Just flogging a dead horse....which sometimes still needs a flogging

[RQ44]

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For digital ( non working )shooters only:

 

Do you set your file setting to RAW, RAW/JPEG or just JPEG?

What do you keep and what do you decide is just junk. Do we hoard too many photos because of fear or some psychological disorder convincing ourselves that we may need them one day.

 

I just spent 1 week solid purging 5 terra bytes of old photos from previous holidays, multiple shots of the same scene ( OCD Paranoia in case it wasn't right ), photos of subjects that really, don't serve any purpose in my life, they werent getting printed nor were they opportunities for stock sales, they were just consuming 5 terra bytes of storage. What I refined my entire archive too were photos that meant something to me, family, important events and meaningful moments. The rest was just garbage.

I also asked about the file format. When working for clients, I always shoot RAW so I have the best quality of file to work on for delivery. I found I was doing this too with all my personal photography all these years because the man on youtube said so. But after 5TB of dumping, I am starting to consider that perhaps, for personal photography, photos that are for your own memories, do we really need RAW, do we really need to edit them all or do we just settle with an in camera processed happy snap? I mean my family dont care in the slightest if the shadows or highlights need tweaking, they just want to see themselves. 

 

Your thoughts please. Please note that dumping 5TB of photos to the bin was scary but also a huge relief as I know what I have left is what means something to me on a personal level.

 

 

Edited July 19 by RQ44

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[SrMi]

I keep all my photos in raw format, and I'm glad I did it from the start. The improved post-processors (e.g., AI NR) are giving a second life to some images that I may have abandoned. Additionally, my post-processing skills have improved, and my perspective on how to process my pictures has changed. Having raw files to restart the editing is essential.

[Sandokan]

I shoot raw and jpeg, to separate cards if possible. Raw gets processed and reformatted, jpeg gets left on the card. Raws get backed up once a year and in between.

I still shoot as if it was film, so 20 years leaves me with about 1TB, getting worse recently with 40-60Mpixel cameras. So my two latest cameras were 25MPixel (SL & Nikon Zf). 

[evikne]

Always RAW only. But I don't keep everything, and I'm careful to delete images that aren't needed. After the initial cleanup and editing, I export the new images to a screensaver and “live” with them for some days. Then I always discover more that can be deleted or need to be improved in some way.

I also look at old photos, and then I often find some that I want to re-edit, either because I discover weaknesses, have changed my taste, or because the software has new editing options. Then I'm very happy that I still have the original RAW files.

[LocalHero1953]

With cameras I shoot only in raw. With my phone I shoot almost always in jpg. Culling is done early on, not later. Though I'm an amateur, I do some photography for others (theatre, music, dance) where I can end up with a lot of images; after deleting photos with technical errors or near duplicates (which cuts the original number by about two thirds), I leave it to the 'client' to decide which ones to use. After a year or so I convert most of these raws to full res jpgs for archiving; this is just in case I am asked for them again (occasionally) or because I might look back to see what I was doing then - I am unlikely to edit them again, even to 'improve' them with modern s/w.

[erl]

I keep everything. Film, digital. I have more than 70+ years of film still on file. Not infrequently, I am asked for a shot I made 10, 20 or more years ago. I can do it, only because it is still on file.

I have stuff, film and prints, my father, and indeed my grandfather, (whom I never knew), both shot. Grandfathers pics from Sweden, dads pics from when he was a young man and also shots during his service in ww2 using a camera he captured from a German Soldier in the Western Desert (one of Rommel's men). I still have that camera, along with the pictures.

I periodically review my old images and as time goes by, some potentially 'no good' images gain historical value. It costs me nothing to keep them, and I enjoy reviewing them.

[Viv]

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2 hours ago, SrMi said:

I keep all my photos in raw format, and I'm glad I did it from the start. The improved post-processors (e.g., AI NR) are giving a second life to some images that I may have abandoned. Additionally, my post-processing skills have improved, and my perspective on how to process my pictures has changed. Having raw files to restart the editing is essential.

I shoot RAW.

I delete shots I don't like.

[250swb]

First things first, decide if simply own a camera and take photos to please the family, or are you a photographer who wants to make the most of the photograph?

If you are a photographer shoot in RAW and never ever delete anything, memory is too cheap to even spend the time and effort deleting things anyway. It can also be a particularly selfish thing to do. But choose the 1+100 image that you like and enjoy spending time in Lightroom making it better, that is why you used RAW after all. If you own a camera shoot in JPEG and only take a snap when asked by friends and family and keep all the photos on one card that never leaves the camera. Send copies via Bluetooth to whoever may want one then it's up to them to save it.

(Nothing is learned by deleting images, the same mistakes are liable to happen over and over again if not confronted by evidence and wasted memory. Images you don't like are reminders of what you do like, they are valuable.)

Edited July 19 by 250swb

[Dazzajl]

Away from work I have no rules and change my mind frequently. Sometimes I pick the best tool for the job, sometimes the worst. Sometimes it’s raw and others it jpeg. I’ve got some files from decades back and have deleted some from last week. 
 

I think it’s a reaction to the very strict adherence to an everything must be the best mindset for client images. 

[RQ44]

great answers here from everyone. I do agree with raw, my gripe with it was that I had thousands of photos of coastlines, rainforests, gorgeous sunrises and sunsets, yes i purged the whole lot, just could not qualify to keep any of them anymore. I know memory is supposedly cheap, but my photo storage is at currently at 15TB, Yes you read it right 15 terra bytes!!!! I really had to reduce it to real photos that were worthy of archive. Images of non family value I just considered a waste of space in that I needed more drives and I have triples of all my backup drives hence the costs rising to store my rubbish, play photos. Do I have regrets? No not really.

Edited July 19 by RQ44

[SrMi]

I rate my photos and initially delete obvious waste. At a later stage, I may consider some 1-star photos for deletion or upgrade them to higher ratings.

[pgk]

RAW only but I don't shoot vast numbers of photos (well, relatively) so I keep all.

[evikne]

2 hours ago, RQ44 said:

great answers here from everyone. I do agree with raw, my gripe with it was that I had thousands of photos of coastlines, rainforests, gorgeous sunrises and sunsets, yes i purged the whole lot, just could not qualify to keep any of them anymore. I know memory is supposedly cheap, but my photo storage is at currently at 15TB, Yes you read it right 15 terra bytes!!!! I really had to reduce it to real photos that were worthy of archive. Images of non family value I just considered a waste of space in that I needed more drives and I have triples of all my backup drives hence the costs rising to store my rubbish, play photos. Do I have regrets? No not really.

All my photos from the past 25 years are stored on a 2 TB portable HDD and take up just over 1 TB. I have been quite careful to delete unnecessary photos as I go along. But there are still over 25,000 photos, more than enough for others to look through. 😉 I agree that little that is not family-related is of interest to anyone other than myself. The goal is to print out a few hundred, max a thousand photos for future generations.

[Chris W]

I turned 21 in 1980. I didn't have a camera. The stuff that was happening around me I just thought was boring every day stuff - new wave music, new romantics fashion, Miami Vice style fashion (t-shirts with suits, power dressing, padded shoulders, women with very big hair).

Now when I look at the work of photographers who were documenting that time I kick myself. I wish I had had a camera and was shooting every day, the things happening around me.

I went to college in Leeds in the 1970's and there are several photographers who documented that time, the demolition of victorian streets and rebuilding in brutalist concrete.

My bus stop from college was outside a soft porn cinema - showing Emanuelle, or Confessions Of A Window Cleaner. It's all stuff you don't see today!

This is a long winded way of saying I never delete anything. You just don't know what mundane image you shot last week is going to be incredibly interesting in 25 years time.

I only shoot RAW.

 

Edited July 19 by Chris W

[250swb]

4 hours ago, Chris W said:

I turned 21 in 1980. I didn't have a camera. The stuff that was happening around me I just thought was boring every day stuff - new wave music, new romantics fashion, Miami Vice style fashion (t-shirts with suits, power dressing, padded shoulders, women with very big hair).

Now when I look at the work of photographers who were documenting that time I kick myself. I wish I had had a camera and was shooting every day, the things happening around me.

I went to college in Leeds in the 1970's and there are several photographers who documented that time, the demolition of victorian streets and rebuilding in brutalist concrete.

My bus stop from college was outside a soft porn cinema - showing Emanuelle, or Confessions Of A Window Cleaner. It's all stuff you don't see today!

This is a long winded way of saying I never delete anything. You just don't know what mundane image you shot last week is going to be incredibly interesting in 25 years time.

I only shoot RAW.

 

Likewise, and I was at college in Sheffield in the 1970's (my second choice was Leeds to do a BA in Sculpture), at Sheffield I swapped to photography. But we were never encouraged to snip out the bad ones from a film strip, these were the food for group crits and ripe for somebody saying 'this is a better photo than the one you chose'. If you delete the photo of how you got it wrong it's a lie to yourself or anybody better educated who can say 'you got that wrong'.

[Olaf_ZG]

I photograph in raw, but cull a lot upon import. F.e. During my recent holidays (two weeks) I took about 1000 images. I kept 98, the rest was deleted. From this 98 only some will be printed.

[Chris W]

Storage is essentially cheap. I store on a 2TB SSD, then back up on a WMD My Passport. I save everything.

I probably only take a handful of decent images on a two week holiday, but I keep everything. I will probably star rate 25 to 30 images and process 12, then print one or two.

Maybe this is something about shooting dozens of images at one scene? If I find an interesting subject I will probably shoot one or two raw images, maybe six to eight if I'm unsure of the best light or camera angle. I shoot less and keep everything. 

I'm currently scanning b&w negatives from the early 1990's. Some subjects I probably shot for no reason - what the hey - I now find incredibly interesting. I can't remember taking the photo why, but I'm glad I took it and still have it.

 

[George Collier]

Everything starts in Raw for me, except iPhone stuff.

Digital  work (mostly color and probono work for volunteer activity) I do the best overall treatments I can in Raw - tonal range, sharpening, maybe color adjustments, etc. Like making the first enlarger print before burning and dodging. Open in PShop, and make all other adjustments using layers, always, often with masking. The bottom layer contains the original image from Raw. I keep the Raw files of any images that I actually use, trash the others.

Film work (pretty much all B&W - my more serious work), I scan, again to the best dynamic range I can pull from the scanner (I was once told by a scanning expert that adjustments made to the tonal properties - curve things, are always best done when interpreting from the analog image to avoid digital drawbacks, like banding, etc) The scan file is TIFF (I've had trouble scanning to Raw with Silverfast but don't know why. I open the TIFF in Raw, and do basically what I do with digital except I don't keep the Raw file (I can scan again if needed - I keep the negs). Again work in PShop, and make all other adjustments using layers. I keep a PShop file for the master, making from it whatever I need for output. Over time, I may adjust the master by changing adjustment layer treatments, or adding another one, but always the bottom layer remains original. One reason is that image deterioration takes place (so I've always been told) during re-saving changes or to another format (like JPEG). When I make a file for purpose (printing or some other public use), I have an action in PShop that begins by flattening, then resizing, changes in bit depth, whatever it needs to be.

Everything is saved on an external HD (10TB), and this drive is backed up, along with the computer, onto 2 separate external HD's by Apple Time machine, which I check regularly.

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[davidzvi]

1. All "my" event files are saved, as well as the JPEGs provided to clients.  They are all saved on a NAS and two external drives.  The delivered files are also in the cloud thanks to Smugmug's unlimited storage.  Client files that I shot for someone else are on the NAS and external.  Saving what was delivered to those clients, post-editing,  is up to the primary shooter.
   
   I shot a Bat Mitzvah where we were supposed to have a photo section with a great uncle who was there with a nursing aid from his nursing home.  He ended up having to leave early and was gone a couple of weeks later.  I found one picture that I took from a balcony where he was visible.  It was heavily cropped, but it made it into the album.  
    
2. Family and friends? I keep more than I need.
    
3. I buy and sell a lot of gear to try for fun, so I have a lot of test shots. I delete most of the pictures I have of things on my bookcases, as well as the pictures of the gear when I sell it.
    
4. "Personal Stuff," I used to keep most of it, even what I knew would never see the light of day.  Lately, though, I have been going through and cleaning things up a bit.

As for space?  Let's just say I'm glad most of my event work was done with 10-12MP cameras.  I did love my Nikon D700s.

 

 

[IkarusJohn]

All my M-A photos are on film.