A friend of mine recently asked for some pictures I photographed a year ago. I usually back up my pictures when my laptop is running out of space, to an external hard disk which I then store carefully in … a cupboard :D. I cannot afford one of those drobos nor those bullet, fire or earthquake proof safes … yet. So, I started looking for the pictures and realised that they were no where to be found. Looked harder but they just weren’t there. Where could they be? … Aha! A year ago I was saving some of my pictures to a portable hard disk as I was on the move almost all the time. I was not aware that there was such thing as a photography workflow, so I have been backing up my photos wherever and whenever the time is right :D. Cut the story short, the portable hard disk fell badly one day and it broke. Did not realise until now that my precious photos were all in it. I still keep the portable hard disk and am going to try to recover it (finger cross). Anyways, I lost those pictures because I did not have a proper photography workflow. I should make one now coz I photograph more pictures than ever, especially with the 365 days photography project I am currently doing. Check out my photography workflow below.
1. Take photos.
After reading many photography’s articles, I now understand the importance of shooting RAWs. Hard disks are getting bigger and cheaper nowadays, so having dedicated storages for my pictures are a must.
2. Temporary backup.
When I am on the move, I leave my bulky laptop behind. However, I carry my iPad almost all the time with me so I thought I should make a good use of it. Check out this iPad camera connection kit that allows you to import photos from your SD cards or straight from the camera via USB cable. It is worth every pennies. On my last trip, I was able to show my friends the photos I took straight away on a 9.7 inch high resolutions screen!. I was also able to edit it directly on the iPad using Snapseed or Photogene apps. Furthermore, the iPad acts as a temporary backup in case my SD cards fail. If you have a good connection, you can also upload it straight to dropbox or any other online storage for that matter. Technology is wonderful.
3. Import to Lightroom.
As soon as I am home, I import my photos to my laptop via Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. I have a card reader built in to my laptop so I never use the USB cable to import my photos. My photos are currently sorted by Year_MM_Date. I am thinking of adding a bit more info to the folder’s naming such as Year_MM_Date_Description, however I cannot figure out how to do it in Lightoom. Please comment below if you know. While importing, I edit the metadata preset according to the photos.
4. Make a sub-folder inside a folder named ‘Edited’.
I have a folder named ‘Edited’, which contains the edited pictures. After importing my pictures to Lightroom, I make a sub-folder manually named Year_MM_Date. This way I keep the original RAW files and the final images separate. These edited pictures are also imported to the Lightroom catalog and injected with metadata.
5. Backup to external hard disk.
Every week I make a backup of my pictures to an external hard disk, which I store carefully in a cupboard. I also backup the Lightroom catalog. I am going to get myself a portable hard disk for a 2nd backup, which I will keep separately from the external hard disk for extra safety.
There you go, 5 simple steps of photography workflow. Check out this video of Chase Jarvis’ workflow for a better understanding of what the pros do. Have fun and keep clicking!
Talk Less | Share More 