Hobby photographers do you keep all your pictures?

Matt L

Matt L

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Matt
Edit My Images
Yes
I know this has probably been asked a few times but just wandering what you all do.

For me i keep all mine in weekly folders and all the edited shots in a seperate folder, but i have noticed since i changed to shooting raw+jpeg (jpeg is purely for storage on the computer so i know which raw file is which :lol: ) I am obviously using up alot more space on my hd, so i was considering deleting the images i havent used/edited. However I'm not sure if i would regret deleting them.

So what do you lot do do you delete stuff regularly or do you have 99% of the pictures from day 1?

Matt
 
FAcing the same problem :lol:
Only been shooting a few weeks, but the gigs are starting to fade on my mac.
Dont know how best to go around it.. Will be keeping tabs on this.
 
Matt L said:
I know this has probably been asked a few times but just wandering what you all do.

For me i keep all mine in weekly folders and all the edited shots in a seperate folder, but i have noticed since i changed to shooting raw+jpeg (jpeg is purely for storage on the computer so i know which raw file is which :lol: ) I am obviously using up alot more space on my hd, so i was considering deleting the images i havent used/edited. However I'm not sure if i would regret deleting them.

So what do you lot do do you delete stuff regularly or do you have 99% of the pictures from day 1?

Matt
Click to expand...

I keep MOST of mine but shoot only raw (don't need jpg having a mac) the folder is getting rather large now :)
 
I kept most of mine but now I'm been more self critical I can see which ones are worth keeping and delete the rest.
 
You could sign up for a windows live account and use the free 25 gig online storage :thumbs:
 
I burn all mine to DVDs. I have a set of DVDs for all unedited RAW images (or at least I will when I get my new camera, right now they're unedited jpegs), and a seperate set of DVDs containing all edited images and the RAW (jpeg) from which it came. I only burn these DVDs once I have enough pictures to fill a DVD, until then they remain on my hard drive, or a DVDRW, and all final images will be stored on an external hard drive when I can afford one. I never delete any images. Ever.
 
first of all I am very picky with my shots so I end up deleting most of the pictures I take.

For the ones that make it, I keep the raw files for special shots (i.e the ones that have the potential to be printed as a poster) or the shots I really really like. For the holiday snaps, and the rest, I convert them to jpeg and delete the raw...

But I only started this summer and even in 6 months, the folder sizes are getting large.
 
I keep all my RAW's as, tbh, I have the disk space to be able to do so. Any shots I edit get converted to 16Bit Tiffs after raw processing and kept in a separate folder. So yeah, I keep all my stuff :D
 
After a shot, I critically sort out the keepers and delete the ones I know are rejects, these are in RAW only. The ones I want to show, I edit them, convert them to JPEG and save them to the same file but with a prefix to indicate that they have been edited and converted.
I save the file to an external 1TB drive. I think its important to be very critical of your shots and only keep the very best.
In addition, I subscribe to a service called 'Mozy' and all my data files are backed up remotely so that in the event of a total hard drive failure/fire/theft, I can still recover all my files.

I use a date file as in:

2009
>Dec>birds>garden 20.12.09
2010
>jan> birds>garden 10.01.10
>jan>family>sue 10.01.10
>jan>birds>reserve 12.01.10
>feb>family>jessica 01.02.10
And so on

I am interested to see how other approach this though.
 
Well my system is (which tbf could do with being changed at some point but ill start a new system when i get another external hd).

- All raws + jpegs off the camera (only delete ones which are total messes ie black screen where the flash didnt fire etc) copied of the camera and saved into a folder liked

hd>random>week ending 03.01.10
hd>random>week ending 10.01.10
etc

then the few that i edit get saved in the following location

hd>photoshopped
and if they are for my 365
hd>photoshopped>365

if its a perticular occasion they go else where and dont get saved into the weekly folders or if its a proper shoot for someone then that goes somewhere totally different.

like i say i need to sort my filing system out at some point.
 
I guess it's a problem that everyone has... up till now, I've just been letting Lightroom do all the sorting and I keep all my raws... but I am starting to run out of space now... So I am debating whether to get a 500gb hard drive to upgrade. Personally, I just like to have all the photos in hand. Potentially thou I can see a system whereby you would rate all your photos and then once a week, you connect an external or network drive and get say all the under 3 star photos stored off the main harddrive. Ideally done automatically in lightroom..
 
I'm purely a hobby togger, once upon a time I kept everything I shot regardless. These days I'm far more critical of my shots to the point that if the composition is **** or if it needs more than 'contrast, vibrance/saturation, a crop and a sharpen' then I bin it.
Was out today, took 60 shots, kept 5 !
 
I keep all my RAWs except the flukes that I delete right at the beginning of the 'after a long day' process, if you get my drift. Yes it's expensive in terms of space but quite often what I think is not such a good photo one day can look like a great photo the next, so I try to keep as much as I can. Obviously if it's out of focus or something it gets binned.
 
I'm a newbe here to TP and also to photography, but I must say I keep all my photos (except the real duds), mainly because I want to look back at them and learn where I did things right and what work is needed on improving the wrong ones. Have an external HD and also a stack of cds (for those really special and sentimental ones, mainly because I don't want to loose them). D :)
 
Keep all my photos? Not any more
Used to keep most. a few weeks ago I got more aggresive with my deletions. Now I keep no more than the best 20%

D5shooter said:
You could sign up for a windows live account and use the free 25 gig online storage :thumbs:
Click to expand...

I have 500Gb of images...
 
Yes. When I delete an image it's usually done on the spot on the camera.

I keep all my film negatives, so I keep all my RAW files. Lightroom indicates just over 50,000 images including scanned film (though I've a way to go to complete that task). About 530 GB at present. Back up weekly to an external 1TB HD and keep that at work in case the house burns down.
 
I don't see the point in keeping pics that I'm going to do nothing with. They're either good enough or they go, I'm afraid.

Went through 1000 unsorted pics today and kept about 150 and that was being generous. :eek:

Also, I'm gonna try and make a few photobooks and do some prints and frame them this year instead of them being stuck on my hard drive. :thumbs:
 
I used to keep everything but like a few above I'm starting to delete more as I become more critical with my images. I think I should start to delete them on the camera on the spot, rather than importing them into lightroom and then going through everything.

I store my photos in a folder called Photo Library:

2008
- 2008-01-28 _ Danoor and Culzean Castle
- ...
2009
- 02-02-2009 - Dean Castle Walk
- ...
2010
- 01-01-2010 - London Trip
- 06-01-2010 - Practice Studio Shots
- ...
 
Hitting the hard drive problem myself right now.

My workflow consists firstly of a quick run through to delete all images that are out of focus or obviously awful. Then a second run through to eliminate duplicates or pick the best image of a given subject. Once I whittle it down to the images I like I process them and save them, processed, as jpegs. The raws are also saved so that I can go back and do future edits.

My plan now is to backup the raws into two places, either onto two sets of dvd's or onto a hard drive and a dvd. I figure that any photo I have edited is worth keeping and I may want to edit it differently later (black and white, say). Storage is so cheap these days I see no reason not to do it.
 
1TB drives are less than £80 now. This shouldn't really be causing anyone to much grief!
 
No need to keep RAWS and JPGS - bin the JPGS unless there is processing you like.

Bin those that are obviously rubbish - out of focus, etc., Be quite ruthless.

Then you need to archive them off onto either DVDs or external hard drives or both.
 
I started using DVD's but the pile soon grew too big. So then started backing up processed keepers and orignals to 1TB HDD. But even this will fill up quickly, so now I use BluBox on the originals only. I know the compression will down rate the quality, but its either that or not keeping the originals. With todys cameras one trip out can be 8+ GB, so you soon fill up HDD.
 
I keep almost everything, just dumping the unfocused and shoogly camera ones. I'm not shooting as much as I could so storage is not an issue at the mo' for me. I back the files up to one of my servers weekly, and burn what I class as keepers onto DVD. (damn few if I'm honest)
 
medium delete first round of inspection

pp a few...

then delete some more

leave for around 6 months

go in with the scalpel
 
Keep the lot.

I've got about 4TB of storage around the place, and don't need anywhere near that amount.

Only around 85,000 photos all in, less than 500Gb. Once I hit 500, I'll pick up a three drives at that size and permanently back up everything - one for me, one for the folks, one for the inlaws - and then shift everything across to the 1TB drives and aim to fill that....Going to be easier now I'm switching to a 5DMkII....
 
I would say 70% of my stuff gets deleted. I mainly shoot motorsport, and shooting fast moving subjects isn't easy
 
In the same boat here, worried that if I start deleting anything that's not utter rubbish I'll regret it later on.

I shoot RAW and JPG and save my images in folders:

Subject/location - DD-MM-YYYY
Chester Zoo - 15-05-2009
Christmas - 25-12-2009

As a family we use three cameras so all images are automatically renamed:

Camera model_original file number
D90_03595
F50_01598

That way I don't run the risk of overwriting file names from any of the cameras :)

I really need to learn to be more critical though as I'm concious of storage space!
 
i only shoot raw nowdays, i keep the original unedited raw which are worth keeping, and then an edited version and a resized version if needed. These are sorted only into folder of the specific location and or date.

I have heard problems that people cant see raw files without opening them in there raw converter software. My Raw files show up in my folders no problem ( how come?? i used vista and cs3 ) so i dont need a jpeg version of the originals.

Darren
 
You can download codecs that allow support in Windows Explorer from here, I had to for my pictures and it works great (Windows 7)

I need to start getting more ruthless with my deleting, not running out of space but have a lot of pictures that are not that good and little point in having, will then need to sort out a decent filing format. Mine usually go into folders with a name but no date format, EG, Wycombe Rye, Macro pics, Pond, etc etc
 
just a quick note to help with storage, I notice a lot of people (like me) file their pics in folders which are named with dates.

To make things easier, its best to use the YYYY-MM-DD format for the date, so today is 2010-01-11.

That way, when your pc arranges folders in alphabetical order, they'll also be in chronological order too!
 
I only delete technical failures and real rubbish. However I keep near duplicates.

The perspective of time changes the importance and interest in photographs.

some of my earliest shots taken over 60 years ago, which I never printed at the time are as interesting, or more so, than the ones I printed at the time.
 
During my first year with D40 i kept everything due to the small file size but after moving to the D90 the i can eat up space very quickly so i delete anything pointless.

On keepers i have the RAW, the PSD file from CS4 so i can make minor adjustments without having to start from scratch, JPG for hosting/viewing and if i print i save another copy from the PSD as TIFF, print it then delete it.

I raked through my first years pics and deleted heaps but at the start they were great for reference i found.

I have a 500GB Buffalo NAT (network attached storage) that backs everything up automatically using the free Auto backup software Memeo.
 
Aparet from the shots that get deleted almost instantly (you can tell when summat's not right!), I keep a copy of all the original shots. This folder will then get saved on at least one external HDD and also a DVD or CD (depending on the folder size). I'll then weed out the worst and pick the best of any duplicates (sometimes keeping 2 or 3 of them) and possibly get a set of proofs printed. More weeding then, once I've decided on a final set, they get saved as a sub-folder as "WEEDED". The best then get printed as A4s (if I think any deserve it!) and (again, if I feel any deserve it) I may print a couple to A3. Unless I've done a fair bit of PP to achieve the final prints, I don't save the final print-ready files since I can (usually) easily add the sharpenning and cropping I may have done.

The Optical backups get stored in a cool, dry, dark place and get checked from time to time for any deterioration. So far, I haven't had any problems with the disks I use (Verbatims) even after several years. If/when I do get a failure, I'll do another copy from one of the backups and look ito other brands.
 
drodd said:
I'm a newbe here to TP and also to photography, but I must say I keep all my photos (except the real duds), mainly because I want to look back at them and learn where I did things right and what work is needed on improving the wrong ones. Have an external HD and also a stack of cds (for those really special and sentimental ones, mainly because I don't want to loose them). D :)
Click to expand...

Same here, I now have two external HDs just for photos and will be getting a third soon. When I have time I will be re-organising files into more specific topics for burning to DVDs. I take a massive number of dog agility photos both at shows and at training at the club I run and when I have enough of each handlers dogs I will burn them onto CDs for them too.

Now that I have better pp software I have been going through some older pics which were pretty rubbish but with pp I think a fair few can be salvaged reasonably as snaps at least. It`s been such a learning curve for me so far that I like having past pics for my own reference to use for improving my photography :)

Since having my D40 [ last March ] taking into account 5 weeks of no use because the kit lens was a dud so I had no lens til I got my Tamron I have over 16,000 actuations but of course a percentage were test/throwaway/rubbish shots.
I don`t even like deleting shots off the SD cards, not until the originals and after pp`s are safely on a CD or DVD - I have a lot of full cards now :lol:
 
Hiya Patch, thanks for the info. With the number of photos I take (which will be loads more when I upgrade my equipment) I will need to also think about how to store them all. I am quite good at keeping my photos organised into folders, so that I can access them easily.
 
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