How do you manage RAW and HD Videos?

[sin77]

If say you take many photos in an event, do you still keep the RAW after you have converted to JPEG? If yes, do you keep almost all of them or just a small handful?

For those who do commercial shoot, do you still keep all the RAW after you have delivered your service?

As for HD videos, do you delete them after you have merged and converted to lower resolution videos?


All these huge files do you have plenty space to store them? In PC hdd, NAS, ext hdd or cloud?

 

[Octarine]

I select upon importing from the card. All RAW image files that pass this selection will be kept.
Reason is simple: based on RAW you can create an indefinite amount of different images using different processing steps. In many cases I 'rediscover' older pictures and change the way I edited them, creating something new. Also, newer versions of Lightroom (or any other editor) can give better results e.g. in noise reduction with newer algorithms and filters. So there re plenty of possibilities - but only if you keep the RAW files. Once it's JPG your choices and options are limited.
In terms of storage: instead of buying a better camera just put some money aside for an external storage unit. Synology and QNap have good equipment. Create your workflow with internal disks and external storage to prevent any data loss when drives give way. The power consumption of these NAS devices are tiny but Linux OS makes them very usable.

 

[catchlights]

Do remember you store anything that will take up your time, money and resource, the clients already paid you for what they want, and they don't pay any single cent to you for keeping the files after the job closed, unless it is stated in your T&C, or they willing to pay you some sum to back up the files for them.
So once you deliver the finish product and collect the money, the deal is done and job is closed, you can delete everything and nobody can hold you responsible. if you want to play safe, than keep it for a year or two.





thread moved.

 

[sjackal]

Thats why I am usually uninterested in the huge MP files cameras.

 

[sin77]

Large mpix photos are ok since HDDs are getting cheaper. But when venturing into videos, very headache. Dunno whether to save all the uncompiled snippets.

Btw I'm not sure if this thread should be here because I shoot mainly for hobby. Those I'm considering whether to backup are for my company and church, but the space they will use up are in gigabytes each event. Each year may take up 100GB or more.

 

[JasonB]

Those I'm considering whether to backup are for my company and church, but the space they will use up are in gigabytes each event. Each year may take up 100GB or more.

back up for them for what?

 

[sin77]

back up for them for what?

So that I can re-edit some of them. Also in case they need better quality ones. I always give them low file size.

 

[catchlights]

So that I can re-edit some of them. Also in case they need better quality ones. I always give them low file size.

What Bro Jason meant is back up for what when the jobs are closed.


whether you shoot for free, volunteering or for money.

be done with it and move on.

 

[Sion]

Do remember you store anything that will take up your time, money and resource, the clients already paid you for what they want, and they don't pay any single cent to you for keeping the files after the job closed, unless it is stated in your T&C, or they willing to pay you some sum to back up the files for them.
So once you deliver the finish product and collect the money, the deal is done and job is closed, you can delete everything and nobody can hold you responsible. if you want to play safe, than keep it for a year or two.

2 occasions the clients misplaced the files and requested for new ones to email. I complied because my religion says so to help.

Never keep raw files. Only tiffs and jpegs.

But got occasions got unappreciative TFP models later asked for photos. I just told them I'd deleted them to piss them off even I had the files in external. This my religion never says to do.

 

[catchlights]

2 occasions the clients misplaced the files and requested for new ones to email. I complied because my religion says so to help.

Never keep raw files. Only tiffs and jpegs.

But got occasions got unappreciative TFP models later asked for photos. I just told them I'd deleted them to piss them off even I had the files in external. This my religion never says to do.

You keep the files with you mean you still hold on to the liability, which already ended at the moment you received the pay cheque.

to keep or not to keep, it is up to individuals.

 

[catchlights]

Can just put a note together with the files when you delivery the finish products, tell your clients to check everything is in good order, and keep the files in a safe place, you keep the files only for "very short period" after which you will dispose them.

 

[kandinsky]

100GB/yr is fairly little. If you don't need to edit off the storage media directly, regular ext HDDs are fairly affordable, as cheap as S$60/TB?
Just remember anything you keep has other associated costs, like Catchlights mentioned — time spent transferring files, time searching for files, time on file management, etc etc.

So that I can re-edit some of them. Also in case they need better quality ones. I always give them low file size.

Might be worth examining your workflow and figure out how many times you have needed to re-edit something, and why? E.g., If you find yourselves re-editing stuff often, is it possible that there's some issues with your workflow or communication that leads to revisions after the project is over? Stuff like that. It's a different thing if you are pulling footage shot for one event/project to be used in another project. E.g., like a end of year 'summary'. In that case, keeping 100GB on an ext hdd is fairly simple.

If you're really concerned that they may need HQ files 'in case', you might as well export those clips at multiple quality settings (HD, SD, etc) while that project is still active, so that you can just retrieve it whenever you need. Instead of having to load all the project clips and export again.

 

[Alexcheng]

Ok man, id keep the RAW files in case somewhere down the line as you gain more experience, and you look back at your older photos, and you feel like, you know, they need to be changed in terms of their editing style. Or you've learned better ways to edit them to really showcase the photo's potential.

It would be always great to keep the files in case something cocks up somewhere. At least you have the backup.

For video, if it's an unpaid job, just delete them unless a particular clip is so awesome (then keep those).

If it is a paid job, you might want to keep them for future use in case the client re hires you for another project. (Depending on industry, some clips that are unused in a previous job can be recycled or put to use when taking on a similar project). Examples would be government ministries.

 

[sjackal]

Dude, event job, don't waste your time and space. Nobody gives a hoot about what happened last year, not even last month. More events are pouring in day after day, burying the previous ones. You kept the JPEG and thats enough, forget about the RAW. Unless its the queen's divorce event. And its a digital world, many event pics are web used, not printed. And when printed, seldom bigger than 4R.

 

[kandinsky]

Unless its the queen's divorce event.

:bsmilie: :thumbsup:

 

[catchlights]

Ok man, id keep the RAW files in case somewhere down the line as you gain more experience, and you look back at your older photos, and you feel like, you know, they need to be changed in terms of their editing style. Or you've learned better ways to edit them to really showcase the photo's potential.

It would be always great to keep the files in case something cocks up somewhere. At least you have the backup.

For video, if it's an unpaid job, just delete them unless a particular clip is so awesome (then keep those).

If it is a paid job, you might want to keep them for future use in case the client re hires you for another project. (Depending on industry, some clips that are unused in a previous job can be recycled or put to use when taking on a similar project). Examples would be government ministries.

TS is referring to event photos he took for his my company and church, non paying shoots.

his commercial is referring to the paid event assignments, it is still event photos, just that photographers being paid to shoot.

his is not referring to other commercial assignments like shooting products, interior, exterior, people or advertisements, which has higher value that photographers can use them as portfolio.

Who use event photos for portfolio anyway? So what is the value of old news? Do you keep old news and hope that one day you can recycle them? Does it justify the resources took up for keeping them?

FYI, even for government ministries, they will keep an archive, unlikely they will pay you money to go and dig some old photos, don't you prefer to have a new assignment instead?