Hi Nat

i shoot professionally (portraits) and i can have anywhere between 30 and 80 shots for a viewing. from my point of view if i have 30 amazing shots but give 50 for a viewing, then am i diluting my own talent by showing images that just dont sell and so make the client press delete 20 times..? which then sets a negative mindset. However, like you rightly state, the images that i could delete may be loved by parents who dont want staged or structured posing. they might like free-for-all images..
the way i go at it is, if your images have more than one of similar posing/framing/viewpoint (depending on what your are shooting) then be ruthless..pick one outside pick 2 from each..i tend to try and get 1 standing, 1 lying down, 1 sitting etc..this way if they like a shot they only have 1 to pick whereas if i leave more in, they may become undecided which wont make a sale. the same goes for landscapes..no point in having 2 of the same unless its really different, ie lighting of time of day..
to be your own critic is really hard but think what is the end result meant to be and who for? how many images do you or they need to complete a project/brief? let that lead you and in time you will just know what to pick and what to leave out.
essay over lol!!!! hope this helps
good luck!

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