Is your photo library in disarray?

[mikemorrell]

My guess is that you're much more thoughtful (and competent) when taking photos than I am, Sam but I do take your point.

 

I usually keep all my 'good enough' walking about'/trip photos. By 'good enough', I mean that the lens is not pointing at my shoe, I've not forgotten to adjust the ISO so that photo's are completely blown out or completely black, completely unfocused (but not in an interesting way, etc). Sometimes I take pretty much the same photo multiple times at the same location ("just to be sure") and I'll just pick one of these and delete the duplicates.

 

I take pretty much all of my many sport/people 'shots' in 'burst mode' to 'freeze' the motion, movement and expression. This is not the only way to photograph sport/people but it seems to be what people who I (voluntary) work for want most. In practice, I also find it difficult to adjust my settings to be more creative in the time available while 'on assignment'. I'm usually just happy that my 'shots' are exposed correctly and are reasonably sharp.

 

So I usually end up with many digital 'shots', of which only few ever see the light of day. I make a selection from the photos for myself I select a much smaller % to deliver to others.Just as one example, I currently have 106 'shots' open in Lightroom that I took in 'burst mode' during a 90 minute interview earlier in the week. Some I took during the interview, others I took afterwards. From these 106, I'll select a maximum of 3 that I'll adjust, crop to size and deliver. Only 1 photo photo will be published with the corresponding article. So I have 106 shots that I don't have permission to publish. I usually keep a copy of the 3 photos that I deliver, at least for a year. But the other 103 digital files just take up HD-space. I probably won't ever use them. If I ever wanted to ask permission to publish a copy, there's a 95% chance that I'd ask to use one of the 3 'delivered photos'.

 

Mike

 

PS. I also deleted walkabout photos of 'ducks in the park', facially blurred friend photos and mobile snaps of products in that I'm no longer interested in, etc.

 

I rarely trash photos. I organize, not obsessively, but enough to keep track. I use date, location, and key words to organize into folders. I have gone back through my archives too many times discovering potential I never saw before. I'm not one who takes hundreds of photos a week and get by with many months of relatively few pictures taken, so it may be a function of my way of shooting that allows me this practice. My ever-evolving needs, desires, and aesthetics challenge me to hold onto stuff I don't necessarily like or see the value of now in deference to the knowledge and experience I have of seeing something in a photo months or years later that I hadn't yet seen. Just as when I view others' photos, that "wow" factor that immediately grabs me but doesn't stay the test of time, the photos of mine that may grab me at first aren't necessarily the ones that offer the most challenge and the most secrets to untangle.

[Tony Parsons]

I think I may be able to draw a parallel, at least in my own case, with my CD / Vinyl / DVD & BluRay collection. Some of these I listen to (or watch) fairly frequently - some are untouched for maybe years, but I don't even consider 'culling' the collection, because, like @samstevens and @Ed_Ingold, I know there may be a time when they are just what I want (or need) for that moment. And, as I have commented before (and been roasted for ! - AIIC) in film days serious photographers kept their negatives, and I feel the same respect is due to 'Digital Negatives' (as I shoot RAW DNG !).

[samstevens]

facially blurred friend

Careful. These helped make Francis Bacon a renowned painter!!!

 

BACON

BACON

BACON

[dcstep]

My 7-TB library is in files by date, with tags AND with the keepers uploaded to Flickr as JPEGs, with additional tags and descriptions. Most of the library covers 2007 through the present. I use Flickr's search engine to initially find most picture, and I note the date and image number assigned by the camera. I use Windows File Manager Search to find the multiple listings for any one file number, but display the file icons so I see image and get to it very quickly. It's usually under a minute, even with files going back to 2007. I use BackBlaze for off site backup and highly recommend it to any serious photographer. Without Flickr, I'd probably need a dedicated file manager, but it serves that purpose will. Tags, plus a good search engine keep me sane.