently trying to learn another language, Italian to be precise. I quickly realised that if I waited until I was fluent I would never talk to anybody! So, I went to Italy and made it an objective that every day I would try to talk to at least one person in Italian. And guess what, mostly they understood was I was trying to say; and even better, complimented me on what was really not very good Italian. It’s the trying to improve which is the point … as others have said, the journey not the destination.
Thank you for the blog. I can see where doing and learning from the process rather than trying to make it perfect will be helpful for me.
You’re inspirational! I eat up everything you say/do!. Thank you for all of your great courses (I have been thru many of them). P.S. I can’t open this on a Mac; is there a workaround other than borrowing a pc? Even if you don’t answer, I still think you’re great!
Great article Matt! I am also a recovering perfectionist! As a teacher, I’ve learned there will never be a perfect classroom or a perfect lesson, especially when working with little kids. As a photographer, it has taken me longer to learn that lesson. I tend to be an over shooter and spend a lot of time looking for the perfect shot. It’s time to let that go….
It certainly makes life easier.
Thank you. I already feel better, and I CAN DO IT! Hopefully….
I’m glad I’m not a perfectionist. I promised myself that in 2024 I would work harder on perfecting my art (or is it a craft?) knowing full well that perfect is not attainable. I’ve been playing guitar ever since I was knee-high to a grasshopper, and I’ve yet to become the perfect guitarist – I never will be – but I know that I’m a good guitarist. I’ve not been a photographer near as long, and I’ll continue learning from you and others.
I love “perfect is the enemy of done.” Wish I had that slogan to work. You could also say “perfect is the enemy of growth.”
Thanks. I really needed to hear (read) this. I have the problem of shooting 50 of a subject and spending WAY too much time looking for the perfect one. I am looking forward to gathering my 20 best 2023 pics. I hope I can cull it down to 50 (lol) but I am determined to hold myself to 1 hour or less. Thanks Matt for stretching our thinking.
Agree with your approach Matt. I’m a greater admirer of Anthony Robbins, who coined the phrase which goes something like ‘seek results, not perfection’. But, I actually sometimes also enjoy dwelling on an image and will occasionally return to an image to re-tweak it. Have done a bit of that lately with the new denoise feature. I don’t see this as necessarily bad if it is adding to my enjoyment of the craft.
Thanks Robin. Understanding that perfection is not attainable is a great trait in some one. However, equally as good is self-awareness. To know that “this photo” is one you really want to work on and spend some time with is okay. But you know it… understand it and choose to do it. It’s those that let the concept of perfection hold them back from actually doing that I think can use a nudge to let go sometimes. Thanks!
Makes so much sense. Can only spend so much time. I was a painter and my husband was always asking me when I was ready to abandon it. Same with photography. Thanks Matt.
Thank you for the article. So many of your ideas can be applied to life in general. Wish I had had it while I was still teaching. I would have shared it with my perfectionist students who worried so much about everything being perfect that they missed out on enjoying many of their high school courses. Looking forward to the rest of this course.
I have a very bad habit of comparing my photos to other photographers and then deciding mine are simply not good enough to post anywhere. I have a file called The Best containing photos I feel good about and there it sits on my computer waiting for ……. hmmmm. Great advice Matt; advice that I must follow!
Matt, Thanks for the very interesting article. I admit that I’m guilty at times of trying to be “perfect”. Thankfully most of the time “good enough is good enough” as long as I’m happy, which is the case most of the time. I enjoy photography for the enjoyment that it gives me whether shooting images or processing them later. Nevertheless, I’m always on the lookout for what might improve my photographic and editing skills. And I guess in the end that is all that matters….improvement or progressing in the art of photography.
Carl
A great summary. I know that it is difficult to delete the photos that are extra or not as good as the ones that you chose to share. I am getting better at it.
Hi Matt,
Couldn’t agree more. There is a point of diminishing returns and you have to know when “good” is good enough.
Thanks,
Mark
Hey Matt,
I started to embrace this concept a while ago…of course it has been on ongoing process to re-train my thoughts. It is so helpful to read this blog. I was feeling lonely following the “good enough” philosophy. Now, if I like the image, if I like the processing I did on it… then it’s Good Enough! Many thanks
Matt, this is so very true. I will go out to shoot say a waterfall..I will down load look at the phots. Then go look at someone else’s photo of the same falls, and think ,why didn’t I see that.Or My shutter speed was too slow or fast. I always second guess myself. I am my own worse enemy.I need to say “thats good enough” and move on Thanks for giving me permission to do so!!
Matt, you tagged me! I spend so much time looking for the perfect editing workflow; reading countless articles and watching countless YouTube and webinar presentations, I never seem to settle on that “perfect” solution. I do believe I am moving toward the philosophy you described in “Perfect is the Enemy of Done”.
Yeah, I should be reading this every so often and seeing where I am.
This is my challenge to overcome: I’ll like an image I’ve taken, and go the extra mile to edit it to the best of my ability. I am ready to post the image, but in the mean time I have seen something similar posted that looks so polished. After that, I never post mine, I have sadly fallen into the comparison perfection trap of my own making. That is my challenge. Thank you for this 2024 fresh start. I need an attitude adjustment.
Good read, great reminder, and better philosophy about Life in general to boot.
Thanks Matt.
Love this article! I should probably make a point of re-reading it periodically:)
I believe many of us need to hear/read advice
Guilty!!
I vow to do better.
Thanks for this. I am slowly trying to do this more and more, as I am definitely a recovering perfectionist. It started in grade school and I’m now this side of “Older than Dirt,” so it’s taken a while for me to get to this point. Thanks again for the reminder to get good and keep on truckin’ as we used to say,
Thanks Matt for your straight forward thoughts and comments. I am really hoping and looking forward to getting my photographic juices going again this year. This may sound funny but 2020 and Covid really knocked the wind out of photographic sails. This year, I hope to see those sails full again! Happy New Year to you as well!
Glad to help. There’s no trick. Walk outside and take a photo. It’s got to start somewhere. Regardless of where you live or time of year, you can get your camera and take a photo or go through old photos and pick a few to edit. Don’t think about it… just start.
I got started in this business as a news photographer in 1962! There was no time to be perfect; there was barely time to get a slightly damp B&W print out of the lab before deadline. There was often no way to get the “right” picture, but you had to get at least one. Never the right light, often pushing Tri-X to ISO2400, where the grain looked like boulders and contrast was non-existent. Dreamed of someday owning a 200mm lens. ANY picture I take with my Z9 is better than EVERY picture I took back then, but I treasure the memories that accompany those lousy old photos!
Well, that woke me right up! Usually, when I think a photo is not good enough and I keep working on it to perfect it, turns out it likely wasn’t that hot to start with. Furthermore, supper doesn’t get started and I miss half the ball game. Recognizing that has saved me so much time and effort. But I slide back into wanting that perceived perfection. In fact when I do my best then accept that, my next project is better just because of all the thinking I put into the last effort. Make sense? Great thoughts, Matt. Thank you
Thanks, Matt, great article and so true. I do before and after picture books because I really enjoy seeing the end result of what I have decided to do with a specific picture, many of which have no value and are awful. What fun making a bad picture useable. It was your blending course that got me started doing this and what fun I am having. The picture only has to please me and and perfect is not in the equation. I do mostly wildlife in burst and I have not deleted the pictures I do not use, in the future I will do that.
Thanks again for all the articles and all the tips and webinars you have provided, they are definitely the best.
thank you Matt, I have learned alot from this blog post.
Thanks Matt. My area is training. I keep looking for the next course to show me how to get the perfect picture. I’ve purchased so many with multiples on the same subject. I found myself never going out to shoot because I hadn’t finished my training, I didn’t know enough. I’ve recently started just going out and shooting. I have a lot of misses, but some I’m pretty proud of. I pay attention to both, what do I like about the good ones and what I could have done differently on the misses. Then I apply that. This year when I was looking for my best photos, I had a lot more to choose from, because I actually took pictures. Now I just must be careful not to backslide. I’m going bookmark this page as a reminder.
Paralysis through analysis. I have used this phase lots of times, to remind myself that it is good enough, and move on towards the finish line. (Analysis meaning: detailed examination of the structure of something. / Paralysis meaning: a loss of the ability to ‘move’… towards the finish line. I have to reming myself; ‘Train your brain to move on, and you will get so much better at doing it; that is, moving on towards getting whatever you are working on done, ‘finished’. Yeah!
I do all those things which results in a lack of desire to get out and shoot and I live 50 miles from Yellowstone. However after a period of time I’m back out there revisiting this pathetic cycle. Thanks for the good advice.
A great reminder/lesson point to us all.
Excellent said!!! To many people think that perfection is the best. if you think it is the best then it is. Most people give their thoughts as the best but the question you need to ask yourself is is this good enough for me?
Wise counsel, Matt. Thank you for the insights about the “perfection “ maze. I got some much needed encouragement to make choices and be “done “, even without following what the experts advocate as the perfect editing prescription. It’s liberating. Thank you!
I agree. But. When you are producing art rather than commercial photography there are times, due to the learning process (on the software) or artistic development, when you think. “I could have done that better”. The “job” was finished, but the photo was “improveable”. I delete virtually nothing in the reasonable belief that one day my greatest shots, which are out of focus, will be recoverable via software.
I strive for the best I can do, comfortable that perfection is unachievable.
Your guidance is very helpful. Thank you.
Hi Tim. That is exactly why I wrote the paragraph about having to have a balance and self-awareness. It’s not black and white and I agree with that – which is where self awareness comes in. You have to develop a sense of when you’re just spending too much time on a project with no significant improvement, or when you know that you could/should have done something better. As for deleting… it’s a necessity for wildlife photography. Most wildlife shooters shoot long bursts to capture the action and I often follow a bird for 20 or more seconds because you just never know what will happen. The moment I stop shooting after an eagle catches a fish, another eagle comes out of nowhere (they fly at 70 mph so you don’t even see it) and they tangle in the air and I’ve missed it because I didn’t want to fill up my card or have too many photos to delete. So I shoot longer than I need to. Which leaves you with hundreds of photos that need to be deleted and have no value.
As for software significantly improving an out of focus photo. We’re not there and maybe one day we will be, but I kind of hope not.
Great article! I learned this in college, when I had x amount of time to submit an assignment, I would work on it until literally the last minute. If there wasn’t a deadline, it would go on and on. I talked to an instructor about this- what they said has stuck with me these past 10 years I’ve been a freelancer. They said, in a nutshell, that the client does not know about all the other versions, or all the other choices. They only know what you show them, so it’s not like they’re going to say, “Wow, the OTHER one would have been much better!”… so if you submit quality work, that is what the CLIENT wants (not always what WE want) and they are happy, it’s a successful design. Knowing all of that took a huge weight off of me. I hope it helps others too, and your article is awesome and I will also keep your suggestions in my head. Very helpful! Thank you! (And if anyone ‘unsubscribes’ due to a minor spelling error, well geez… I hope they never make any kind of mistake ever. Better off without that kind of energy anyway!)
Very well said Matt. I learned from my own hang up on trying to isolate the perfect shot from a sequence. Yes, wasted time.
I also laerned not to mess about trying various software. Adobe and Topaz do evrything I need.
There we go, don’t get hung up on little details.
This is fantastic! I am a first-born, used to having “Perfection” as the goal, the ONLY goal. This is so good for me. I have had a Website ready for publishing for months and because it is not “perfect”, according to my personal rules, I have not published it. I will now, and THANK you for your message. I am a student of Tom and Cree Bol, and they rave about your wisdom and classes………..they are great mentors, and I am so glad they suggested you as someone to learn from and follow!
Thanks for this! A great reminder for sure.
Wow- I soooo appreciate you saying this so clearly ! I needed these words. I get so frozen with perfectionistic expectations.
Hi Matt
I just shoot perfect, every time straight out of the camera 🙂
The odd and rare time I dont, LRC or PS to the rescue
Actually, my current problem SBBOD, Late 2012 27″ maxed out iMac will not update PS/LRC/FCPX/OS
Birthday in February ………… Studio Ultra
ill heath put me in a wheel chair 3 years ago, and the best medicine was photography
and over time went from wheel chair to Zimmer frame to walking stick to no stick to short slow hikes
So, photography was the best therapy
thanks Matt
quiet often the idea of perfect even stops me from starting. why start when I know I dont know how to do X.
arrive 2023 and “have a go” mentality arrived. Boy have I made some stuff ups! thank goodness for Control J and the History panel.
I enjoyed this article and it fits me to a tee, not only in photography and editing but in quilting as well. I recently made 3 quilts as Christmas gifts and was learning how to use a Longarm machine (big, moveable sewing machine). After staring at my potential designs to put on the quilt for three weeks, I realized I just needed to jump in & do it. I got the quilts finished, and while the quilting was by no means perfect (always a goal!) I was happy with the end product AND they got done.
I still need to get past perfectionism though.
Thanks, Matt. Have you been looking over my shoulder as I’ve been editing one photo for the past three days? Great advice!!!
I’ll send you the final edit when I finish… probably in three or four weeks. ;(
AH…PERFECTION…..DOES NOT EXIST! I REALLY ENJOY AND LEARN A LOT FROM YOUR COURSES AND I BELIEVE THAT A
CONTRIBUTING PART OF THAT IS YOUR APPROACH TO THINGS IN GENERAL IS PRETTY CLOSE TO MINE. AFTER I FINISH A
PROJECT OF ANY KIND I USUALLY CRITIQUE A LITTLE AND SOMETIMES WONDER WHY I DID OR DID NOT DO X…..BUT
WHATEVER WAS DONE WAS FINE & MOVE ON TO THE NEXT THING. LIKE ANYTHING ELSE….AS TIME GOES BY WITH THE PHOTOS, THE MORE YOU DO AND EXPERIMENT….THE BETTER RESULTS! HOW MANY OF REMBRANDT’S PICTURES NEVER MADE IT TO A GALLERY?
Great post Matt. Perfect is the enemy of good is one of my frequent quotes in my healthcare job.
To quote Mr Jobs—“real artists publish!”
Matt,
You may not receive too many positive e-Mails. Or, you may receive many. In this short read, “Perfect is the Enemy of Done”, you’ve basically described me to a fault. As an example, I’ve struggled with noise in my images from the start. It’s only recently I figured out (started believing) that it often does not matter. The best thing is to learn what you’re going to do with your image. What the viewing angle will be. If you’re going to print the image. Etc. I know this may seem to fly in the face of what you’re saying. I don’t mean it to. My thought is simply that I’ve had to stop trying to get my images to look like something they’re not. Sometimes your vision simply can’t be brought out with the image you’re working. Or, it simply will take too long. We need to learn when enough is enough. Since I started thinking more about how an image will be used, I don’t spend near as much time as I have in the past editing my images. I’m not sure who said it, but I strive to, “Get it right in the camera.” That one thought has shortened the amount of time I spend on an image. It’s rewarding to just click Auto and do some basic adjustments. That’s often all that’s needed if you ‘get it right in the camera’. Your last comment, “Stop waiting until you feel perfectly good”, is telling. The best camera is the one in your hand. We, as photographers (professionals, advanced amateurs, amateurs, or novices with smart phones) all need to just get out there and believe in ourselves. One thing’s sure, you can’t photograph something if you didn’t bring a camera.
I always enjoy your presentations and have enjoyed the courses I’ve purchased from you. I’m currently going through your “No Light No Problem” presentations. I’ve known of gradients for a long time but never used them. What a great way to completely eliminate artifacts. I believe that one leap will improve my photography more than any other thing I’ve learned or used in the past. Of course it’s just another tool, we know. But I believe it’s going to really solve many of the problems I’ve experienced in the past.
In closing, I’ll just say, I hope this was positive. It certainly was meant to me. My best to you and yours. Sorry I missed meeting you at Big Beef Creak a few years ago. My loss.
Thanks, Matt. As a novice, this is a good reminder for me to remember I am learning and not perfect. And most of all, not to take the joy out of it.
Great topic, thanks Matt!
One of the things that keep me coming back to you is your “human like” way of doing things. I heard you say in one of your courses a long time ago; something about not pixel peeping and zooming in so closely on a photo after an edit. Who’s going to go up to my photo hanging in my house and pick it apart? “Probably only ME”.
Anyway the concept of NOT over doing it has stuck with me and I know I get more done in my photo hobby life that I used to.
Thanks again and always,
Rich Simonis
Thanks, I needed that.
I agree fully with this and know that perfectionism has often led to me taking too long time editing my pictures, even prevented me from posting them online, as they have become too old or I have become fed up with them and don’t like them any more.
Thank you so much for this
Thanks Matt, this certainly made me feel better.
I enjoyed reading this. It gives me a lot to think about when editing. I know I tend toward perfectionism. Good to be reminded that it is not really important. C
Great article, I think you were talking directly to me. I once heard, during my quilting phase, that only God makes things perfect so don’t worry about tiny flaws.
May I be one of the 3,9% & correct your grammar? A mistake that more & more people make & that is a pet hate with me. It is the number of people, not the amount. Amount is used for things which can’t be divided into single entities. You would say the amount of sugar, but the number of grains of sugar.
Now someone can point out a mistake in this comment & that’s fine, because only God is perfect.
Matt, you are PERFECTLY right with everything you have said here, it has only been in the last couple of days that I was starting to think a little like that, you have nailed everything I was doing hence hindering my progress in my camera skills and workflow,Thank you very much.
Thanks Matt, I already feel better!
One reason I have followed you and have most of your material is that you are a common sense educator. You give me the tools to make my processing worthwhile and I’ve gotten much faster at it AND enjoy it. All of this allows me to be me. Sure it’s been a process and at time frustrating, then you come along w/ more material that clears up the issue and on I go. Thank you for being you and teaching us all to enjoy photography enough to be DONE!!!
I once had a senior executive tell me that he didn’t want me to try and produce “A” level work, that “B” – “B+” was better in that it would get done faster!
For a couple of years now I have generally not posted any of my work on social media because I didn’t think it was good enough. Previously I would post every so often and enjoyed doing so, and never received a mean comment. Then I got a little better at creating and editing images and my expectations went up – too high 🙂 My goal for this year is exactly what you are saying – make it good enough, post it and move on. Definitely advice that applies to photography, but many facets of life.
Wonderful article! Thank you ?
Judging by the number of comments, you have hit a nerve today. And a good one it is. I have always appreciated your common sense approach to your vocation and your ability and confidence to share that with us. Thanks so much.
This is why I’ve followed your work for years Matt! You’ve allowed me to do what I like, to my own set of standards, without worrying whether what I’ve done is “right” or “perfect”. I really enjoy my photography and post-processing without all that stuff hanging over my head!
Thanx Matt!
I truly needed that☺️
great article, i am aware and am tryng to implement the good enough philosophy.
2 edits I suggest:
1. And honestly, I don’t know who the right person it. (IS)
2. 20 years (AGO) it mattered a little. Today it does not.
Still it is good enough lol
Great philosophy!!! Thanks Matt.
Thank you, Matt. This needed to be said. I love the statement “Nobody… and I mean NOBODY… is perfect about going through all of their photos and diligently deleting, flagging, key-wording and organizing them.” Maybe there is that person, but I don’t want to meet them!
I learn more practical stuff from you than from anyone else. And you’ve become one hell of a photographer.
I often think of the song The Gambler; “you got to know when to hold them, gotta know when to fold them” With today’s post processing it easy to get into the trap of trying to get it “better” Sometimes it is best to say while not perfect stick a fork in it cause it’s done and move on. So heartily concur with this article, thank you Matt
Fantastic article. I can’t even remember how many times I didn’t start something because I felt it wasn’t going to be good enough. I have shifted my thinking and now begin a project and just work through it until I feel it is where I like it and it is good enough for me. I agree about the Lightroom catalog and didn’t start it out in a manner to have it organized. I will now just start doing it from this point and not worry about what went before. Thank you for your thoughtful words to help us all get past our own barricades.
Thank you from a recovering perfectionist. Most days it is a losing battle because I am retired Surgeon and a surgical Educator. I demanded absolute perfection and attention to detail from self and my Residents. I have tons of software from different companies and find myself endlessly persevering on my images through different softwares. I am a longtime fan and follower of yours and I am going to take up your challenge. “Good enough is good enough”, indeed!. Thanks for injecting some reality.
Tom Mammen
This post addresses my biggest long term stifling problem. And some how the way you explained it finally got through to me that I have to change. I love that you gave specific examples. Thank you!!
I’m afraid I am or have been guilty of most if not all of those things, and they held me back from improving. Good to know I’m not alone. In recovery now!
TO ALL READERS: If you don’t’ have time or patience to read my long post here is my bottom line. Spend quality time in reading what Matt is saying. Absorbed, digest and try to practice everything he is saying…he is so right.
Matt, I have been following you since your early days-I was at the first Photo world organized by Kim Kirby. I got the photography virus around 9 years when I was “helping” in the darkroom my Uncle, a very successful London (UK) professional photographer who handed me down a vintage Brownie camera and I was of to the races. I have just celebrated my 80 th birthday and although only becoming a “professional” or let’s say working full time after retiring photographer . I have amassed over 185,000 images over 70 years. These comprise, negative, slides and digital images. They consist of landscape, portraits, photo Journalist events, ballet and theater, family and friends …and so on. I am now curating them and after around 6 months I am down to around 75,000.
I discovered the very hard way much of what you are saying. For example, shooting a ballet where the dancer is flying through the air. On burst shooting at around 30fps I ended with approx. 100 shots. The performance gave me around 3-4,000 images. I was commissioned by a newspaper and they only wanted around 50 images by the next morning. No time to find a “perfect” image. So 100 shots would get less than 30 secs to find what I thought was the best I could get with a minimum of Lightroom or Photoshop magic performed on it. If I had to spend more than say 2 min in Lightroom or Photoshop then I would not consider using it.
I never actually deleted anything so that is why I have ended up with such a vast collection. Now I have a more time but still all you are saying is so correct and still applies since I want to do more than just sit in front of the commuter.
Thanks Matt for your years of sound advice and down to earth educating.
Matt, I enjoyed your article about being perfect.
We all want to be perfect, just not in the same way. I have learned that if I do my best on each task I do, then I have reached perfection. That’s even if the photo or the essay isn’t so perfect according to others. I find photos I place on social media groups like flicker and facebook rarely are even ‘liked’, let alone commented or complimented in a comment. That’s ok. I like sharing good photos. When I visit such sites, I study others’ photos to discover how I might improve my own, with a different angle, a different perspective, etc. When I comment I usually say more than “AAAWSOME”. Instead I compliment a good perspective, or offer how the photo makes me feel, in some detail.
Procrastination is the thief of time…move along, tomorrow is another day.
So true, Matt. For many years my desire for perfection lead to an inability to move forward, a crippling of sorts. I’ve experienced this in numerous areas of my experience and have made some progress. I’ve farther to go though, always a journey.
Matt, I enjoyed your article about being perfect.
We all want to be perfect, just not in the same way. I have learned that if I do my best on each task I do, then I have reached perfection. That’s even if the photo or the essay isn’t so perfect according to others. I find photos I place on social media groups like flicker and facebook rarely are even ‘liked’, let alone commented or complimented in a comment. That’s ok. I like sharing good photos. When I visit such sites, I study others’ photos to discover how I might improve my own, with a different angle, a different perspective, etc. When I comment I usually say more than “AAAWSOME”. Instead I compliment a good perspective, or offer how the photo makes me feel, in some detail.
Now I admit I have redone this comment 3 times because the first 2 times didn’t keep in the theme of your article. However your article has provided a lot to think about (and maybe write an essay about). Just not here inside comments of your article.
Larry
Perfection is like trying to reach the horizon.
I am happy to head in that direction but never want to get there.
We say this “Perfection is the enemy of good enuf” all the time….I love relating it to editing photos and appreciate the fact that everyone’s LR catalogue is not perfect! thanks for the pep talk! Love it.
I have this disease. After over a year, a friend of mine finally convinced me to join a photography club. I just didn’t think I was good enough. I am having so much fun and learning so much –I wish I had joined earlier. I am still trying not to look at other people’s photos and think that I’ll never be that good. Thanks for this “pep talk”!
Matt … I have been following you for a long time and will continue, because even though I have switched from Lightroom to ON1 because it fits my preferences better, I still like to get your likes/dislikes about various topics in photography. If I disagree with something I don’t use it anymore. If I agree I try it out and maybe modify it some or more and then decide to make it part of my procedures. If undecided I then also try it and make my decisions according to MY preferences. In Dental School at the University of Toronto I emphatically disagreed with the head of children’s department and used procedures just the opposite to what I had been taught. I had a busy practice including many children. I guess I’m trying to say…do what you consider is the right way to any decision and time will tell you if it is right for you. One thing I disagree with you Matt is you generally disagree with (my understanding) using artificial intelligence. I love photos that have been originally photographed in bright sunlight. The problem there is often too large a colour density range. ON1 has an AI that equally cuts back the highlights and opens up the contrasty shadows; sometimes ending up too dark and sometimes too light, but easily fixed. I treat AI like presets, (using them both to solve a problem with a photo only when they offer something you want). I used to do AV’s for seniors and the general public and always filled or overfilled the rooms. Please keep offering your thoughts, Matt because we all need to think about what & how we edit our photographs.
Hi Wayne. I have absolutely ZERO problem with Ai. Never have and don’t recall ever saying so! I just don’t care for ON1’s implementation of it is all.
Really wise stuff. I never forget two things, one regarding procrastination. When I was young, my mother would say ‘do it now Robin’. The other useful pice of advice came from Antony Robbins and it was ‘work for results, not perfection’. I shoot motor sport and have progressively reduced my burst speed and length of shot and still manage to capture what I want with a smaller grab and have become adept at spotting the best and killing, usually all of the rest bar one, as a backup. Thanks for your thoughts.
I’m unable to pursue “perfect” because I have no idea what perfect is. If it pleases me it is what everybody else gets to see.
I find myself facing this dilemma all the time. As a working professional I cannot spend the time it takes to make an image “perfect”. I want to do that and I wish I had the time to do that, but it is not possible. The work required to make an image “perfect” (to me) is not seen by my clients. Sometimes we need to let go of our ego. If I made any spelling or grammatical errors in this post, please forgive me as I am not “perfect” and I need to move on to my other work. Thanks Matt for a good article on this subject.
I’m glad a took the few minutes to read this. It was inspiring to hear what I have begun to do with my photography. That is, when I get to a point I like what I have I move on and not worry about how someone else might view it. If they enjoy my work great, if not they have their view.
As important as you noted this is as much about life in general and not just photography.
Thanks
A wise man once told me that when you reach perfection you begin to rot!
All I can say is thank you for this. I so needed to hear it and feel much more relaxed about my photography now. I have to remind myself that it’s supposed to be fun, not perfect!
Recently I was editing a series of harbour photos and realised one was better unedited. It took me awhile to accept the fact. With all the wonderful tools available I can get caught up with doing too much. As I am retired though I do have the time and enjoy “playing” with my photos. Thanks for this.
Thanks Mark,
It really made me think about How I do many things, not just photography. I just completed your Lightroom course, but haven’t started working in Classic because I haven’t taken perfect pictures….that’s me. I need to give your article more thought.
Hi Matt, right now, I am in the middle of a huge project – fixing something like 20,000 images that were previously scanned (a long time ago – using Kodak PCD – Photo CD) – and I lost it. For years – I had almost given up finding those images – until towards the beginning of last year – when I finally located the hard-disk. Anyway, fixing 20,000+ images is no fun – and if I want to fix it to “perfection” – that means I have to spend about 30 minutes to 45 minutes per image !!! Non-starter, I must say. I finally managed to create a script which works for 90% of the images – “good enough” quality – and programmed it into Photoshop and Magic Automa 3. That allowed me to chop the processing time to about 2 minutes per image. There is still some manual work which cannot be automated. But – Not choosing the “PERFECT IMAGE” path – allows me to adopt this process 🙂
Cheers … TS
A very instructive thought and giving a lot of creativity in our everyday activities and in photography. Finally, someone dared to say it and knock down non-existent perfection from its pedestal. But this is due to the years of youth, where fairy tales and fairy tales teach us to strive for perfection, as well as from modern cinema. For this reason, I thank you very much for these deep and right thoughts that allow me to continue learning and not to look for perfection, but to find joy in ordinary and mundane things. Greetings from Poland from the city of “Fortress Przemyśl”. Ps. I don’t know English and I use translators, so I apologize if something has been translated incorrectly. And after reading your text, I have nothing more to add, because for me you have exhausted the topic to a sufficient degree.
Excellent advice, Matt! I can relate to this totally!! Especially with my photography! I finally finished a project with a group of photographers before Christmas. I had to keep telling myself to keep going! Sometimes, it feels like I can’t finish the project because it is overwhelming to make it perfect! I don’t have to make it perfect!
Great advice for the new year! Thanks! Myrtle
Matt, that was cogent advice! Many times I edited a photo and thought it was not done and I’d come back to it and finish it later… make it better… make it perfect. When I came back to it, I would think to myself there is nothing else I can do to improve on it why didn’t I consider it finished and post it on my website in the first place. My website being where my PERFECT pictures were located.
Well things have changed since reading your article on perfectionism. I’m going to post more images on my website without worrying if others think they are perfect. I make images for my own fulfillment and if I like them that’s good enough!
Thanks for the great article!
Thank you, Matt. Self doubt also leads to the idea that perfect is the aim. Great advice here.
At the risk of sounding pretentious, as a former academic economist, I look at most of my endeavors through the lens (I had to get that word in there!) of cost-benefit analysis. Any task that I undertake has an expected benefit (or else I wouldn’t be doing it, right?). However, there is ALWAYS an inherent cost. If for no other reason, time is a limited resource. To wit: the time I spend editing a photo necessarily results in the loss of the next highest value of the use of that time. So in the quest for perfection, some point will be reached where an additional hour spent on editing will have less value than the alternative use of that time. So where is that tipping point? That is where awareness comes in. Class dismissed.
Awesome, Matt! You are by far the best educator. I recently did a huge road trip from Port Charlotte Fl across to the southwest and up to Alaska. I’ve taken literally hundreds of photos and had no time to edit them while on the road (April to November). I am just now starting to look at this pile of work ahead of me. I will take your words to heart and try not to be the pixel peeping perfectionist that I usually am. My Road Trip 2022 project will just have to contain “good enough” images, because that’s really all that the family and friends want to see. For them, they just want to see some amazing scenery and critters.
Great thoughts! I also find that trying to reach perfection not only takes time but wears away at your self confidence. The result is a reluctance to even start a new project. Then you look at other photographers post and feel inferior.
I LOVE this !! Thank you!
Couoldn’t agree more. Another thing that keeps holding me up is going back to earlier photos when Adobe release some new clever function in Lightroom/Photoshop and trying to re-edit the picture to see if I can make it just that “little bit” better. Hopeless way to fill time, but it does at least help to learn the new tools (that’s my excuse anyway!)
Hi Matt, I come from the other end of the road and I’m happy to read your thoughts too. I am the one who can always finish a job with a “that will do”, or “good enough” as you say. I learnt a lot of PS and LR from you and others and I progress continuously, but am totally aware that my job is far from perfect. Why did I enjoy your writing then? Because it gave me relief that my attitude is correct and should not feel shame that I hand out something that is not perfect (if perfect as such exist at all). Thank you.
Fully agree with you Matt, with one caveat. I usually stop at “Good enough” because it is as good as I can do.
But stopping there can mean I don’t experiment a little and learn how to make editing better in the future with likely no more time spent than I do now on an individual image.
I need to remind myself not to stop at “Good enough” every now and then.
Also, I find it hard to delete the 49 other flying-bird-with-a-fish images because many, while no better, are slightly different and coming from an AV production background, I tell myself I might need that image with the bird looking a different way as it will dissolve better into the next image. ?
Very good advice. I’ glad to hear it from a professional that I respect and look up to, like yourself.
Thank you, Paul Valovic.
Hi Matt, a thought provoking blog, all makes sense to me! Yes, I see one or two of my traits in there! Thanks for making me think about what I could be better at ‘letting go’.
With regard to falling down the rabbit hole of watching video tutorial after video tutorial, after several years of researching and trying to find good content, I realised probably 90% of what’s out there is not a good fit for me.
I have ‘whittled down’ those that I follow (for photography/photoshop/Lightroom) to a handful of great presenters/educators. I first came across your work in 2012 when I purchased ‘Photoshop Compositing Secrets’. I don’t do much compositing anymore (the definition of ‘it’s never done’ from my experience!) I have followed you ever since. I have met some great people via photography, and we do actually have a mutual friend, someone else I’ve followed since 2012, who has become a real good buddy and mentor.
I have been a photographer for over 30 years and have seen trends come and go. For the last four years I’ve been teaching Photography at a local FE college here in the UK. These days I use your content (and a few others I follow) to inspire my teaching and help pass on my knowledge. On a few occasions the saying ‘If you want to learn, teach’ has definitely come true in my experience!
I have a carpentry background and your ‘Perfectionist’ graphic above reminded me of something I was told as an apprentice.
‘Aim for perfection, but settle for excellent’.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, keep up the good work, and apologies for the long reply!
Your last comment is the most pertinent. Learn from it. That’s how we learn. If you don’t make mistakes, how do you know if you’ve made progress or not? I have a friend who fits your procrastination example perfectly. He buys equipment and gadgets in the hope that new gear will enable get him better results, but never uses it because he’s not perfect in its use. Result … he never takes pictures but he’s the best customer in the world, single handedly keeping the equipment dealers in business, but envious of my images made with ….. effort .
Thanks for sharing. Sadly we all know people like that. I can name about 10 right off hand. They have great equipment but can’t take a compelling photo because they simply won’t just go practice and do it.
How about
Pursuit of perfection is the progenitor of procrastination
I’ll stick with my version. Plus I have no idea what progenitor even means? 🙂
Yes happy with your idea.
Progenitor is
a person who originates a cultural or intellectual movement
Your personality type did tick me off once, many years ago. And I quit following you, stopped watching your videos and didn’t read anything you posted anywhere. You hurt my one feeling.
It took me this long to get over it.
All is good. But not perfect.
* PEACE * LOVE * MUSIC * PHOTOGRAPHY *
And I’m sure I’ve missed you all these years ? Glad to have you back (even though I’ll probably tick you off again). Ha!
I wrestle with eliminating noise.
First I try lightroom, then deNoise AI , then back to lightroom. most of the time never satisfied . I know full well that my camera settings and/or drone settings is the problem.
Well I can tell you that you’ll probably never be satisfied with LR noise reduction. Anything besides LR will be good enough 🙂
Amen! Thank you, from a recovering perfectionist!
Thanks Matt. I have never completely finished a project in my life. Even on my home. I always leave some little thing unfinished. Why? I don’t know and I don’t care. Maybe it is my signature, not done, maybe Jim did it.
Practice makes improvement. I think I coined that term but I’m not sure. I don’t care about perfectoin I just want my next image to be better than my last. (see what I did there? I learned from you, ‘…right person it.’)
How about “Excellence” over “Perfection”.
I like to think that I am a perfectionist so I try hard to make everything the best I can. Very often I say that things came out exactly the way I was expecting, so I’m proud of this. But recently I don’t have much spare time and do things a bit quicker. I’m fine with that too. I always gave quality a bigger consideration over the quantity, but I admit, and I agree with you, that one doesn’t have to try to be perfect because nobody will ever reach it.
Great article Matt! Thanks for sharing. I’m not an Adobe user (I don’t like jumping from one app to another to edit a photo), but I do use a software you know and bought a course you did for them. It’s on1 PhotoRAW of course. If you have any tips and presets please consider sharing in your future posts.
Cheers from Italy! (and if you get here drop me a line)
Matt;
Throughout my life, I have found that the harder I try for perfection the more I second-guess my intuition, and end up stifling my creativity.
Hi Matt,
Thanks for the awesome article. You have hit the nail on the head. It was almost as if you were describing my own journey in photography. Like you I am a slowly recovering perfectionist. In my mind being a good photographer is all about continuing to learn from our own experiences and those of others like yourself and not about getting the perfect result. When we stop learning, it is time to find another hobby.
Keep up the great work.
Cheers,
Dave
The perfect subject for me as I count down the days left for me to complete the current “sort” through an unbelievable number of slides ….yes I am still stuck in that era ? ……but not for much longer. But thanks to Matt’s “Perfect Is the Enemy Of Done” I suddenly feel a whole lot better about the task and I intend to carry that over into my next project …. scanning those chosen slides. Thanks for the great advice.
Matt, thanks so much for this message. I am one of those perfectionists who are not perfect. It’s a hard habit to break but everything you said here makes so much sense. I recently started implementing this method in my work as well because the perfectionist attitude was draining, to say the least. I almost stopped editing completely because of it. This is a great message especially if you have lots of photos as I do. I love your videos and have learned so much from you. Thanks for sharing your experience and knowledge with us.
Great advice, Matt! Thanks. I can tell you put a great deal of effort into your Final Thoughts, and it helped me put things into perspective. Thanks again!
Thanks Matt. That one kinda hit home. I am a professional procrastinator!
Matt
Thank great information as always. Reading other comments I think most of us all are in that same boat. I will work hard trying to change this in my life. Thanks Lots Matt