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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Archiving, what do you keep
Christopher Szagola, Photographer
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Richboro | PA | United States | Posted: 3:28 PM on 10.28.09 |
->> Just been trying to clean out a few of my 2tb hard drives, (mirrored). Been debating on what to keep and what to send to the photo graveyard. Just curious what others decide to keep? All that you shoot, only the images you sent in, or something in between?
thanks
Happy Halloween
PS Do you know what the difference between a Graveyard and a Cemetery? |
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Kent Nishimura, Student/Intern
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Honolulu | HI | USA | Posted: 3:57 PM on 10.28.09 |
->> Aloha Chris.
I keep 'inbetween'
Typically i keep everything thats not blurry or a shot of my foot.
as far as graveyard and cemetery are concerned. i believe a graveyard needs to have a church. cemetery is sans-church. |
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David Seelig, Photographer
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Hailey | ID | USA | Posted: 4:09 PM on 10.28.09 |
| ->> I keep everything that is in focus. |
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Jody Gomez, Photographer
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Murrieta | CA | USA | Posted: 4:14 PM on 10.28.09 |
->> Adding to Christopher's question, if you keep everything, why do you keep the images that are in focus but you didn't move?
What do you do with them? |
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Curtis Clegg, Photographer
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Sycamore | IL | USA | Posted: 4:22 PM on 10.28.09 |
->> I archive every RAW file that I have tagged with two more stars (which includes scoreboard shots and pretty much anything else that's usable and in focus). For most assignments, that could be from 5% to 50% of the images I shot.
Lately I have gotten into the habit of shooting RAW+jpg with the smallest jpg I can get. I have been keeping every jpg captured... the file size is small enough (and storage space is cheap enough) that it's not much of a burden.
The archived jpg files are in case I ever get a "Monica" shot (in reference to Dirck Halstead's "Monica Lesson", a very good read):
http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue9807/editorial.htm |
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Eric Canha, Photographer
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Brockton | MA | United States | Posted: 4:28 PM on 10.28.09 |
->> For me it depends on the subject but 99% of the time if it's in focus it lives.
Jody one reason is that while I may not post everything there's no telling when I'll need to go through a gallery looking for some obscure element for an unforeseen need. Case in point; A few years ago the local paper called to see if I had an image of a particular JV baseball player. They knew that I had shot the hs extensively and that there was a good chance that this kid was in a shot somewhere. Turned out that he had been killed in an MVA the night before and no one had a recent photo of him. Took me 10 minutes. The paper didn't have to hassle the family. The shot would have otherwise been deleted as it was nothing more than a base player standing still. |
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Curtis Clegg, Photographer
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Sycamore | IL | USA | Posted: 4:36 PM on 10.28.09 |
->> Eric that is one reason (along with plummeting storage costs) that I have been archiving a higher percentage of shots. I can think of no higher calling for a photographer than to produce a good photo of someone who is recently departed.
In terms of economics, it might not make a lot of sense to re-cull your archives to look for images to delete. In factoring the time to do so vs. the cost of storage space, you may be paying yourself less than minimum wage in terms of disk space you save. |
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Sherrlyn Borkgren, Photographer
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Eugene | OR | USA | Posted: 5:09 PM on 10.28.09 |
->> I keep less, but I still keep. I too keep images on the fact that some of these people might die and their image will be important at the least to many loved ones.
I consider researching my archieves - Work so when Clients(most of mine are magazine) ask me for an older picture I charge a $300 research fee. I don't know if this is appropriate for the type of clients that you work for.
It has initiated respect from my clients knowing that my time is precious and that I get paid for time. It also keeps them serious so that I'm not just searching and editing pictures for them so they can compare them to other photographers. |
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Patrick Fallon, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Columbia | MO | USA | Posted: 6:00 PM on 10.28.09 |
->> Sherrlyn,
Do you offer that $300 research fee as a credit against the cost of a license if a client decides to use the image you researched? |
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Sherrlyn Borkgren, Photographer
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Eugene | OR | USA | Posted: 6:25 PM on 10.28.09 |
->> I've never had anyone ask for it waived. I've never lost a client over it and I think once they've invested they are more likely to stick with me.
It basically prevents clients from asking every photographer in town for the same image(s). There are several of us who do this and it works well.
I began charging a fee while in Iraq when certain magazines would call urgently. At first I thought they were just calling me. As I brought it up to other photographers we discovered we were all spending hours looking for the same images for the same clients. |
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Clark Brooks, Photo Editor, Photographer
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Urbana | IL | USA | Posted: 8:12 PM on 10.28.09 |
->> Because I write, design and publish I keep everything that I don't delete after chimping on the sidelines or during the shoot. So I am probably on the extreme end of the spectrum. I would chuck all or part of it if I could see into the future that I would need any of it. Problem is I can't so I hoard everything.
I had a similar situation as Eric C. where a longtime referee passed away after battling cancer. The local daily learned that I had a nice portrait of him from game 11 months earlier and licensed it to run with the feature story. About a year later, our magazine did a story on a local basketball coach after he retired. I used photos shot the two years prior and some from more recent games with the story. My one regret was he passed away the day before the magazine came out.
For design work, slightly OOF images work fine for background images on page layouts or in my poster designs. When writing a feature or game story, pictures that are not initially published/posted can be a big help. Boring pictures help ID players who's numbers aren't visible in photos I did voice tag. Recently, I decided to shoot ISOs of every player who makes it on the field in case I need their pic for a future story or for page art.
Earlier this week, I was searching for some football images and came across some of a local kid playing youth football four years ago. Turns out he is now a D1 basketball prospect and the son of an NFL player. I'll probably use the photo in the next issue of our magazine in some way.
I also keep everything because I think there are a few athletes like me and when they get older may wish they had a photo or two of them to show their offspring or to relive the memories from that time in their lives.
I use a digital voice recorder to do interviews. I archive those files as well because I don't when I might want go back use a quote, use the interview for a slide show or highlight reel, or for a book project. For the same reason, I keep raw video footage I shoot as well.
Yes, my name is Clark and I'm digital pack rat. |
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Eric Canha, Photographer
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Brockton | MA | United States | Posted: 8:30 PM on 10.28.09 |
->> ......OOF images work fine for background images on page layouts or in my poster designs......
Clark your genius is so wrapped in simplicity sometimes that it befuddles me. I just sat here for a solid minute staring at the screen in awe. The number of 'almost' good images of receivers in the end zone that would have SO worked as backgrounds for posters. Fool am I.
Now I just have to find a way to explain to my wife why the Drobo is topped off and we need another one. :> |
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Russ Isabella, Photographer
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Salt Lake City | UT | USA | Posted: 2:36 AM on 10.29.09 |
| ->> Like many here, I keep most of what's in focus. But I only back up the selects posted/submitted from that larger group of keepers. So I guess I'm a 'tweener. I can see good reason to err on the side of keeping potentially usable shots, but only once. I'm more stingy with my backup space, and since my backup process is not automated, this is easy enough for me to manage. |
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Martin McNeil, Photographer
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East Kilbride | Lanarkshire | United Kingdom | Posted: 6:14 AM on 10.29.09 |
| ->> I keep everything that's in focus :) |
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Bob Cox, Photographer
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NEWBURGH | NY | USA | Posted: 6:50 AM on 10.29.09 |
| ->> When I stsrted getting into the photography an experienced pro told me he keeps every shot he does'nt delete in chimp. I also had an experience like Eric with a 8yr cheerleader. I shot T&I for the local youth football league a couple years back. The league Pres. called me and told me this young girl lost her life in MVA and wanted to know if I still had the photos. After 10 minutes I called him back and told him I found them. I printed the photos up and delivered them to his house that day. The mother called me asking about purchasing more prints. This is one time I had no regrets about giving photos away for free. I felt so good I listened to that pro and even e-mailed him to Thank him. |
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Clay Carson, Photographer
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Little Rock | Ar | USA | Posted: 11:32 AM on 10.29.09 |
->> I keep every frame, good, bad or ugly. Laziness on my part. It is just less time consuming.
Clay |
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Tim Vizer, Photographer
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Belleville | IL | USA | Posted: 12:02 PM on 10.29.09 |
->> I keep everything. Everything. In and out of focus, I save it all.
It's because my time is so valuable to me (and in short supply) that it's easier to just drag and drop an entire folder over for copying, rather than go through and edit out the soft or badly composed shots. You can call it laziness, but I call it using my time in a more efficient manner. Especially since storage is so cheap nowadays.
Also, I archive BOTH my RAW images (untouched, right off the cards) and INGESTED images (via Photo Mechanic, with templated caption information and metadata that varies by client), PLUS the final edited/cropped/toned images from EVERY shoot.
I also send these folders to an external HD, and this is usually done on-site at the venue, as part of the initial editing process. I also later burn each of these folders (the raw, the ingested, and the final edited version) to DVDs (two discs of each, stored in separate, secured locations).
The external HD images are also later transferred to my Photo Archive Tower for Lightroom tagging/processing. Multiple (1.5 or 2 TB) hard drives fill the bays of this fairly large tower, which I bought primarily for sheer storage. The OS and other Apps are on one drive, all the other, bigger drives are for image storage.
I also keep the CF cards in small labeled envelopes attached to a paper copy of the invoice/worksheet/statement I make for each assignment, until I'm sure all my archiving has been completed properly and all images are secured. Again, CF cards are plentiful and cheap.
Overkill maybe, but I guarantee I sleep well at night. |
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Colin Lenton, Photographer
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Philadelphia | PA | United States | Posted: 12:45 PM on 10.29.09 |
->> I have to agree with TIm and Clay - from a business standpoint it is MUCH more expensive to go through and decide which photos you will keep - so instead I just keep everything.
Storage space is so affordable and image archiving software is so great and searchable now that there is almost no reason not to. |
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Bruce Twitchell, Photographer
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Ian L. Sitren, Photographer
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Palm Springs | CA | USA | Posted: 1:06 PM on 10.29.09 |
| ->> I control what I keep by controlled application of my finger on the shutter button. |
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Bruce Twitchell, Photographer
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