Are you ever completely satisfied with an image?

[Jim Noel]

One of the reasons I abandoned the darkroom and starting printing 100% digitally was because I'd look at my old darkroom prints and almost always see subtle improvements that could be made in Photoshop that would be impossible in the darkroom.

All of the corrections which can be made in PS originated and can be made in the darkroom. It just takes time, patience, knowledge and practice.

[Jerry Bodine]

Prints aren't the only thing that look great at night and horrible in the morning.

- Leigh

Reminds me of a seminar speaker who was a very upbeat happy kinda guy. Someone asked if he ever wakes up grumpy. He answered, "Heck no, I just roll over and let her sleep." His wife was in the front row, laughing (don't know about later on). She had apparently heard that one before.

[Wilbur Wong]

Yes, but possibly only for a small handful that I shot in the past currently. But with decades of maturing and evolvement of my vision I am not so much less satisfied with the images that I took long ago as moving forward to new images that are emotionally satisfying to myself.

I can also go back and discover new aspects from a few older images that I may take a different approach in printing interpretation. By the same token that I may not be satisfied now with images of the past for which I was satisfied then, I sometimes see some images from a new perspective.

Many of the set ups that I make could possibly be improved with different environmental conditions, but that is constrained by circumstance. Sometimes of course, I can feel in hindsight that I missed something in handling the scene. (But I try not to berate myself for that.)

Even my best images could be improved in self critique, but I can be more than satisfied with their outcome and be happy and proud of my achievement.

[Vaughn]

Yes. Otherwise why print an image one is not satisfied with? Not that I have mistakenly placed hope on an image that ended up being less than satisfactory.

I contact print using alt processes -- with 99% of the time without burning nor cropping. So I need to do serious editing seeing the image in front of me, on the GG and then with the negative. This also saves me money on film! But I still "waste" film as I am willing to take chances on new/different compositional styles and new-to-me subjects/lighting conditions. Ya gotta take chances! LOL!

I do not have a lot of time to print (single dad of three 14 year old boys), so I do not have time to waste with almost-good-enough images/negatives. I have more good negatives than time!

So yes, I have many images I am satisfied with, and I always enjoy looking at my own work.

[Brian C. Miller]

I mean, isn't that the Buddha's First Noble Truth, that life (as it is ordinarily lived) is suffering? And at root, is it not that suffering, that sense of perpetual dissatisfaction, that is the motivation for all our endeavors? My mind is blown...

If that's the first noble truth, then why is Buddha always shown as a happy fat guy? No misery, no suffering, no problem! The guy ain't skinny with a "will philosophize for food" sign.

There are a few photographs with which I'm completely satisfied. I made them by accident. The rest need work, like going out and trying to create better images.