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  • Welcome to the new site. Here's a thread about the update where you can post your feedback, ask questions or spot those nasty bugs!

What to do?

Dave Butcher

New member
Hey everybody I have a simple question for everybody. What do you do with the images that don't make the cut? Do you store them for a while or do you just delete them?
 

Robert Watcher

Well-known member
Hey everybody I have a simple question for everybody. What do you do with the images that don't make the cut? Do you store them for a while or do you just delete them?

My personal choice is that I don't delete anything. It takes too much time to delete them and I am using large storage drives.

If using Lightroom, when viewing all of the images just taken, it is very easy to mark them with some sort of Flag to show they are rejects - that way they don't have to show in the list. At this time I also mark the ones that I think are strong so that I can filter those results when ready to process.
 

Dave Butcher

New member
My personal choice is that I don't delete anything. It takes too much time to delete them and I am using large storage drives.

If using Lightroom, when viewing all of the images just taken, it is very easy to mark them with some sort of Flag to show they are rejects - that way they don't have to show in the list. At this time I also mark the ones that I think are strong so that I can filter those results when ready to process.

Hey Robert thank you. what I have been doing is taking the rejects and putting them in a folder marked storage.
 

Doug Kerr

Well-known member
Hi, Dave,

My system is:

• Store everything from the camera in a separate directory tree for each camera. In each directory of the tree there can be up to 1000 image files (the division being based on consecutive file numbers). I upload the files with a utility (Downloader Pro) that automatically makes a modification of the filename (so that the file numbers will indicate the camera from which the file came and be numerically unique up to 99,999 file numbers).

For example, this file from the camera:

IMG_7653.jpg
(which is the third time that number was assigned by the camera, perhaps in different directories on the memory card)

will become, in the file system:

F27653.jpg​

where "F" indicates the camera and the 2 is applied based on one of various systems of analyzing the directory on the memory card, all done by Downloader Pro (because this is in fact the 25653rd file from this camera, with a few slight wrinkles)

An exception is that if, for example, I shoot 250 test shots of my office wall to find out how the camera shutter release is working (when I don't even need to look at the images), I will not copy them to that directory system, or will delete them right away.

• After a shoot, I review the "incoming" images and decide which ones (at this time) I intend to use to print, post to the forum, have Carla use in her blog, send to the newspaper, or whatever. These "processed" files (in rare cases, the "processing" consists of nothing) are held in directories by the event or project. The processed files are distinguished from the "incoming" files in that they at least have a "-01" after the original filename. In some cases, I will also put a "project or event" prefix in front of the original filename, so I might end up with:

Joe_Sue_wedding_F27653-01.jpg​

but I am doing that less now.

But in every case the original file number (original in the sense of as saved in the "incoming" directory system) is embedded in the "processed" filename so I can figger out where that shot came from.


For example, if some day I look at Joe_Sue_wedding_F27653-01.jpg and wonder, "did I take a shot that frames a little to the right so the flower girls will be in it (but didn't choose it for processing it at the time)", I can go into my "incoming" directory system, quickly go to F27653-01.jpg, and then scan forward and back to see if in fact I did take such a shot.

What this does not let me do is find the original shot for something when I didn't process any of them (or can't remember in what context I processed them. "Do I have anyplace a shot of Sharon's friend Sandy?"

In any case, except in the special "multiple test shot" case I mentioned, I never delete any of the files in the "incoming" directory system.

I do not in any way mean to recommend or suggest this system or any part of it for your use.

Best regards,

Doug
 

Jerome Marot

Well-known member
I save everything coming out of my cameras first. Hard disks are cheap. I use directories name composed in the following manner:
YYMMDD_subject_camera

Then, the pictures are imported in Aperture, so that I can process them. In Aperture, I only keep the ones I like. I know I always can find the original files.
 

Antonio Correia

Well-known member
How I do.
1. Import the files to the folder 2015 of the external hard drive using LR which renames the files like 2015-12-09-162806.* where * stands for raw extensions whichever camera.
In 2016 the same procedure will be applied, obviously.
2. I select the images which are out of focus or terrible. Press delete. What do I want an out of focus image, a blown out sky, for ?
3. Keyword the photos according to specific criteria. Family within which Antonio Correia is allow me to find my name in images when I was 2 years old.
4. Create a Collection inside a Collection Set and make it as target.
5. Review photographs sending them to the mentioned collection.
6. Work on them etc etc etc.

It is not exactly what you asked, Dave but...

i-3mR592c.png
 
I've found, in my limited experience, that few photos of worth are found in the dross after they've aged a while in digital storage. In a similar vein, few of my photos deemed worthwhile at the time retain their shine with the passage of time. So now, more and more crap immediately gets tossed at first review these days.

Just starting out, every photo I took was a "treasure". These days, not so much. Nevertheless, it's still a joy to look at the world through the viewfinder. As a recent article in Luminous Landscape pointed out, the appeal of photography is in the process and not necessarily the result.
 

Michael Nagel

Well-known member
Technically bad and otherwise not appealing pictures are deleted.

Otherwise - HDDs are cheap, I keep the rest. Looking back I find sometimes pictures that I judged differently compared to the moment I took them. Even if it is only one or two per year - it is worth it.

Downloading and sorting is done using Rapid Photo Downloader (Linux), my current structure is {year}/{mmdd}/{camera}/{image name}-{ISO}-{f-stop}.
Rapid Photo Downloader renames pictures according to data that can be taken from the EXIF, so many configurations are possible.

Best regards,
Michael
 
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