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Digital Hygiene - What your mother never told you about Digital Photography Now that you have a digital camera, you've probably already found out how much fun digital photography is. You may be starting to find out a few more things... like the fact that you're taking hundreds of pictures, and generating huge amounts of, well, data. Who ever thought you'd need a solution for data management? How to handle all these files is one of the most common questions of the new digital photographer. Whether you're a professional photographer generating gigabytes a week, or an amateur on vacation, all the photographs that used to go into file cabinets or shoeboxes are littering your hard drive and getting lost or deleted. Setting up a simple system to catalog and store your photographs will mean the difference between having your photographs ready for you to enjoy, and not being able to find them at all. The best storage system is a simple storage system. If it's simple, you will be more likely to keep to it and keep it current. You also have to use a system that practices good, safe data management policies. The basic framework for storing and safeguarding your images is to follow these basic steps: Shoot, download to the computer, verify files, backup files, format the card. After you've shot your pictures, download them to the computer using the camera, (preferred), a card reader or the slot on your laptop. The camera is the best method to download... it made the files, so it knows how to transfer the files best. Card readers work well, but make sure the card reader is compatible with the card. Even though you may be excited to look at the shots, don't view, edit, rename, rotate, delete, select or do anything else to the files, until you've put them safely on your computer. Verify that the files are OK. You can use your camera software to view the images, and if they show up in your browser (Nikon View, Canon ZoomBrowser or Photoshop File Browser for example) your files are probably OK. You want to do this because, in some cases, the files show up, but may be corrupted and you won't find out until after you've deleted the originals off the card. Now, before you do anything else, burn your files to a CD. I suggest a gold "archival" CD, because it lasts longer that the cheaper silver or color CDs. The CD is your backup. You can leave the files on your computer or delete them, and you can now format your media card so you can shoot more photos to it. (Formatting the card in the camera, rather than using the "delete" button, reduces the chance that the card will produce errors or corrupt future files.) OK. NOW, you can look at your fabulous vacation photos. The delayed gratification is well worthwhile to avoid accidentally deleting or damaging an irreplaceable shot. Now that you have the photos safely stored and backed up, how can you keep them cataloged so that you can find them again? The method I suggest is exactly the same method I used in my commercial studio for 25 years: Make a contact sheet. All digital cameras have software that has a part called a "browser", which displays the contents of a folder as thumbnail images. In any of the browsers you can find a feature that prints up thumbnails to a sheet, along with the file name. You can set up the task to print up small, medium or large thumbnails, and as many as 30 on a letter-sized sheet is practical. This will be your index, and you can just keep these sheets in a 3-ring binder along with the CD. So, the first thing I do when I get in from my trip is to download my files to my computer. I'll open up Photoshop File Browser and look at the shots in the downloaded folders, verifying the files aren't corrupted. Immediately I'll burn a CD. Once the CD is burned, I go back into the browser and print contact sheets, automatically numbered with the folder and file numbers of each shot 3-hole punch the sheets, into the binder they go with the CD, and we're done. Practice this simple, safe workflow, and you'll have thousands of digital files at your fingertips. You may want to still keep them on your hard drive so you can email them to your mom, but you can sleep well knowing that they're safely backed up, stored and cataloged in a place you can find them. Finding and looking at your photos again will be as much fun as you had shooting them in the first place! Ted Dillard has been a working Fine Art and commercial photographer for over 25 years. He has been a nationally exhibiting artist since his first show at the Fruitlands Museums in 1984. In 2002, he joined the team at E. P. Levine and established EPL as the premier Digital Imaging showroom in New England. He created The Pixel Institute at EP Levine, offering workshops in Photoshop, Digital Photography, Color Management and Printing, as well as the Digital Imaging Master Class. He is teaching undergraduate classes in Fine Art Digital Imaging and Photoshop at Northeastern University and at The Art Institute of Boston. Ted is the author of the Digital Imaging Master Class: Fine Digital Photography and Printmaking, the first handbook for photographers committed to digital capture, RAW file processing and incorporating the Fine Printmaking tradition of visualization and technical excellence. He can be reached at ted@cameras.com | |||||
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EP Levine opened its doors in 1954, and has since become New England's premier equipment resource for professional photographers. Today we service our customers from around the world from our 17,000 ft/sq. location at 23 Dry Dock Avenue, in the heart of Boston's photo district. While we are best known for our personal and professional service and extensive inventory of new and used pro photographic equipment, we also offer comprehensive rental and repair departments, and studio rentals. EP Levine has the most complete showroom of the latest digital imaging equipment in New England, available for demonstration and workstation rental. New and Used Photographic Equipment l Photographic Consumables l Collectible Cameras l Digital Imaging Equipment Sales l Apple VAR Studio Rentals l Equipment Rentals l Digital Imaging Equipment and workstation rentals l Camera Repair l Worldwide Shipping l Insurance Replacements EP Levine is committed to supporting and advancing the Photographic community in Boston and New England through superlative service, customer support, education, training and technical excellence. For more information: | |||||
