could just be me,

[bribrius]

maybe I am a little slow. LMAO

but.. I just spent like thirty hours going through pics, culling.
pics that went up to cloud service over the last year or so.
I narrowed it down quite a bit. sent some out i had taken of others, that i really just didn't want anymore and delete delete.

this isn't my first time culling.

that is just the autobackup, i still have to go through a couple external drives and another.


And it occurs to me that THIS IS UTTER INSANE B.S. going through all this stuff culling.

the autobackup the worst, as it pics up everything AUTOMATICALLY.
i did shut it off before, but lost images when my computer tanked last week as they hadn't all gone to cloud. Because i shut cloud off briefly.


i need a new system.i already have it narrowed down to just taking off my photo folder,learned my lesson on straight off the sd cards long ago.
i shoot both jpeg and raw, mostly jpeg but depending. i have thought of going to just raw, and having backup just be jpeg only. so it only sucks up the edited jpegs not every single garbage photo. Not sure how that would work though i would risk losing all my raws again and it would suck up every single crap edit into backup.
But i am tired of tossing out and sorting through every single image that goes through here. It is like a time killing nightmare in which i really just don't want to do it.
thoughts?

 

[snowbear]

I only shoot jpeg when I'm going for extended bursts, like a stop-action video - very rare. I import the raw files from the SD into LR, which also copies them to the hard drive.

I will also put the raw files from the SD to a zip file, named with an "o" at the end for "original." This gets archived, and the hard drive gets backed up. I'll cull through LR, and just keep the garbage in the original zip file. If I know the shot sucks, from previewing it in the camera, I just delete it right then. Anything that's going to Flickr or morgueFile will get exported as a jpeg. I might start putting those in a "f" (for "final") zip file.

 

[bribrius]

I only shoot jpeg when I'm going for extended bursts, like a stop-action video - very rare. I import the raw files from the SD into LR, which also copies them to the hard drive.

I will also put the raw files from the SD to a zip file, named with an "o" at the end for "original." This gets archived, and the hard drive gets backed up. I'll cull through LR, and just keep the garbage in the original zip file. If I know the shot sucks, from previewing it in the camera, I just delete it right then. Anything that's going to Flickr or morgueFile will get exported as a jpeg. I might start putting those in a "f" (for "final") zip file.

sounds like you are using the zip file kind of like I do cloud, except you don't sort through it.
Right now I go from sd to Nikon post processing. auto backup pics up everything unless I shut it off. I will cull in the Nikon software to a extent. Depending on how much I imported in I may or may not get it all done and sorted before I do a backup. so now I have all that chit in autobackup plus some going on external drives. course everytime I edit or send a jpeg out to post somewhere it picks that up to and send that.

Basically, between the doubles of the times I shot jpeg plus raw, or imported them separately if was running them on separate cards, the multiple edits on some and each edit assigned a new file name, the converting to jpeg for various sites and the autobackup picking them up. I had some photos with six different copies or more in the autobackup, and sometimes that goes to the hard drives if I backup before culling through. so I sort through twenty thousand images when I only took eight thousand to start with. Or if I do backup on externals before culling completely, I have to cull through the same twenty thousand images over again (theoretically I cull enough that don't happen totally)..

it is a catch 22 with the culling. quicker I do it, less crap goes on externals in backups. Also I can momentarily stop the cloud to cull and avoid that to a small extent It sucking everything up.

The bad side of rushing to cull, is I have deleted things I later wish I had, or something I didn't think I wanted but later wished I still had it.

 

[bribrius]

I dunno. I have to give this some thought. i should maybe utilize zip files more it would save hard drive space. but then you have to extract them all to use them or view them right? so if i delete all the full file formats in the computer out, and just keep zips that would save space but with the understanding anything i want to pull out i have to extract and sort through it..
tired, cant think straight. i will consider this all more tomorrow. i just know i cant keep sorting through all this it is making my photography extremely time consuming and UNFUN.

 

[Buckster]

I shoot RAW, import to LR, cull only the completely useless, then backup to local drive backup.

From there, I'll edit some, ending up with a variety of TIFs, JPGs and PSDs. They also get backed up to local drive backup.

Each night, anything new in my photography folders gets uploaded to cloud storage automatically.

A lot of it I will never use, or never use again, and yet, I have local and cloud backups of it all, which takes up a lot of space. But do I care? No, because storage is cheap and getting cheaper all the time. My time isn't.

The last thing I want to do is waste my time culling through thousands or tens of thousands of photos, trying to make space, when multi-Terabyte drives are so incredibly cheap these days, and getting cheaper all the time.

 

[Light Guru]

But i am tired of tossing out and sorting through every single image that goes through here. It is like a time killing nightmare in which i really just don't want to do it.
thoughts?

The solution is to think more and shoot less.

Spend more time thinking about your final image, the composition, reading the light, the exposure time, etc etc. be more selective about then you press the shutter button.

Here is an example of how this approach effected my photography. I took two photography trips to two national parks a year or two apart. The first trip to Yosemite National Park I took hundreds and hundreds of images, the second trip was to Glacier National Park and I took a total of maybe 20 pictures. I got maybe 2 good images from the hundreds I took in Yosemite and from the trip to Glacier where I only took maybe 20 images I got about 5-6 top quality good images.

By thinking more and shooting less you will have far fewer images to cull through and probably more keeper images in the end.

 

[bribrius]

I shoot RAW, import to LR, cull only the completely useless, then backup to local drive backup.

From there, I'll edit some, ending up with a variety of TIFs, JPGs and PSDs. They also get backed up to local drive backup.

Each night, anything new in my photography folders gets uploaded to cloud storage automatically.

A lot of it I will never use, or never use again, and yet, I have local and cloud backups of it all, which takes up a lot of space. But do I care? No, because storage is cheap and getting cheaper all the time. My time isn't.

The last thing I want to do is waste my time culling through thousands or tens of thousands of photos, trying to make space, when multi-Terabyte drives are so incredibly cheap these days, and getting cheaper all the time.

i don't either. would much rather be doing other things. I like to shoot, the interaction with the world around me and the camera. I don't like spending all my time staring at a computer screen. someone has to go through them all eventually though right? I mean, if I never went through them then eventually I would probably die and have some million images or something my kids would have to sort through. LOL. Lot of family pics mixed in too I don't think I would wish that upon anyone..
so I guess yeah, save space. But also kind of like house cleaning or cleaning up my mess.

 

[bribrius]

But i am tired of tossing out and sorting through every single image that goes through here. It is like a time killing nightmare in which i really just don't want to do it.
thoughts?

The solution is to think more and shoot less.

Spend more time thinking about your final image, the composition, reading the light, the exposure time, etc etc. be more selective about then you press the shutter button.

Here is an example of how this approach effected my photography. I took two photography trips to two national parks a year or two apart. The first trip to Yosemite National Park I took hundreds and hundreds of images, the second trip was to Glacier National Park and I took a total of maybe 20 pictures. I got maybe 2 good images from the hundreds I took in Yosemite and from the trip to Glacier where I only took maybe 20 images I got about 5-6 top quality good images.

By thinking more and shooting less you will have far fewer images to cull through and probably more keeper images in the end.

I have this mentality but not enough. Good post. Another good thing about this is if you spend all your time photographing the scene you aren't taking the time to enjoy it. some are repetitive too. Do I need a thousand photos of flowers? no. I probably need to spend some time enjoying them instead of snapping photos of them.

 

[Buckster]

For me, a "shoot" includes the import, cull and backup process. If I have a shoot today, I import, cull and backup when I'm done shooting as a part of it. It's a few minutes spent per shoot.

That you spent 30 hours culling says to me that you're just filling up cards and then trying to go through them all after weeks or months of shooting. If that's the case, I'd advise finding a better work flow to break it down into more bite-sized chunks, as I have.

 

[pgriz]

Shooting a lot is, to my way of thinking, a form of insecurity. The photographer doesn't have the confidence in his or her ability to capture the right image, at the right time, in a manner that conveys the vision, and compensates by shooting lots, bracketing, etc. If you know what you're doing, there is no need to shoot lots of images (of essentially the same thing). And that in turn comes back to knowing what you want to capture, and how to go about doing it.

On the other hand, in a learning or exploratory situation, shooting a lot does make sense, as under those circumstances the desired outcome is not yet clearly known. However in those circumstance, taking notes of what you did so that you could related that back to the result, becomes important. The EXIF captures some of the information, but certainly not all what is relevant. If the things that are being adjusted are outside the camera (say, the light setup, or ambient conditions, etc.), then this information is needed in order to meaningfully understand the results obtained.

Yes, I continue to shoot multiple shots of more or less the same thing, because my skill level is not yet where I would like it to be. But I also know where I want to go, and many of the steps I have to take to get there.

As for keeping the images, I routinely download everything from my memory card into an external drive, then do a quick adjustment and label the shots that look promising. The ones passing the first inspection get moved to a different directory and that becomes my "working" storage. I usually have a fraction of the shots I take (maybe 1 in 10) in "working storage". However, if I ever need to find other photos taken in the same set, they are there on the external drive. And I also do weekly & monthly backups on other external drives, so no information is lost. Hard drive storage is cheap these days, so there's no good reason to not have the stuff be archived there. However, after the first pass, I work with only a fraction of what I've actually photographed. My goal is to reduce the number and increase the "good" ration.

 

[bribrius]

For me, a "shoot" includes the import, cull and backup process. If I have a shoot today, I import, cull and backup when I'm done shooting as a part of it. It's a few minutes spent per shoot.

That you spent 30 hours culling says to me that you're just filling up cards and then trying to go through them all after weeks or months of shooting. If that's the case, I'd advise finding a better work flow to break it down into more bite-sized chunks, as I have.

pretty much. I do a "light" culling usually when I import the images into pp software from the card. Hard core culling I have done three times this year I think. some of it I look back on and decided I don't need them anymore. Parade photos, peoples kids portraits. wedding. stuff I just don't want to hold onto anymore. delete delete delete. 20 pics of a waterfall, figure I will just keep 4. delete the other 16. 10 pics of my wifes nephew, some of the stupidest stuff. delete delete delete. Just lots of unnecessary images to hang on to. I have more trouble with my own kids images. Do I need a hundred photos of my son playing by the river by our house or all those Halloween photos? no. I have trouble making myself delete my own childrens photos though . lol.

 

[Buckster]

For me, a "shoot" includes the import, cull and backup process. If I have a shoot today, I import, cull and backup when I'm done shooting as a part of it. It's a few minutes spent per shoot.

That you spent 30 hours culling says to me that you're just filling up cards and then trying to go through them all after weeks or months of shooting. If that's the case, I'd advise finding a better work flow to break it down into more bite-sized chunks, as I have.

pretty much. I do a "light" culling usually when I import the images into pp software from the card. Hard core culling I have done three times this year I think. some of it I look back on and decided I don't need them anymore. Parade photos, peoples kids portraits. wedding. stuff I just don't want to hold onto anymore. delete delete delete. 20 pics of a waterfall, figure I will just keep 4. delete the other 16. 10 pics of my wifes nephew, some of the stupidest stuff. delete delete delete. Just lots of unnecessary images to hang on to. I have more trouble with my own kids images. Do I need a hundred photos of my son playing by the river by our house or all those Halloween photos? no. I have trouble making myself delete my own childrens photos though . lol.

But why spend the time and effort? What's the benefit to you?

 

[bribrius]

Shooting a lot is, to my way of thinking, a form of insecurity. The photographer doesn't have the confidence in his or her ability to capture the right image, at the right time, in a manner that conveys the vision, and compensates by shooting lots, bracketing, etc. If you know what you're doing, there is no need to shoot lots of images (of essentially the same thing). And that in turn comes back to knowing what you want to capture, and how to go about doing it.

On the other hand, in a learning or exploratory situation, shooting a lot does make sense, as under those circumstances the desired outcome is not yet clearly known. However in those circumstance, taking notes of what you did so that you could related that back to the result, becomes important. The EXIF captures some of the information, but certainly not all what is relevant. If the things that are being adjusted are outside the camera (say, the light setup, or ambient conditions, etc.), then this information is needed in order to meaningfully understand the results obtained.

Yes, I continue to shoot multiple shots of more or less the same thing, because my skill level is not yet where I would like it to be. But I also know where I want to go, and many of the steps I have to take to get there.

As for keeping the images, I routinely download everything from my memory card into an external drive, then do a quick adjustment and label the shots that look promising. The ones passing the first inspection get moved to a different directory and that becomes my "working" storage. I usually have a fraction of the shots I take (maybe 1 in 10) in "working storage". However, if I ever need to find other photos taken in the same set, they are there on the external drive. And I also do weekly & monthly backups on other external drives, so no information is lost. Hard drive storage is cheap these days, so there's no good reason to not have the stuff be archived there. However, after the first pass, I work with only a fraction of what I've actually photographed. My goal is to reduce the number and increase the "good" ration.

I can be the victim of itchy finger shutter syndrome too. Often I will go photograph something for no particular reason. I just feel like it. I may take twenty useless pics but I feel better when I am done.... lol Like right now I feel like shooting. i have nothing in mind to shoot but even if it is a tree I will feel better after I get the itchy finger shutter syndrome out of my system for the day.

 

[bribrius]

For me, a "shoot" includes the import, cull and backup process. If I have a shoot today, I import, cull and backup when I'm done shooting as a part of it. It's a few minutes spent per shoot.

That you spent 30 hours culling says to me that you're just filling up cards and then trying to go through them all after weeks or months of shooting. If that's the case, I'd advise finding a better work flow to break it down into more bite-sized chunks, as I have.

pretty much. I do a "light" culling usually when I import the images into pp software from the card. Hard core culling I have done three times this year I think. some of it I look back on and decided I don't need them anymore. Parade photos, peoples kids portraits. wedding. stuff I just don't want to hold onto anymore. delete delete delete. 20 pics of a waterfall, figure I will just keep 4. delete the other 16. 10 pics of my wifes nephew, some of the stupidest stuff. delete delete delete. Just lots of unnecessary images to hang on to. I have more trouble with my own kids images. Do I need a hundred photos of my son playing by the river by our house or all those Halloween photos? no. I have trouble making myself delete my own childrens photos though . lol.

But why spend the time and effort? What's the benefit to you?

picking up my mess? Not sure what you mean. One benefit is when I look through them or think about them all sitting there I don't have to ponder "why do I have all these photos I don't need? just wasting space?" I could be o.c.d.

 

[bribrius]

took photos at a airshow over the summer. Eighty pics, delete delete delete. now I have six. I dunno..