Preserving your Work

Preserving your Work.

Preserving your work -- a guide to backing up your photos so you'll still have them when you graduate, and be able to find them for your portfolio

Hello everyone. A very good wednesday morning to you. I have a great topic for you this morning. I am sure many of you have your own way of saving files and may be very organized. That is just fantastic. I am here to show you what has worked for me over the past few years and how I am able to find all my files and images that I need especially when I started with my final year. It your system is great and you can find your files within 30 seconds of opening a location then that is a great method of organization.

You are going to need your information and photographs from previous years so get started now with some really great organization.

Let’s start with the easiest part of organization. Where should you store all your files and images that you use on a daily basis. Well, your Harddrive you would say is your best place to store all of it it correct? I would say yes, but now that I am 3 years into my course I have found that some courses require only a small amount of space, but others required much more space because of all the images that you have to save, edit and export. You never want to delete anything so for me I bought an external Hard Drive, WD 4TB USB drive and that was probably my best investment to-date for all my classes.

It frees up some space on your hard drive and it is just a good place to store files in the event that you have some computer malfunctions. Cloud backup is also recommended so that you always have a duplicate of all your work. I use Crashplan, but you can use anyone of the top rated companies out there. It is just $5 per month for unlimited file storage.

For storing my weekly files I created a filing system that is very easy to follow and I can always add and remove files when I need them. I made a simple weekly structure and a resources folder for all my work. As I create my files I store them under the appropriate week as well as create folders as I require them.

As I export images from Lightroom I also create folders from there and they are stored under the appropriate week as well.

Recently I moved the same structure to Dropbox for each course. I did this because I am always at work or on the road. I can access my work from my laptop or IPad and still be able to do assignments or post work and images to the appropriate folder for later use. You have to do what works for you. The basic structure remains the same but you are able to become mobile and manage your time so much better.

Lastly, I think one of the most important areas that needs to stay organized is your Lightroom catalog. You will be taking hundreds, if not thousands of photographs over the course of your degree. So make sure you have a great structure in place. I used the same naming principle in Lightroom that I use for all my other work. I created collections with course numbers for all my work making it so much easier to find when I did a search. Do not forget your keywords for all your images.

I can always go back and change the wording, just do what works for you best. Again the structure is the same, but the content will always vary.

Well, that is the simple structure that I work with. It has worked well for me in the past and whatever method you use, remember that you will be needing many of these files and photographs again during your final year courses.

Start well now and make your life so much simpler in the future.

As always please let me know if you have any questions and how I may be of assistance. I will answer all your questions and comments. If you have suggestions for post please pass them along.

Have a great wednesday.

Denzil

Wide-Angle Wednesday: Developing a Workflow

Good Day PSPN,

            Today I’m shooting for developing a workflow. Everyone has a daily routine of some sorts but have you thought about developing a routine not just for course work but also for everyday shooting? Monday I started in course PH124 Digital Image Management. One of the very first assignments is the autobiography but of course the instructor has also asked to describe our workflow and to include an image that is representative to whom we are.

Yesterday marked my fourteenth wedding anniversary and what is more romantic than to watch the sunrise with my husband. Of course I wasn’t going to allow the sun rising be just a memory in my head, I snapped a few shots to share here. This is the image I shared as a representative of me. In short I wake up each day around four thirty in the morning to kick start my day. I prepare breakfast and lunch for my family and send them on their way to school and work. Some time is wasted on social networking, but then I jump into my day. I check the classroom, read emails, and take a stroll around the property seeing if I can catch an image or two of nature. This is my routine, but it does not end there.

Corina Scoggins "Anniversary Sunrise Over St Robert" 18 Feb 2014 

Majority of images captured are for no reason, just part of my routine. Many end up on social networking for friends and family to see. Prior to Ai, I stored images in folders on my desktop and would share here and there. In December I transferred all my files to an external hard drive because my laptop was just about maxed out in memory. Little did I know I had over eighteen thousand images on that hard drive. Well the laptop had been beaten down over the years and even after transferring the files, nothing seemed to help with program lag. I upgraded to a 1TB iMac, and could not be happier. Something I never thought of was now I have a backup computer with all the programs I need just in case one goes down. We’re always asked to make sure we have a backup for Internet, but have you thought about a backup to the programs. Majority of computers have Microsoft Word, but do you have a backup of the Adobe Creative Suite and Lightroom?

Corina Scoggins "Winter Bird" 18 Feb 2014

I still utilize my external hard drive to store all the images, just in case something goes wrong on the main computer. I still create file folders on the external and copy all the RAW image files from my SD cards to the respective folder. I also import all images to Lightroom. If the images are for a specific project such as class, I assign it to a collection labeled by the assignment week and number. For everyday images I leave the images in the dated folder Lightroom creates upon import.

Corina Scoggins "Morning Moon" 18 Feb 2014

Of course not all images shot will make the cut, so I use flagging to narrow down the images I want to further develop. At this point I will add key wording, and give the image a title. I also rename the file to match the title. In some of our course we’re asked to do this for assignments, this is probably how I come to develop this habit. Key wording is important because let’s be honest, how many times have you thought about an image you shot and had to go through file after file trying to locate said image? This is where key wording will help you find that image amongst the thousands of images you have shot.

Don’t forget to add your information for copyright purposes but more importantly the information will be embedded to the image no matter where you post in online. Take credit for your work! Developing a workflow is more than a routine; it will help you develop as a professional. Being organized is a key to being successful.

 The question of the day

Have you developed a workflow? If so what additional steps do you take? Do you have a backup for files and programs?

I will be hanging around PSPN throughout the day. Feel free to leave your comments below.

From My Camera to Yours

Wednesday Ambassador Corina 

Corina Scoggins "Golden Hour Sunrise" 18 Feb 2014