rethinking my "keep every image" policy

I used to keep every image I shot, good or bad. I used to shoot Jpeg only, but now that I shoot RAW+Jpeg usually, my hard drives are filling up fast. I use two 1TB external drives with identical files on each -- in case one crashes, I have the other.

I can easily shoot 1200 images in an evening. So that's 1200 RAWs and 1200 jpegs, plus my Photoshop work files and the final optimized jpegs. It's long been my policy to keep everything, good or bad, so that I can always go back and get any image from the shoot, and I can see how I did in a shoot by how many keepers versus outtakes I have.

Maybe it doesn't make sense to do it that way anymore. I rarely go back and look at the original Jpegs or RAWs. Once I've done my processing, I usually only use the Photoshop work files or the web-optimized jpegs. If my place burned down and my twin external hard drives perished, all my images would be gone. The size of my archives is too great to practically backup to an online backup services like Carbonite. I suppose I could keep the finished files in a separate place on the hard drive and then only back that up to Carbonite, but still keep all the shoot files on my drives. Then if there were a fire, I would keep the all important final results, but lose the original shots.

I do compress all my original shoot files into RAR files via WinRAR to minimize the space they take, but they're still taking up lots of room. Of course I could archive them to DVD and remove them from the hard drives, but that sounds like a headache of a project.

I'm curious if others have mulled this issue over and and how you've dealt with mass storage issues.

I shoot Raw only -- the one time I experimented shooting and event in Raw+jpeg I ended up being discusted with having to deal with the jpeg copies and so deleted them all.

Plus, I have not hesitation in deleting "bad" files, which to me means missed focus, camera shake, a botched compostion, or the occasional exposure failure. When I first import a shoot into Lightroom, I scan the photos with a finger poised at the Reject key! Depending on what I'm shooting, that could be a very small percentage or more than half the shots from a more challenging type of shoot.

That suits me and the photography I do, but that doesn't mean it's right for you. But from what you are describing I'd really think about that type of approach. I don't know what you shoot -- 1200 shots per event how often? And, have you ever had a "bad" photo that you ended up deciding was "good"? How often, and how important was the photo to you?

Why shoot raw+jpgs ?

I shoot raw only, handpick the ones needed, turn them to jpgs and work on them. I end up with a few psds, jpgs, and the rest in RAW.

I tend not to delete RAWs unless they are horribly bad, but i may do so in the future, using a ranking system and a set of subfolders, i could easily delete alot of RAWs that weren't up to par.

Csae wrote in post #12398362
Why shoot raw+jpgs ?

I shoot raw only, handpick the ones needed, turn them to jpgs and work on them. I end up with a few psds, jpgs, and the rest in RAW.

I tend not to delete RAWs unless they are horribly bad, but i may do so in the future, using a ranking system and a set of subfolders, i could easily delete alot of RAWs that weren't up to par.

I prefer RAW+Jpeg because it speeds up my post processing time. In most cases the Jpegs are fine to process from, which saves me a step and hence time. If I'm not getting what I need from the Jpeg, only then will I process from the RAW file. It also really helps to have all ready-made Jpegs for putting up proof pages. I make those with Photoshop's web gallery creator and the Watermark Factory. Occasionally I still shoot Jpeg only. It would take me a lot longer if I had to convert every RAW file in the set to Jpeg.

1200 photos in one night? Talk about trigger happy. LOL I can spend a week shooting landscapes and I still won't take that many shots. I prefer to be more specific about when I push the button, that way I don't have to do what you are doing and purge so many images. If I don't see something I like, I don't push the button. If I get back and don't like a shot, I delete it. No point in holding on to garbage, IMO.

As for RAW to jpeg, I only convert the images I plan to keep. The others go to the trash can. If all you have is 1TB, then you might want to consider getting larger drives or being more selective as to when you push the button. Each one of my towers have a drive just for OS and programs, then two 1TB internal drives for data, then two 3TB external drives for backups. If I was you, I would add two 1TB internal drives and then back each internal drive up to an external drive. That would double your space and give you a backup. 1TB drives are cheap, $50 to $70 at www.tigerdirect.com

I don't get that...if you configure your camera correctly; white balance, exposure, etc. there should be little or no difference between the JPEG preview embedded in the Raw file and the actual Raw data. And there are a number of free utilities that will easily extract the full-sized JPEG preview from the Raw file; tools like DPP and Instant JPEG from Raw.

ThomasOwenM wrote in post #12398386
I prefer RAW+Jpeg because it speeds up my post processing time. In most cases the Jpegs are fine to process from, which saves me a step and hence time. If I'm not getting what I need from the Jpeg, only then will I process from the RAW file. It also really helps to have all ready-made Jpegs for putting up proof pages. I make those with Photoshop's web gallery creator and the Watermark Factory. Occasionally I still shoot Jpeg only. It would take me a lot longer if I had to convert every RAW file in the set to Jpeg.

1200 photos in an evening, I'm assuming that you are engaged in some type of event or sport shooting. That being the case, I'm guessing that many are of the exact same thing taken rapid fire trying to increase the odds of the money shot. So why not delete all the extraneous shots and keep the one~three that are close to what you were looking for?

I used to keep every single shot I took for learning purposes when I first got into digital photography. It was helpful, but once you've figured out/learned what you could have improved, I didn't see the point in keeping them around.

Just what I did

TGrundvig wrote in post #12398413
1200 photos in one night? Talk about trigger happy. LOL I can spend a week shooting landscapes and I still won't take that many shots. I prefer to be more specific about when I push the button, that way I don't have to do what you are doing and purge so many images. If I don't see something I like, I don't push the button. If I get back and don't like a shot, I delete it. No point in holding on to garbage, IMO.

As for RAW to jpeg, I only convert the images I plan to keep. The others go to the trash can. If all you have is 1TB, then you might want to consider getting larger drives or being more selective as to when you push the button. Each one of my towers have a drive just for OS and programs, then two 1TB internal drives for data, then two 3TB external drives for backups. If I was you, I would add two 1TB internal drives and then back each internal drive up to an external drive. That would double your space and give you a backup. 1TB drives are cheap, $50 to $70 at www.tigerdirect.com

I shoot musical performances. If I'm shooting a metal band, the action is as fast and intense as many sporting events, so I'm clicking and bursting agressively.

Also, another reason to shoot RAW+Jpeg is to prevent losing any image due to a card failure. I shoot with a 1D Mark III and have it put the RAW file on the CF card and the jpeg on the SD card. Either card could fail and I would still have all my shots.

ThomasOwenM wrote in post #12398509
Also, another reason to shoot RAW+Jpeg is to prevent losing any image due to a card failure. I shoot with a 1D Mark III and have it put the RAW file on the CF card and the jpeg on the SD card. Either card could fail and I would still have all my shots.

Well, whatever works for you!

I'd say you are looking at a need to build up your external drive storage and backup!

I have my shoots sorted by year and with descriptive folder and filenames that includes a date, and so a hard drive may be dedicated to one year of two in less active years and then it's over to the next one. A good keyword system also comes in very handy so you have another way of grabbing people, places, events and such.

Get an external docking station for OEM HDD, so you can use cheap OEM HDD rather than 'External Hard Drive'; OEM HDD is cheap, and getting cheaper every 6 months.

Happy shooting

Not to criticize your shot count but I shoot concerts and get p*ssed off if I come back with more than 300-400, having to got through them all. At best I'll probably end up with 2/3rd's of them, deleting the rest for various reasons such as OOF, bad framing, boring and repetitive (multiple similar shots). Out of those, I'll pick the best 12 or so, that do not "repeat".

I do have a "system" now and rarely go over 300 shots. I know the shots, framing and angles I want and shoot accordingly. I did that after shooting a music festival, 22 concerts in 3.5 days and was coming back with 600-700/show. Imagine shooting 1200/show x 22, then having to go through them all and pick the best of the bunch. I will tell you that I got more ruthless as I went along and started to delete more and more

No, 300 is way more than enough for one show if you plan the shoot. I also have never regretted deleting a shot.

But if 1200 works for you, then stay with it.

Well, the 1200 recent count was on at a show where I shot 5 different bands and the lighting was among the worst I've ever had.

I also think keeping 30 MB RAW files of all my routine family, scenery or other amateur shots (not the picks) is getting excessive now I have a 7D. I think I will process to high quality jpg and delete the DNG's for my "not crap but not unusual/great/memorabl​e" stuff. My chances of later needing these in higher quality than a circa 4 MB jpg is really, really slim. I could shoot mRAW but never know when I'll catch a (rare) winner and regret it. I wish DNG had a "small DNG" option for this sort of thing but I can live with jpg. Still like to shoot RAW for the flexibility in post processing.