Managing photos

[TommyTheDude]

Hi
I´ve found difficult to manage my entire gallery. I keep them on external HDD, i shoot in RAW and JPEG usually, i don't know if i should keep original, .psd file and photoshoped JPEG that quite hard to manage them all. How are you dealing with this?

[markgozz]

I also shoot RAW + JPEG , I use the JPEG as a guide to keep my RAW processing under control but once I have finished with the PP I convert the RAW to JPEG and I keep the new JPEG and the RAW and delete anything else . I then just have the two files , one processed JPEG and the original RAW ( in my case the RAW ( NEF ) file is converted to a RAW ( DNG ) file so that I can use the camera raw in CS2 ) .

Mark

[wave01]

i only shoot RAW i pp in aperture 3 and then use photoshop for anything else. i always keep the original RAW file and i back off the other pics to an external hard drive. i also delete anything thats not a keeper. storage is cheap thats the way i look at it

[davidstephenphoto]

This is an IMO response, every photographer has their own way, this works best for me.

1. Stop shooting jpg + raw. Shoot raw only.
2. Use Lightroom(preferred) or Aperture.
3. Label your cards! I use green painters wax tape with a number on it. After I'm done with a card I hand it to my assistant, and she takes the tape off the card and places it over the holes of the card. This let's anyone on the team know this card is shot or full. (I learned this from shooting stills on a documentary last year, the DP said most of the industry labels the CF cards this way. I adapted it to my workflow)
4. After a shoot, create a folder on an external HD named (example) 20120529_Adam+Sarah
5. Inside that folder create another folder labeled RAW.
6. In the RAW folder label new folders that correspond to the cards, 1a, 2a, 3a, and so on. This allows you to track if you have any corrupt images to the folder and card. If I have any corrupt images on any cards, bye bye card.
7. In Lightroom create a new catalog labeled 20120529_Adam+Sarah_Catalog on the same external HD.
8. Drag the 20120529_Adam+Sarah folder into the 20120529_Adam+Sarah_Catalog folder
9. In Lightroom go to import and import the 20120529_Adam+Sarah folder using Standard or Full preview.
10. Copy 20120529_Adam+Sarah_Catalog to a back up HD.
12. Cull your images, edit the keepers
11. When finished editing your images copy the 20120529_Adam+Sarah_Catalog over your 20120529_Adam+Sarah_Catalog backup folder.

Cheers,
David

www.davidstephenphoto.com

[donoreo]

I do RAW only and use Lightroom. I never need to keep any jpgs as I can always export another out of Lightroom.

I have this year and last year on my internal hard drive but I have moved older to a NAS box on my network.

How you manage storage really depends on how many photos you take.

You shoot RAW + JPG, what do you do with them? Do you edit the RAW and do what with the JPG? Or the other way around? Aside from a comparison, I see no reason to shoot both all the time.

[LaPistola]

I have no need for loads of cards. I have a 16gb in the camera and a 4gb as a spare so they never get labelled (but im not doing more then one shoots in any day). I also only shoot in RAW

Once I get to the computer I use adobe Bridge to get the images off the camera. Adobe Bridge allowes me to create a folder (and subfolder if required) for the images to which I label it so ill know instantly whats in there. Sometimes I add the date if its an event/shoot that will happen again or a trip, ie Rome > Vatican City. Spain > 20110525. Halloween 2012. Bridge also converts all the CR2 files to DNG for me as there imported.

Now using bridge ill delete all the unusable photos and move all the "snaps" (snaps that don't need PP) she will want to keep into a folder labelled For Hayley (her name) then convert to med quality JPEG and give them to her, deleting them after, along with the RAW files.

Now its normally off to Lightroom. I don't create a catalog as Lightroom seems to do this for me when I import the new folder.

While doing the PP ill flag the image as either a snap or a keeper and all keepers get a star rating.

Once the PP is done ill move and convert all the flagged as snaps again giving to her and deleting. Any keeper under 3 stars gets converted to high quality JPEG and the RAW/PSD deleted. All 3 stars and above ill keep the RAW and PSD if there is one. They then get backed up to external HDD and online.

[LaPistola]

Originally Posted by donoreo

I do RAW only and use Lightroom. I never need to keep any jpgs as I can always export another out of Lightroom.

I have this year and last year on my internal hard drive but I have moved older to a NAS box on my network.

How you manage storage really depends on how many photos you take.

You shoot RAW + JPG, what do you do with them? Do you edit the RAW and do what with the JPG? Or the other way around? Aside from a comparison, I see no reason to shoot both all the time.

The only time I have found RAW + JPEG useful is when we are at one of our kids parties and shes wants the photos the instant its over. After Bridge has done its thing I use windows file explorer filter to show only the JPEGs in the folder which then get cut out and given to her.

[cosmicma]

i shoot RAW only put the card into a card reader fire up canons DPP ( this could be lightroom , bridge or whatever software you prefer ) edit and tag the keepers
copy the RAW keepers to an external drive in appropriately labeled directories
export the edited keepers to a different external drive as high quality jpegs
back up both drives to a 3rd external drive for safe keeping

format the card in camera for the next session

if anything needs more than simple RAW editing i will export to photoshop within canon DPP and do whatever is needed and save out as high quality jpeg

job done