This is one of the major differences between "pro" photographers and "amateurs". Pros will be vicious about editing. They have a limited number of opportunities to build their brand and reputation and to convey their message.
What I learned from a friend who is a pro photographer is to make multiple passes. I'll try to do a quick one when I import into Lightroom to cull out unfocused or unsaveable images. Then I'll go through and cut out shots that are basically duplicates.[1] Then I'll go through and see which ones I want to develop further in Nik/Lr/Ps/etc. and star them.
Then I'm a battle royale optometrist, doing "a or b" an killing the weaker candidates.
Just getting in the habit of killing (or, at least cropping out the junk) the photos that you won't care about in the future is a good start. If you're looking at older photos and wondering "why did I take that," delete it right then. You don't have to have a clean desk right away, just shred the paper you don't need when it gets in your way.
[1] I've gotten into wildlife photography, so I often have a burst of ten shots of a bird in flight to get one that is really special.
Then I'm a battle royale optometrist, doing "a or b" an killing the weaker candidates.
Oh yes, I do that to a fault. That is, even of something static I will take at least 5-10 shots at least, just to get the one where the autofocus hit the nail on the head, and especially with hand held shots in low light. Multiply that for living things, which means hunting for the combination of good crop/focus and situation.
I am not pro by any means, but I am "vicious" about selecting and editing simply because it makes photography so much more fun for me, and the results pleasing to myself. It makes me feel okay instead of bad about the glass I bought, too ^^ I don't mind going back to old photos and changing tweaking the RAW conversion parameters either, and this way I don't have to obsess too much about getting it just perfect on the first go (because as you know, when you stare for too long at a specific set of things, you loose perspective, I find it rather more productive to step away from and then revisit things, but of course that's a luxury of not doing it professionally!).
What I learned from a friend who is a pro photographer is to make multiple passes. I'll try to do a quick one when I import into Lightroom to cull out unfocused or unsaveable images. Then I'll go through and cut out shots that are basically duplicates.[1] Then I'll go through and see which ones I want to develop further in Nik/Lr/Ps/etc. and star them.
Then I'm a battle royale optometrist, doing "a or b" an killing the weaker candidates.
Just getting in the habit of killing (or, at least cropping out the junk) the photos that you won't care about in the future is a good start. If you're looking at older photos and wondering "why did I take that," delete it right then. You don't have to have a clean desk right away, just shred the paper you don't need when it gets in your way.
[1] I've gotten into wildlife photography, so I often have a burst of ten shots of a bird in flight to get one that is really special.