Archiving photos - historical or utopian?

[hillwalkinggirl]

While the weather is bad I thought I would archive all of my photos onto individual Cd's or DVDs and decided to do this chronologically by month and year.

Now I am trying to decide how I should do it. Should I do it
1. Historically and honestly, by saving the original photos exactly as taken.
OR
2. Historically correct.-Improved versions, with basic changes, such as sharpening, exposure etc.
OR
3. Utopian view of the world. Versions which have been altered - in which I have removed things I didn't like such as lamp posts, telephone wires, clashing paintwork, wrinkles and love handles.

Comments, suggestions and reasons for best way of doing it please.

 

[Anthony.Ralph]

While the weather is bad I thought I would archive all of my photos onto individual Cd's or DVDs and decided to do this chronologically by month and year.

Now I am trying to decide how I should do it. Should I do it
1. Historically and honestly, by saving the original photos exactly as taken.
OR
2. Historically correct.-Improved versions, with basic changes, such as sharpening, exposure etc.
OR
3. Utopian view of the world. Versions which have been altered - in which I have removed things I didn't like such as lamp posts, telephone wires, clashing paintwork, wrinkles and love handles.

Comments, suggestions and reasons for best way of doing it please.

I would suggest keeping the original, untouched pictures AND any copies that have been worked upon too.

Also, I found enlightenment about DAM (digital asset management) by reading the book by Peter Krogh ( http://www.thedambook.com/ ) and in particular the 'bucket' storage system in chapter 3.

You might find it interesting to consider file name parameters, folder naming conventions, etc. As well as keywording, labeling, etc. All described in the Krogh book too.

(have you eyes glazed over yet? )


Anthony.

 

[SimonTALM]

I don't believe your question has single answer as it comes down to why you are keeping them.

If it is to keep them for the historical record (i.e. be about in 100years) then I would say 2 and even then I would print them rather than archive to CD / DVD. Personally I would print via a proper photo print shop (e.g. photobox) rather than using your home PC / Printer combo as the images will last longer.

My reasoning for this is that if you think about it, how many historical images do we find from the past in their original form (e.g. negative)? I would argue that the majority of the historical images we find are in print form with no original to hand, this is becasue the images we find from the past (even 20yr old images) are the ones where people have conciously saved the photo because it means something to them. I also would be too concerned about trying to save all your images for the future, think about how many photographs were taken of you as a child and how many of these exist to this day. I know there were many thousands taken of me but I know of only a small handful (much less than 100) that survive to this day (I'm only 29 BTW), does that mean there isn't a historical record of my childhood?

This isn't to say that it is wrong to archive to CD/DVD as there are many good reasons to do this but in doing so you need to keep and eye on the bacup medium and update the backup every 5 years or so to ensure its integrity. This includes thinking carefully before you start about both the file format and the storage medium used.

If you do backup to CD/DVD now think about the file type used and if you backup RAW images make sure you also have somthing that there will be a good chance of viewing in 5 years e.g. JPG, TIFF (RAW afterall is propretory to the camera manufacturer and the exact format differs per camera type e.g. D80 RAW is not the same as D300 RAW), and make sure that imediately after you have created your archive you check that it works and you can read images from it.

Personally if I was serious about creating an archive of my photos save the RAW, a TIFF & JPG of the RAW (your option 1) and TIFFs & JPG's and a print of both your option 2 and option 3. I would also burn at least 2 disks and store at least 1 off them off site. However, as you can imaging this approach is time consuming so I would probably only do this for selected images out of the thousands I have.

 

[Byker28i]

I use lightroom and export the final image as JPeg.

For archiving, I've taken to exporting as Catalogue the images as this gives me the Raw file and the changes as metadata that I've made to them. I also export separately the final jpegs - which lets face it are the ones I usually use.

I have copies on two external usb disks (one raw, one jpeg) and the jpegs on DVD's.

With a 10Mpixel camera, I'm seriously thinking of using an old tape drive from work

 

[Chappers]

It really does depend on why you are archiving. If it is for you own use then I would suggest at least store the original file. If you have room then also how you envisaged the image.

Also the format in which you store the digital file can be problematical. If you shoot jpeg, then no problem. If you shoot RAW, do you keep it in the camera manufacturers propriety format or convert to Adobe dng format. That's a decision you have to make yourself.

The next question is how long do you want the data to last. CD/DVD's can have different life expectancies. Some may last a few years, some longer. You can get Gold, Archival quality CD/DVD, from Delkin , Kodak and others. These have a claimed life of 100years.

Again depending on the how long you want to preserve an image, you may be better off going for a printed result. Pigmented inks on quality paper are claiming decades of permanence. I remember a quote from a curator of , I think, The Library of Congress, when the discussion of archives came up. He said that provided the image could be seen, then they are OK with it being faded and not in full colour!

I personally archive onto DVD and to external Hard Drives. Best of both worlds. However be aware of changes in technology. We have Blue Ray disks now with 10X the storage capacity of DVD's . maybe in 5-10 years time the DVD drive on a computer will be as rare as a floppy disk drive now. Be prepared to update the way you store the images in the light of newer technology

 

[hillwalkinggirl]

Thanks for all your comments. I already have all my photos backed up on 2 different external hard drives, but I was just wondering really whether I ought to keep my DVD records as true photos or whether it's better to keep the enhanced photos to show to people. Would anyone really want to see the rubbish versions?

 

[Chappers]

Artists tend not to show their sketches or early attempts. I would suggest that it's the "vision" thats important. So if you can only keep one copy go for the ideal rather than the starting point.

 

[hillwalkinggirl]

Artists tend not to show their sketches or early attempts. I would suggest that it's the "vision" thats important. So if you can only keep one copy go for the ideal rather than the starting point.

That's what I thought only I didn't want to be dishonest!