19 more days until Christmas!! Anyone counting?? My daughter is, she is the one who informed me of how many days are left. She is so excited to for Christmas (as am I), but I am also extremely excited to share with you some news over here at Jesse Konkle Photography!!!
I've been wanting to expand what I do with this business for awhile, and I've been very interested in doing a project revolving around the everyday photographer. So I am EXTREMELY excited to share with you my new photography series: Easy As Pie!
I will be incorporating photography tips and my personal projects so stay tuned!! (I think it will be a fun read for everyone!)
Okay so first up in the Easy as Pie Series: "ORGANIZATION!!!
Yeesh, boring right??! the first series segment is Organization?! Really?? Yes, yes, organizing photos is completely boring..but guess what...For all you momtographers, hobbyists and the like...I have some news for you....Ready?? Pictures eat up A TON of space...like A Metric ton!!!
Yesterday, my computer gave my a warning that my hard drive is almost out of space...
....
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*cough*.
....
I have a 2TB hard drive, and I purchased my computer last February. How in the heck did that happen?!
I will tell you why...(and this is really embarrasing for me to share...so I need to pull up my big girl pants for a moment..). I have 70,000 pictures on my computer. Yeah...you heard me correctly...70,000.
Now, being a professional, this is not all too shocking. But the reality is unless I want to keep upgrading computers or get my own server, I need to manage this somehow. So that is what I would like to talk about...How to manage your photography files.
Step One: Sort your Files.
It really does not matter which program you use for organizing your photos. Most programs will have handy little tools to aid in organizing. I typically organize my files 3-4 times. The first time I am just going on gut instinct and culling photos. Which ones speak to me right away as "Keep" or "Toss."
From there I began to sort them in the order I want to tell the story. During this time I will likely cull a few more. Then I begin editing, where I will cull in a more serious fashion. And finally I cull one more time before presenting my album. My goal is to only keep the best of the best. Does a client really want three images in the same pose?? Only if it can tell a profound story.
Here is an example of what I mean:
These are 3 seperate files on my computer. The first is the "SOOC" image (original). The second was my first instinct on how to edit this image..Initially I thought it should be a black and white with its dramatic lighting and shadows. From there I wanted to embrace a bit of color and see how that impacted the image.
Now I have three...see what I mean? I don't do this with every image, but it does occur. So How do I eliminate the file overload this causes?? For many parents and photographers (especially budding photographers) it is EXTREMELY difficult to part with images. In my heart, I want to keep both the black & white and the color shot.
Which brings me to my next step in Photo Organization:
Step Two: Delete your photos or die!!!
Okay..really, you are not actually going to die...but your computer might!!! (I mean..come on 70,000!!! It could happen to some other unfortunate soul)
Yes, we love our little ones...and seriously look at how amazing my little guy is in this image?? Picking his nose, sick with a cold and a tiny little tear...so compelling...but I do not need three copies! I really don't. So this is where the deleting element comes in. Pick only your absolute favorites, and delete the rest.
Thats it...Delete them. Don't save 20 versions of the same pose. Don't save images that do not tell a story. Do not save them even if you think maybe you might like them someday. Delete them. Be gone with the bad images and celebrate the good. I am not suggesting that they be technically perfect...but they absolutely must speak to your soul. If they don't chuck em.
Step Three: Get them off your computer!
Where do they go? External Hard drives are a photography enthusiasts best friend. Seriously. How you organize your externals is up to you...but my advice is once you are done culling, and falling in love with only the best images...figure out a way to organize them on an external and get them off your computer.
Can they come back? Of course..and here is the next step:
Step four: Only keep the photos you are currently using on your computer
Are you making a photo book? like...right now?? not 6 months from now right? Only keep the images you are currently using on your computer. once you are done, move them to the External.
Step Five: Back those puppies up!!!
Honestly...this is the sad part..if you love your photographs..I mean..REALLY love your photographs...you will back them up TWICE....I mean it...One external will not be enough. You should be working with One and have an additional one that is your back-up..and the back up external should be someplace fireproof.
Okay...so now you are all ready to save a computer and delete a file right? :)
Curious to see which of the three files I will save....???
....it's this one...something about this image speaks to me the most...but I am curious to know which one you would keep!!
Thanks for stopping by! Check out our Facebook page for upcoming Easy As Pie events!
~Jesse
