[flaotte]

Hi everyone,

I have some knowledge about taking photos, editing it (not the best skills though), but I was not lucky to find workflow to transfer photos from camera and store it in save place.
What is your flow from camera to archiving place? Are you storing raw or jpgs? Making backups or using some RAID system? How do you sort photos and decide what to delete and what to preserve?

Can you just share your working habits? I am not professional photographer, most of my photos are traveling/family. But it is always hard to get pics
sorted and stored in safe way.

[G.E.Zekai]

Right now i am still building my backup system and replacing my pc soon. This is not the most efficient or the best way to store them but works for me. Here is a basic idea how i store things:

1. Copy Paste from card to desktop (LR and other software CAN screw up sometimes while importing)
2. Copy files from card to my external disk
3. Import files from desktop to internal SSD RAID and NAS
4. Delete desktop files
5. Copy same card to my laptop

After these steps, i am happy enough to format my card
After finishing with project i move files from SSD raid to HDD raid for storage

In the end i tend to have:

1 NAS copy in RAID
1 copy in my pc in RAID
1 copy in my external drive
1 copy in my laptop ( but i do delete older files in laptop)


Edit: File names are generally like this:" 27/02/2017 - Adam and Eve Wedding"

[Quartermaster James]

Right now, I am saving both RAW and JPEG into a folder I make with the date as a name. I only recently started adding the extra step of creating a new folder with a date name after years of not being able to locate the Pentax named folders (Pentax is the only digital camera I have used that does not offer fully date coded sort-able folder names e.g.: 20170226, or the like).
I am leaving this comment mainly to follow this discussion so that I can learn of better options for organizing photos.

[Oakland Rob]

I copy from SD card to boot drive, using a date-based folder (sometimes I use Lightroom to do this, sometimes not). Sometimes I add a quick note to the folder, like "Yosemite."

I then use FastRawViewer to cull files, trying to be merciless. Culls get deleted.

My Mac's Time Machine backs up the images automatically to rotating external drives. Ditto with the Lr catalogs. I always do RAW if it's available; I still have a couple cameras that do JPEG. They get stored the same way.

One key to making it all work is not just deciding where you'll store stuff, but how you plan to find it. For me, that's exif and IPTC metadata. I make extensive use of that, esp hierarchical keywords, location info, captions, etc. I don't both with filenames or folder names since they are a far less flexible and robust method of storing info. And of course that data is store in Lr's database, but I also write it to files because I very often use the photo files outside of Lr.

[mattt]

1) insert SD to PC
2) Use Lightroom to copy to two external pocket drives
i) One is a working copy, catalogued in LR, and sorted in folders by date. Keywording by event and client is used extensively during imports and publishing
ii) The other is the uncatalogued RAWs in folders by date
3) Output/published to my favorite sharing sites directly from LR
4) For clients photos are uploaded to a Private Google Photos Album, or a Microsoft Onedrive folder depending on their preference. I normally change to unshared after 6 mo, and then remove after a year. Been looking at Smugmug for similar in a more client side user-friendliness.

[GolNat]

1.) Insert SD card into Mac SD slot
2.) Open appropriate iPhoto library for the occasion of the pictures (event, destination, landscape, random, etc)
3.) Import all new photos into correct library into an event named more specific to the pictures.
4.) Remove SD card without erasing imported photos.
5.) Go through and delete any bad photos (missed focus, pick the best out of duplicates, ones that can not be saved)
6.) Open any that I want to edit in Affinity Photo.
7.) Edited photos get saved as JPG and Affinity extension and exported to appropriate folder.
8.) All photos are saved on 1 external hard drive (in iPhoto libraries), 1 external solid state drive (in iPhoto libraries) and internal computer hard drive (in iPhoto libraries). Original RAWs are also kept on SD cards.

[Bruce Clark]

I think you will get many opinions. How to sift all this is up to you and the hardware and software you have available.

I use Lightroom on a Window 10 PC and have 3 hard drives. "C" for Programs, "F" for Data and a third "K" which is a back up for the Data Drive. I have considered getting a RAID system but have not done so as yet. I import all images from SD card to my Hard drive using Lightroom into a folder named "AA New Imports". The "AA" keeps the folder at the top of the folder tree in Lightroom. I determine the import was successful and then reformat the SD card in my camera.

All file sorting, copying, deleting, moving and editing is done using Lightroom. I use a folder structure based on subject and not date. Personally I remember places and things better than the dates I photographed them. I move images from AA New Imports to existing folders or new folders or sub-folders as appropriate.

PHOTOS
>AA New Imports
> Events
>>Weddings
>>>Bill's Wedding 2016
>> Parties
> People
>> Family
> Nature
>>Animals
>>Birds
>> Flowers
>>Insects
> Travel
>>Australia
>>>Victoria
>>>Queensland
>>Overseas
>>>China
>>>New Zealand
>>>Thailand

and so forth.

The key to using Lightroom is to do all file operations in Lightroom. LR can then track everything in its catalog. I run regular back up of data on my hard drive "F" to a third hard drive "K" using a third party file copy program. (Lightroom does NOT back up files)

[ramseybuckeye]

I download files directly from the camera to the PC importing through Lightroom. I use custom setting in Lightroom to rename the files as they are imported by date (YYYYMMDD),camera model, and sequence (order taken) (sample: 20170225PENTAX K-30-019.DNG), Lightroom places them in a folder that also uses the date taken, sometimes I'll manually add an event of place after the date to make it more memorable to find, even though if I upload to Flickr it shows the date and I add metadata keywords. After processing the photos, including deleting ones I don't keep, the folders will also be copied to an external hard drive. I keep the raw and the jpg. I currently have a K-30 and K-50, so using the model in the file name works well, if I ever have two cameras of the same model I can change the custom naming to use the serial number.

[dms]

While there are many possible variations I think the following are prudent.
1. If taken in camera raw, save the raw file--as improvements in pp software means you can revisit the raw file. E.g., using Photoshop CS6 Camera Raw Editor, versus earlier CS2, let me get appreciably better results.
2.Store files in two distinct physical locations--so for example a fire does not destroy both copies.

[miroshi]

I download the folders, change the names to data and place, the save the files at 4 places.
One copy only for the jpg's on external HDD, one full copy on second external HDD, one copy on a computer HDD, and the make copy on DVD.
The delete folders from the card and leave the last folder to keep right counting.

[amoringello]

First one backup locally and one backup "offline" or remotely. You can have a dozen backups on your desk, but if your house gets rubber, burned, hit by a meteor that is all gone. Get Backblaze, Carbonite, or even swap a hard drive out to the office once a week. (or in a 3 foot deep environmentally safe bunker in the back yard) :-)
After that, the rest is comfort food.

NEVER delete files off SD cards until your files are stored on one or two backups (your desktop PC/ first hard drive is not a backup)
I have automated backup software copy new files to the local backup drive(s) every night.
I have Backblaze which backs up my hard drives periodically to their Internet based storage. (every hour +/- depending our schedule and system usage)

You can use RAID if it makes you feel good and you have the $$. I used to use RAID01. Then I had the both hard drives (from different stores, different times, different lots) fail before recovery could be completed. Another time I had the RAID hardware itself fail. No way to recover from that (at least not back then).
I now simply keep backups on single drives. Quick and easy enough to run down to the store and get a replacement.
I've heard of others with similar stories regarding RAID failure. RAID has its place and its use, but I don't feel it is the best nor most financially beneficial option. (but you may feel differently)

As for keep/sort, LightRoom. I wish I could afford a second option of Photo Mechanic - it is so much faster than LightRoom for sorting and culling images.
But I don't do more than a few hundred images very often, so LR works well. Plus 90% of my edits are done in LR, so it just makes sense to get it done there.
Other than the real stinkers that I delete almost immediately, I keep everything.
Drive space is cheap. And I've come across ones that are less than thrilling that I found I could use in a composite with another image, or use as a background in some way. So no need to keep only the 5-star images.

Obviously recommend keeping RAW images. I keep JPEGs as well... they're small. (well most of my jpegs are exported for web display, so size is usually pretty trivial)
I live on the side of delete nothing. LR is fast enough regardless of catalog size and hard drive space is just getting cheaper.

My organization is similar to Bruce above. Simply put in well named folders.

FYI, I don't bother with much key wording. This style of organization itself is enough for me to find what I need 95% of the time.

[flaotte]

I am missing one step in almost every story. I am storing photos in several places, but only after I force myself to sit and sort what should be stored.
When are you deleting bad images (blurry, over/under exposed and other 100% unusable data)? (keeping in mind that you want to have backups all the time, and you do not want them in your backups)
Do you keep processed files in same folder as raw data, or does it have separate place for storage?

Personally myself I do trust linux software raid or windows dynamic disks (yes it's pain in the ass to setup it and bigger pain to restore it after failure), but I am afraid of hardware raid systems as controller can go out and I will have no idea what to do with my data.

[leekil]

I copy my folders from the SD card into an a temporary folder and I name the folder with roughly the contents of the photos. At this point, the folders get backed up to my Time Machine disk (I'm on a Mac), so in this case they get backed up early and in a pretty raw state. Then I go through the photos one by one and delete the ones that are terrible, duplicates, etc. After processing a folder in this manner, I rename it with the date at the beginning (like 20160227) and also a description of what is in the folder.

After this, I incorporate my photos into (still using) Aperture, which I use mostly for searching and printing. But the named folder organization in the Finder still helps with being able to search for certain events or whatnot due to the text in the folder name. The "finalized" picture folders get backed up in their finalized state as well to a local Time Machine disk, but I also have a remote backup in another state that I update online. If I get behind in my reviewing and culling of the temporary folders, I will sometimes copy these temporary folders to my remote backup for additional safety. I also do hashing/checksumming of my photo directories and I can verify the local copy and remote backup with these hashes to make sure there hasn't been any corruption on disk.

To address further your deletion question, I have a friend who does much less photography than I do, but he keeps everything, even the terrible out-of-focus shots or whatnot.

[house]

1. First I put the sd card in reader and sift though the files using Geeqie. Deleting obviously bad photos before they land on the hard drive.
2. Transfer to hd using Rapid Photo Downloader. The software is set up to put raw, jpg, mov files in the same folder. The structure I use is year/mmdd-jobcode which gives a good overview and avoids excessive subfolders. The jobcode is a short descriptive place or event name.
3. Tag photos in Darktable or Geeqie
4. Develop Raw's in Darktable or Rawtherapee.
5. output to output folder and upload selection to my website.
6. run backup using Obnam which backs up to a raspberry pi with a large external harddrive located in a cupboard at the other end of my flat.
7. Theoretically bring the harddrive to a friends place and have him keep it. (this step is not yet achieved... as I have a manner of backup on my website all is not lost if my house burns down.)

Raid should be used to prevent downtime for important systems not as a backup replacement. Disk failure is not the only way of loosing data!

[amoringello]

When are you deleting bad images (blurry, over/under exposed and other 100% unusable data)? (keeping in mind that you want to have backups all the time, and you do not want them in your backups)
Do you keep processed files in same folder as raw data, or does it have separate place for storage?

Any good backup system will carry over deletions. i.e. If you delete a file after it has been backed up, it will eventually be deleted. Even if that means some safety window of some number of days before it is expired and truly deleted from the backup disk(s).

Lightroom processes in a lossless manner, so storage of separate "processed" files has little or no meaning. (and may be why you are missing that part ???)
It is really up to you with regard to how you store your converted jpegs or modified psd files, etc...
I will generally create a "web" folder for jpegs being put on the web. Or a "print" folder for files going out for printing, etc... but pretty much along with the raw files unless project requirements make more sense to do it differently.