What are the disadvantages of post processing only those pictures that I want to show?

Question

When I go out for a shoot, I usually come back with 50 to 200 pictures based on that day's productivity. I am a busy person when I am not photographing. Here is the problem, post processing consumes a lot of time. Sometimes I lag behind in post processing and the pictures pile up to be processed. Ultimately, I can't keep up. Of course, I present only a chosen few out of the lot. So doesn't it make sense to process only those that I want to present/show? Do I miss out on something if I don't post processing everything I shoot?

EDIT

mattdm helped me rephrase the question better. So the questions as it stands after mattdm's answer and comments is -

Is it worth spending time on photographs which are good but which aren't my very best work?

Asked by Chirantan

Answer

You may find a gem you overlooked — something which you passed over but which on further inspection works better for you than an image you selected on the first pass. This may simply be a detail that wasn't obvious, or that a blurry image caught a far better expression than a sharp one, or it may be that some creative work brings out something in an otherwise overlooked image.

You may get some benefit from looking at the images you didn't select, and identifying for yourself why you didn't select those. You might not necessarily want to post-process these, but winnowing your work is an excellent way to learn.

Another thing to consider is to work on taking fewer pictures you're not keeping. That's a challenge, particularly in these days of ten-frames-per-second burst rates and no obvious monetary cost for each one. There is, as you've clearly discovered, a cost, though — each click means some amount of later work. Beyond that, you may find that putting more thought into each image means you bring home the same chosen few, surrounded by less baggage.

To me, a holy grail of photography is making every shot a "keeper". I'm nowhere near that, but getting closer. One thing I noticed is that when I take a number of shots, it's usually the first that's the best — that was the moment, and the rest are just second-guessing. Learning to second-guess less leaves me more time for the next moment.

As with other affectations like shooting with only prime — no zoom — lenses, this is a luxury in having photography as a hobby. I don't have to get the shot to sell to a client or put on the front page. If I miss something because I wasn't clicking enough, or didn't have the right focal length on the camera, I try to learn from that too, and be in the right place the next time — because, hey, there's always tomorrow (and if there isn't, no one will be there to look at my photographs anyway).

Answered by mattdm

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