Posted by Pam Colander on March 3, 2011 at 1:09 PM
Jack Garrett's recent post involving NIK software and how it saved an image prompted me to post this question. I think this has probably been discussed before somewhere on NPN. I usually will delete an image forever if I feel it has absolutely NO redeeming values. Every now and then I will go through my folders and ruthlessly go on a deleting spree. More times than I care to remember, I'll get an e-mail saying "say, could I have a print or rights to use this image for blah, blah, blah?" I always say "let me check" knowing full well I've deleted it. So, my question is what do you use as deciding factors for using that delete button?
I only delete images that are out of focus or have other un-recoverable issues like that. HD space is cheap these days.. so keep images around. You would be shocked at how you can recover things later as your processing techniques get better.
I usually say to myself, "now, that sucks" and hit the delete key.
Honestly, my first step on the computer is to burn to DVD all raw files from the card...that way, Im covered. Joe Rogers
I'm with Koveh regarding deletion parameters. I'm also with Joe regarding the saving of all RAW 'negatives' on an external hard drive. I don't shoot hundreds of images at a time, so the 'negatives' file size is pretty manageable. I try to delete absolute garbage in the field to keep things manageable, as well.
At this point, I keep all of my images, doubled on separate hard drives. Hard drives are cheap -- $80 for a 1TB external at this point. Right now, I feel like I can do enough basic adjustments in ACR to see what the file might look like with full work and leave the RAW files "unexpanded"; that keeps them relatively small. The best images, I bring into photoshop and start adding the layers and fine-tweaking.
I do get rid of the complete failures, but that's not that many. And those failures never get out into the outside world, so I never have to worry about someone asking for them later.
Honestly, that means that the vast majority of my images just sit around taking up HD space. But I'm okay with that. I'm too compulsive to get rid of them, and too much of a perfectionist to show anything that I don't think is great.
Just last week I went back and reworked some old 5d files from 2006, now that I've figured out how to do exposure blending... (which I could have done then, but only recently learned )
I am guilty of going through and deleting photo's after too much wine. Then a week or two will pass and I see the thumbnail in Lightroom and want to rework the image and it lets me know the image is missing. Which then prompts you to go to time machine and realize you haven't had it backing up since last June when you ported everything over to the new computer.
On a similar note about saving space, do any of use the DNG format or pretty much all of your camera's raw format?
Posted by Pam Colander on March 3, 2011 at 4:58 PM
Nat Coalson told me he saves his originals as DNGs and deletes all the RAW originals. Maybe he'll chime in here.
I use my camera's RAW format, but I really should consider changing to DNG just for posterity's sake. Same thing with saving 'master files' as PSD files...most recommendations that I see from experts tell me to choose TIF format for almost guaranteed 'future-proofing'.
Posted by Jack Garrett on March 3, 2011 at 9:56 PM
I will never delete a photo again!! Seriously though, I agree with Koveh and what some of the others have said. It's next to impossible to recover an out of focus image so I would get rid of it but as you can see even underexposed images can be recovered. I knew the branches could be healed so I kept it in the vault....I'm so glad NIK came out with these plug-ins!
For the most part I'm pretty brutal during my initial edit when I download images to the computer. If an image makes it through that first edit it will usually be with me forever even though it may never be seen by anyone else. This discussion, though, will have me scouring the ads in the Sunday Post for cheap storage. My once seemingly huge 500g external drive somehow seems kind of puny now.
Posted by Jim Casteel on March 4, 2011 at 12:28 AM
I just purchased a 2 - 2tb HDDs from Microcenter for $79 each. I believe that every photo should have a home. Here is a completely out of focus image that I for some reason have fell in love with. Probably because it is a bit creepy. There have been quite a few times where I have gone back and re-worked an old image I would have deleted during import. I say keep it all.
Since I take a lot of BIF shots that are bursts of 8-10 of the same bird, I'm pretty vicious in deleting all but the best 2-3 poses.
Other than that, I rarely delete unless something is totally out of focus. As post-processing techniques improve, who knows what will be salvageable in the future.
As others have saifd, external HD space is very cheap. My 2 TB Seagates/Lifestudios were less than $90 each.
Sandy
While external drives are cheap, they WILL fail at some point. I still recommend burning to DVD first and storing your really important files in a different location....bank box, ect.
Joe Rogers
I feel fortunate that storage costs have dropped so dramatically as our storage needs continue to increase. However, I now try to be rather brutal when editing a new shoot. Even though I can manage my collection of images efficiently with Lightroom, I still don't want to deal with an ever increasing amout of "deadwood". There are just too many good images that require attention.
If you are concerned about possibly needing a deleted file, then immediately writing all the RAW files to a DVD should aleviate the fear of being too brutal in your editing. I had done this for many years, and never found the need to retrieve any deleted file, but it was nice to know they were there.
Yes, I understand DVDs are not considered archival, but for the last decade, I have not found a DVD that I could not read.
I was looking through some old folders today--dozens/hundreds of horrible tilted,OOF, useless bring photos. So why the heck do i save them? Cause i can.
Discussion
17 repliesHonestly, my first step on the computer is to burn to DVD all raw files from the card...that way, Im covered. Joe Rogers
I do get rid of the complete failures, but that's not that many. And those failures never get out into the outside world, so I never have to worry about someone asking for them later.
Honestly, that means that the vast majority of my images just sit around taking up HD space. But I'm okay with that. I'm too compulsive to get rid of them, and too much of a perfectionist to show anything that I don't think is great.
Just last week I went back and reworked some old 5d files from 2006, now that I've figured out how to do exposure blending... (which I could have done then, but only recently learned
On a similar note about saving space, do any of use the DNG format or pretty much all of your camera's raw format?
Other than that, I rarely delete unless something is totally out of focus. As post-processing techniques improve, who knows what will be salvageable in the future.
As others have saifd, external HD space is very cheap. My 2 TB Seagates/Lifestudios were less than $90 each.
Sandy
Joe Rogers
If you are concerned about possibly needing a deleted file, then immediately writing all the RAW files to a DVD should aleviate the fear of being too brutal in your editing. I had done this for many years, and never found the need to retrieve any deleted file, but it was nice to know they were there.
Yes, I understand DVDs are not considered archival, but for the last decade, I have not found a DVD that I could not read.