How do you store your images?

[KevC]

I shoot everything in RAW.

Do you ever save a preprocessed copy? I'm gonna be archiving my shots using DVD+/-Rs. I'm thinking of just decompressing all my RAWs to TIFFs and filling half a DVD with the preprocessed, and the other half with the postprocessed.

I'm still a very much newbie at post processing, that's the main reason I want to keep the 'as shot' copy.

Thoughts?

[GPR1]

I always keep the RAW as well as converted TIFF. I don't want to reconvert every time I want to work from the original TIFF, but I want the option to go back to the RAW file and reconvert if I learn more, want to change exposure or white balance, etc. BTW, I save to archival CDs; regular CDs you buy in the store are not archival and could go bad in as little as six months. Archival media is expensive, but I have confidence the data will still be there (and still I make 2 copies).

Greg

[steven]

I use DVD+/-R to store the RAW files. That way I can allways go back and look at or pull from a "digital negative".
I then pick the ones I want to process and once I have finished I will save these off on a different DVD.

[mikesd]

Whether shooting raw or jpeg I always make a cd or dvd backup of the original untouched shots and then make another backup of the shots after they have been proccessed. Blank media is pretty cheap so I'm pretty liberal making sure everything is safely backed up.

[iwatkins]

I keep all my RAWs.

I then keep all my processed TIFFs, 16-bit, no compression.

I then keep all my finished images as PSDs, including all layers etc.

From the finished images, I'll have print ready versions (TIFFs) and also web ready versions (JPEGs).

All of these are kept in a date related structure:


Root
|
Year
|
Month
|
Negatives
| |
| Day
|
Processed
|
Finished
|
PrintReady
|
WebReady


The structure itself is built for me/added to automatically when ever I use my card reader. BreezeSystems Downloader Pro recognises I've inserted a card, creates new parts of the structure (if needed) and then copies my RAWs over (to the Day folder, under Negatives). The Processed, PrintReady and WebReady directories are made for me under that Month if that is the first series of RAWs transferred for that month.

Works a treat.

The whole file system is kept on a local hard disk dedicated to my photography. It is automatically mirrored to an external hardisk connected via FireWire.

At the end of each month, I create a contact sheet of all my RAWs (Negatives) and those TIFFs go into the root of that Months directory. Then the Month is backed up onto DVD. The DVDs go around to my partners parents house to go into their safe.

I've been using the above system for nearly two years now and it works for me.

Cheers

Ian

[KevC]

Wow Ian, that's really organised! I may try that... Hmm.. :)