All photos start at zero, and after my initial sorting and ranking most of them stay there. To be promoted to a one-star rank a photo needs to have some potential; determining this will often involve a quick edit, but other times I'll assign it and move on. But only the most promising one or two of a particular sequence of similar photos will get a star – I'll backtrack and zero out a photo if I see one that's better.
A two-star rating is reserved for photos that are reasonably good. Sometimes I assign two stars to an unedited image so that I know to come back and pay attention to it, but usually these are former one-star images that have been more thoroughly edited and promoted. This is the lowest rank that I'll usually show to family and friends, and a two-star rating is as high as I'll go during my initial few edits.
I have a simple rule for a photo to get three stars: it has to be mine. I have to honestly assess whether another photographer, with the same equipment and skill, would have taken the same photo that I did. Not many photos of sunsets can meet this challenge, and even exquisite photos of lonely trees or red canoes – should I ever take them – would fail as well. Being promoted from a two-star to a three-star rank isn't a measure of quality, but a matter of personality.
A photo that has crossed the critical threshold of matthewness can be good enough to be elevated to four stars, but that's exceedingly rare. A five-star rating is even more uncommon – but that's just fine by me. My best work, as always, is still to come.
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