This section outlines my personal workflow for shooting, storing, backing-up and transferring images. In general, I take most pictures when I’m traveling so the use of multiple computers - one for travel, one at home, is common. Here is the high level outline:
1. Have plenty of SD or CF cards so that you don’t need to erase any during a session or trip.
2. When possible, if the camera has dual memory slots, use one for primary storage, one for backup. This protects against any card failing.
3. I usually start a project with freshly formatted cards. I don’t reset the file numbering in order to maintain unique files.
4. Take as many pictures as you like. Mix and match with multiple cameras if needed.
5. Transfer images to whatever computer is available on the road (usually a Macbook Air) and import into Lightroom
6. Edit images as necessary. Backup to an external drive
7. On return home, transfer files on to the main computer and backup.
It’s more complicated than that, but that’s the overview.
Here’s the detail.
In the field.
1. Copy from camera to computer - File arrangement.
I usually arrange things in the “Pictures” folder of my computer. Occasionally, I’ll put stuff into Dropbox.
As shown above, I arrange projects into folders using the convention [year]_MMDD_[Descriptor]
I will typically have a new folder for each day but only if the subject changes (different location or topic). Otherwise, I’ll just use the start date.
Throw everything into the designated folder - I usually shoot RAW or RAW+jpeg. Often with multiple cameras
Import from the folder into Lightroom, each day.
At this point it’s a good idea to do a backup to an external drive. I usually carry a LaCie portable drive (500GB) for this purpose. If you do this you will now have at least 3 copies of your images - One (or 2) in the camera, one in the computer and one on the backup drive. When not in use, try to keep them in separate places in case of earthquakes or theft.
2. Edit and “flag” images as desired in Lightroom. I won’t go into detail here but cover my editing workflow in a later section.
3. In preparation for transfer to my main computer, I select all images in a particular folder and export as catalog - File->Export as catalog. I put the catalog into the same folder as the images like this:
I name the catalog folder (and catalog) [source folder name]_Catalog. You’ll notice that both the catalog and previews are exported. I now have all the images for that particular project, plus the catalog of all edits, contained in the source folder. I do this for each individual folder. At this point it’s a good idea to backup again.
Note: On my travel computer, I will typically have just one main Lightroom library into which I import all pictures. After I transfer the images over to my main computer I may or may not keep the images on my Air, depending on the topic and how recent they are. Eventually, I’ll remove some images to conserve space but typically keep the Lightroom catalog where I can continue to see the previews, if not the actual images.
Back Home.
At home I also have a laptop as my main computer (MBP). I sometimes take this with me on the road, either to download images or edit them. So it’s handy to store image files locally on the MBP for this purpose. The machine has limited storage, however, (750GB) so I also have it connected to a Drobo. This device has built in data protection using Drobo’s “Beyond RAID” technology so, theoretically does not need backup. There is 10TB total storage in the device. With protection, 6.31TB is available for data. The device also has a “hot data cache” - 256GB of MSATA SSD which acts as a cache between the drives and the interface (Thunderbolt). This combination gives very high performance across the Thunderbolt interface. I’m currently using about 1.2TB for my images and other stuff.
While Drobo claims data protection in case of a single disk failure, Just to be safe, I also back up the Drobo files to an external 3TB drive, also connected to my MBP via Thunderbolt. I back up to this drive, from Drobo using Chronosync. I do this periodically, usually when I want to delete files from my MBP, so that I always have dual redundancy. Finally, I also back up to a drive which I keep off-site in case of natural disaster or theft. I update this drive infrequently - should probably do it more often.
OK, having returned home, I do the following:
1. Transfer all the files and folders from my Air to the MBP. I usually put them in the Pictures folder. The MBP is automatically backed-up with Time machine so I don’t need to worry about losing the files on the MBP.
2. On the MBP, I have a number of Lightroom Catalogs. In fact I keep all my catalogs on the MBP (versus the Drobo) since I’m told that it’s best (for performance) to keep catalogs and image files on separate drives. Plus, it’s handy to have them on the MBP since I can view the contents of each library even when I’m not connected to the Drobo. I only see the previews but that’s OK:
Lightroom Catalog MBP_Pictures - this is the catalog I use to import and edit the most recent pictures. I’ll import files first into this catalog and generally not transfer them to the Drobo until I’m done editing and selecting. I do this mostly because I want the flexibility to take the MBP with me and also because the Drobo is noisy and I only turn it on when I really need it.
The other libraries are more or less self explanatory. The Master library points to all image files, back to day 1 (1967!)
3. Once transferred, I open Lightroom with the MBP_Pictures catalog. I use the File -> Import from another catalog function to import each catalog I created in the field. These files and folders should show up in lightroom. Sometimes all the files are referenced. Sometimes I need to re-reference the files. In either case, all the edits, flags, etc. are preserved.
4. Once all edits are done and I’m finished with the files, I do another File -> export as catalog to preserve all the edits when I transfer the folders to the Drobo. I then transfer the files, open the appropriate Drob catalog (currently using Lightroom Library_Drobo_2014), import from catalog and re-reference the files.
5. If I want to delete the files from my MBP, I will back-up the Drobo to the external 3TB drive, then I can delete the files, freeing up space on my MBP local storage.
This might all seem a bit complicated but it’s easy to get the hang of it. Plus, it gives me the flexibility of using either my MBP or my MB Air while travelling or when it’s not convenient to be tethered to the Drobo.