Photography Nightmare! Lost Images!
Three Ways I Keep Your Images Safe
Goblins and ghouls are scary, but there is an even scarier monster lurking in the shadows… Lost Images!
There are so many things to consider when hiring a photographer, but one thing you might not be asking your photographer is how they keep your images safe? In the digital age, we certainly don’t have to worry about our most important memories getting ruined in the dark room, but there are still plenty of ways your photographer needs to ensure your images are safe.
Here are three ways I ensure your images and memories are captured safely and archived forever so there are are no fears of lost images.
Dual SD Cards
Mirrored Hard Drives
Consistent Workflow
Dual SD Cards
At any photoshoot you book with me, I will bring my Nikon d780. This camera is equipped with dual SD card slots. In each slot I load a 128gb memory card. Each card can hold about 4,300 images. For any photoshoot you book with me, excluding weddings, this is PLENTY of room for your session. I program my camera to store a copy of every image I take on both SD cards. This means I start collecting TWO copies of your images right from the start.
Mirrored Hard Drives
Once we have concluded the shoot, I immediately download one of the SD cards to my primary hard drive and a secondary hard drive. The second SD card is stored in a safe location until I have your images saved to both of my mirrored hard drives. It doesn’t happen often, but hard drives can crash. I will never leave it up to chance that your images are lost to a failed hard drive! Not only are your original images saved to two different hard drives, but all of the images are saved to both hard drives during their editing process and again as final gallery images.
Consistent Workflow
Rebecca, that is a lot to keep track of! How do you keep all of those files from getting lost? The final step to fighting off the nightmare of lost images is a consistent workflow and archive system. How you archive images is just as important as how you capture them. Each photographer will have a different system depending of the sort of photography they shoot, how many types of photography they offer, and how their brain works.
I offer a handful of different services to my customers, so I make sure I categorize my files in a way that is easy for me to identify. Let’s look at an example! Let’s say, John and Jane Smith book a couples shoot with me for February 15th, 2023. If Jane fills out the inquiry form I will use her name for my archival process. After the shoot, their images would be downloaded to a new folder in my February Customers. The folder and images would be titled Smith,Jane_Couples_2-15-23.
I will never lose your images, because there are multiples different ways to find Jane and John’s images. I could ask them for their name, the date of their shoot, or even just the session they booked. I will be able to search the images in my archive with any sliver of information.
You Don’t Have to be Scared!
Trusting someone with the most important moments in your life is scary! My fiancé just recently booked a couples shoot and surprised me with a proposal during that shoot! I am obviously so excited to see the images and am so happy he hired someone to capture the moment. I am ecstatic that I get to relive that moment every time I see the pictures. It is scary to think they could miss the moment, or lose the SD card, or have a hard drive crash. I want to let my customers know that I have thought of every customer fear, and probably more, and have accounted for that in my process.