Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/01/22
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hi Peter, I have been thinking about these issues a lot since I converted to (mainly) digital in 2004, and have arrived at the following solution for digital images. As background, I shoot RAW only. 1) I copy the RAW images to the internal HD of my computer. 2) I then go through them with a viewer (ACDSee on the PC, Photo Mechanic on the Mac) and delete the ones that are obviously garbage-- as in shaken, misfocused, grossly under- or overexposed etc. Because my bias is towards keeping images, and because storage is cheap, I only eliminate perhaps 20% of all images at this stage. 3) The images that survive the cut above are opened in Photoshop, and the required color, levels and other adjustments are applied, except sharpening. The resulting TIFF files are saved in a separate subdirectory, still on the internal HD. 4) The images that I want to print or display on the web are sharpened and saved as PSD files, and the ones for the web are of course also saved as JPG files of appropriate size. So, at this point, on my computer's HD, I have a subdirectory with RAW files, another subdirectory of TIFF files, a third subdirectory of PSD files, and a fourth one of JPG files. All TIFF and PSD files are 16-bit, so the full information is retained. Now for the archiving part: 5) After I have created the PSD and JPG files, I move the RAW and TIFF files to an external HD, and I also make a backup on high- quality DVDs, so each of those files exists on two separate media. For added security, I keep the DVDs in my office so that if the house burns down or is burglarized etc., I will not lose my images. 6) Once I have made the backups in step 5 above, I delete the RAW and TIFF files from the internal HD. I just keep the PSDs and JPGs there, and I do not make backups of those, since the only difference between the TIFF and PSD files is that the latter have had sharpening applied, so I can easily replicated them from the backed-up TIFF files. Same thing with the JPGs--they are just downsized versions of the PSD files, so no need to back them up. In this way, I have good backups, including one set off-site, and I can easily access the archived images on the external HDs when needed. I am currently on my 3rd external HD and have just bought the 4th one. The good news is that they are getting bigger and cheaper-- the latest one I bought is 500 GB and cost 159 Euro, so about 30 cents/GB. A note about the DVDs: there have indeed been concerns about the longevity of this medium, just like there was about CDs. My solution is to buy archival DVDs with a gold coating. They are more expensive than the cheap stuff one picks up at the computer megastores, but these are my images, so I am prepared to spent the 3 Euros per DVD I have to pay at s-Color in Amsterdam. With scanned images, I basically follow the procedure above, except that I do not make the 2nd backup on DVDs, since I have the original negatives and could always re-scan them. Nathan On 22-jan-2007, at 8:11, Peter Klein wrote: > I'm a bit of a squirrel. I rarely throw anything away unless > forced to. Then once in a while, reluctantly, I do a big cleanup. > As with life, so with computers. I have files on my computer that > date back to 1983, the year I started working with PCs, plus some > converted CP/M files from even earlier(!) This has not been much > of a problem--most of it has been text, and the size of the hard > drive on the new computer I buy is always bigger than the old one. > So I never hit the ceiling. > > Until now. Enter digital photography, where one TIFF is the size > of my entire hard drive 10 years ago!! A 16-bit TIFF of a scanned > frame of color film is about 125 megs. An E-1 RAW file is 10 megs, > and a 16-bit work TIFF is 28 megs. B&W films scans are 40 megs. > It adds up. > > My hard drive is nearly filled with RAW files, scanned TIFFs and > intermediate work TIFFs. I was embarking on a ruthless rampage > through the directories, meaning to get rid of lots of digital > flotsam and jetsam. Then I found a keeper RAW file I hadn't noticed > before (see "Found on my hard drive"). And this gave me pause. > > Problem is, I end up with a lot of unneeded junk on my drive, but > it's hard to decide what's needed and what's not. I'd be > interested in how other LUGgers cope with this--what do you keep? > What do you throw away? How do you decide? > > My inclination is to keep: > > 1. RAW file or the original scan. > 2. Final version, unsharpened (8-bit TIFF, PNG, or high-quality JPG) > 3. Reduced JPG for Web. > > But with film, sometimes it seems to make more sense to keep the > spotted version of the original, or even the 8-bit version after > the curves are right. It depends on the image. Sometimes I save > several version, decide on one, then come back and use another > curve or cropping later. Or I don't spot until I decide the image > is worth working furthre. That's where it gets confusing. > > Add to that, what format do you keep your final files in? I used > to think TIFF was the only way to go, but I'm now wondering if PNG > might be better (lossless compression, often 30% smaller than an 8- > bit TIFF). And I've read that some people keep a very high-quality > JPG--and I must say, with my E-1 DSLR photos, I usually don't > notice a difference between TIFF and such a JPG. > > I'm also wondering whether it's worth it to go through years of > files and delete intermediate files, or just buy a bigger disk and > try to streamline my future workflow to leave fewer files in the > first place. Or buy a DVD burner--but I'm concerned about the > longevity of any home-burned optical media. A big hard drive or > two, plus a matching external for backup seems better. > > Note that I use Picture Window Pro, not Photoshop, so I end up > saving several different files at various stages of editing, rather > than having layers in one humongous file. Then again, I don't need > a gamer's PC with 2 gigs of RAM just to get by. > > --Peter > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > Nathan Wajsman nathan@nathanfoto.com General photography: http://www.nathanfoto.com http://www.greatpix.eu Picture-A-Week: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws Blog: http://www.fotocycle.dk/blog