Give them an x amount preview selection. You choose what you like best, being the x amount, then they choose from your picking. Works well for me.
 

Hunny....I have the SAME problem...u find something out...u let me know!
 

I think it is something that comes with the territory. It's part of the business. If you are in it to make your clients happy then you do what you have to do. You do your best, then they pick out what they want. In the end, it's you they will refer to others. It's those pictures they will show off proudly building your reputation. So the hard work and time involved should pay off. It should pay off anyway if it's something you love. If it's not, there are other jobs out there you could move on to.
 

I will usually shoot 20 - 30 shots within their one hour session. I then go through and pick approximately 12-16 to work on and show them. The customer usually will love at least 8 or more pictures. Another thing you may want to try...that works for me (if your shooting digital and have a display on your camera), show the customer as you take them (this takes up a little more time but if they don't like it, you can delete it right then and not have to worry about retouching). If they see the small display...they are not seeing all the flaws, besides their eyes are not as trained to see all the flaws as ours are. Hope this helped!
 

Ah, the woes of digital photography....

With film, you set a number of rolls and that is that. With digital, well, the sky (within limits of your memory capacity) is the limit.

For me it depends on the type of shoot that determines the number of photos I take, but I'll pick one type of shoot and tell you "how I roll."

For most of my portrait sessions, I block off two hours or studio time for the client. I'll shoot until the client gets tired, we run out of time, or I fill the 2Gb memory card. I shoot a 10Mp camera, and I can get 210-230 raw files on the card...I never shoot jpeg, raw only.

I take the card, put it on my computer, and show the client the unedited images right away. I let them pick the ones they want printed, and those are the ones I edit.

In the past, I would screen out the images I felt were of poor quality or not what I would choose. Everyone is different, and they might see something in an image that I do not because of the relationships they have with the subjects in the images, so I stopped prescreening.
If the photo is out of focus or has technical issues, I'll scrap it, but that is all.

If the client wants 5 images out of 100, that is all I retouch, if they want all 100, I retouch all 100. Either way, I am not doing work for which I will not be paid.
 

Hi, If they want 5 or 100 how do you price your shoot?
 

I charge $50 for the studio session.
1st hour of retouching is free, $10 per hour after that.

Most of the money I make is by selling prints.
 

I also let the client see all of their images first. They see a sample of my work in the beginning, so any of the flaws they see in the unedited they don't have to worry about because they kow it will look great in the end. I used to pick the ones I liked and retouch and then give them a choice from all the others, but when you spend so much retouch time, it really stings when they don't like the way they look in them! I know when I see pictures of myself, people will say "What a good picture of you!" and I think the total opposite! We are our own best critic, save your precious time and let them pick what they want! I set a limit of retouching 24, anything extra costs more.
Good Luck and if you find a great idea to solve this problem let me know too!
 

I have read all the replies and you def. have som replies with the tough love- move on to something else mantra which is crazy, this is what you love you will find what will work. I have had your problem and done it all ways and the more succuessuful you become each of these answers would work.
Some can charge just to sit down and look while others are just starting out and are trying not to show they were esctatic just to get the job.

I have no idea bc I just started out and bam just became successful by word of mouth and its been surreal. and since I have no idea where you are at in your passion of a career I will give a couple of ideas.

I rememeber showing a set and she was not liking the ones I was liking, so I scraped the idea and said I have just adjusted these a bit but have a treasure trove of amazing shots if you would like and have the time to look.... who would say no to that.So thats what we did and it worked, she picked about half and half. Some I picked and some I would have never picked but I will never know what will make a picture special for her. It might have been crap to us but to her/him its a treasure.

I think you should just ask your client, tell them what the world of digital has done for us and there are nurmerous shots, would you like me to narrow them down or would you like full creative control. And if you are just starting out each session could be a weath of knowledge and they end up buying more... resulting in a bigger paycheck for you depending on how your structured your packages/

I hope this helps but listen to your gut and not completly to a bunch of people who think they know what they are talking about bc how could anyone possibly tell you to give up your dream. Most of these ideas are all good, take from each one somthing that might work and try it, and one day you will be charging just to sit down. I hope I have no over stepped my bounderies I just see you were really wanting an answer to a very frustrating question that baffle the most seasoned. Good Luck darling and congrats on your success.... I started out on here but realized I had more photograpers than real clients, so while I was sick decided to work on my lifes business else where and keep presense here bc one day I realized the great where like, my space who, ;p; and my business just took off. I wish the same for you, not being sick but the success on here and off
K