#Digikam usb drive archive#
#Digikam usb drive software#

The exception to this is if I want to re-edit the RAW, or if I need absolute quality and even a 95% quality JPG isn’t good enough. My goal is that I (almost) never need to go back to the RAW project once I finish and export the images from that project.

#Digikam usb drive archive#

In general, I want my master archive to handle most of my day-to-day archive related work. Large events like weddings have many 0-star photos that are of sentimental and documentary value and that get delivered to the client, but are not of artistic value to me as a photographer. 0-star images are not garbage, just not exceptional (to me) either. What about garbage, images that are out of focus for example? They get deleted. 3, 4 and 5 star images are increasingly rare (5 being the most rare) and I know that if it is 3-star, it is something I want to see again. About 4%.ģ-star+: A portfolio level image. I mark images as 2 star when I think I’m likely to want to share them ( Instagram, Blog, etc). About 15%.Ģ-star: A great image, but not portfolio level. If I have many near duplicate images, only 1 or 2 will get flagged 1 star or greater. About 80%.ġ-star: An image that is good, and that I know I might want to see again. Most 0-stars are near duplicates or record shots of little artistic or editorial value. Here is what I use:Ġ-star: Not garbage, but not something I need to see quickly or easily. If you rate like me though, 1-star and higher is probably good enough. What you should do depends on how you expect to use images and how you rate them. I retain all images in RAW form, but only place 1-star and higher rated images in my master archive. For the last few years I’ve switch to only storing 1-star or higher images. Once upon a time, I exported and kept all images in my master archive. Should you export all images or just a subset? The main problem a master photography archive solves is that it gives you one easy place to find images from your entire photographic history. Further, by encoding as much of the crucial information into the way the images are organized, it makes it possible to switch tools or even find things without a tool. However, the best tools do not ignore that structure, but build on top of it.

#Digikam usb drive software#

Some of these goals will be more related to the software you use to work with your archive than the actual directory structure or naming conventions. Mobility: It should be easy to move the master archive around between drives as needed to manage hard drive space.Shareability: Images in the archive should be easy to use, for social sharing, for basic printing and even for customer fulfillment.Origin: Easily allow location of the RAW file regardless of how many or few RAW tools and catalogs you use.Searching:Easily find all images of a particular subject/location/theme/rating/tag/etc.Browsing:Looking through images by shoot, date, or everything.Easy Addition: It should be easy to add new shoots to the archive.Regardless of the layout you set up, a master photography archive should solve a couple of really fundamental problems: There are lots of ways you could organize your archive, but I have one that I like a lot.

It organizes all of your past photography shoots so they are at your fingertips.

Master Photography Archive – Problem SolverĪ master photography archive is a collection of “digital prints” (i.e. If you came here directly and some of the terminology or reasoning seems strange, see the previous posts. This is a part of a long running workflow series.