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Photo Storage

Joined
Jul 24, 2008
Messages
712
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187
Location
Montfort, Wisconsin
I'm curious how you store images of your work? I'd like to do so with the option of putting them in albums and including information such as wood type, date, finish etc.

It seems the digital world changes so fast free products are fine for awhile, then they change or go away. For example photobucket and picasa.
 
Joined
Jul 26, 2016
Messages
2,326
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1,105
Location
Nebraska
One option is to save your photos with a unique file name with a date in the name.
With a date in the name you will have a unique script in the name each time a photo is saved.
You can also give it an easily identifiable description, (walnutbowl120917)
You can also create a simple excel spreadsheet to log your photos and items with.
If you print out a sheet you can write all of your information on a line for each photo taken.
You could also have columns set up for wood type, finish type, item type, date etc.
Several times a year you can archive your hand written spreadsheet data and print a new sheet
to enter your new pieces on to.
 

odie

TOTW Team
Joined
Dec 22, 2006
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Location
Panning for Montana gold, with Betsy, the mule!
I'm using a photo album and photo editing program that was free from Microsoft. They've updated it a number of times, but I'm pretty sure Microsoft isn't going anywhere anytime soon. If you ran a search for it, you could probably find it........
 
Joined
Oct 25, 2005
Messages
935
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241
Location
Newberg, OR: 20mi SW of Portland: AAW #21058
Whatever solution you come up with, store them in a cloud account so you do not lose them.

#1: I have a couple of 1 terabyte drives that sit in a home safe to back up all of my photos and documents.

#2: Many companies offer free cloud storage up to a limit. Go with companies that have a long history in the cloud storage market. I use Dropbox and iCloud and duplicate what is uploaded to them… just in case. I have upgraded my storage limit to 2 terabytes at iCloud (for $10/month) because I want a complete backup of photos for me (and my photo-enthusiast daughter) and access to them if I’m not at home where the drives are.
 
Joined
Jul 26, 2016
Messages
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1,105
Location
Nebraska
The cloud is not a perfect solution, the company I work for archived some files on the cloud
and they were lost in the matrix. A thumb drive is an easy option, just make sure you keep
several copies in different locations. I archive some files on my computer at work as a backup.
 

odie

TOTW Team
Joined
Dec 22, 2006
Messages
7,076
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9,487
Location
Panning for Montana gold, with Betsy, the mule!
Another possible offsite storage of your photos (and everything else on your computer), is to use the Carbonite service. I have been using this service for at least a decade, and it was great to transfer all my data over to a new computer. You can also choose to download only your photos, and photo editing services.....or whatever. I'm far from being very knowledgeable about computers, but Carbonite is pretty easy to use. It stores everything that you do silently, and in the background. You only need it when you NEED it, and it's great to have when you do! :D

-----odie-----
 
Joined
Jul 28, 2005
Messages
390
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124
Location
Alexandria, VA
If you use a 'free' cloud service, check the terms and conditions.
Some that allow ( encourage ) you to upload images are granted the rights to use your images. ( Google Photos for instance )
 
Joined
Feb 6, 2010
Messages
2,960
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1,907
Location
Brandon, MS
I do not use the cloud. I do have a thumb drive I keep in the shop and a backup external , and 2 computers with complete files on each. Also I use at this time folders by type of turning: bowls, hollow forms, gifts, sold, other turnings. These files may need a little updating such grouping by 5 year increments.
 
Joined
Nov 4, 2009
Messages
126
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2
Location
Southern Wisconsin
Hi Dave - I hope the world is treating you well. I use a photo management tool on my computer called ACDsee that allows me to store photo's in albums, including information such as wood type, date, finish etc. I have an automatically scheduled backup that runs every week that stores the data on a 2Tb external drive for my backup needs.
 
Joined
Dec 7, 2012
Messages
272
Likes
115
Location
Albuquerque, NM
You can also embed (some) of the information you want within the digital photo itself. Look for something called an "EXIF editor". All digital photo formats (JPEG etc.) also carry metadata, that is, data that is not visible in the picture itself. These are things such as type of camera used, exposure setting of the camera, GPS info for the camera (if available), etc. There are EXIF fields where you can put free text, for example, the copyright field. These are all stored invisibly with the photo.

If you're willing to expend some $ (and obviously, some learning curve time), photo processing software (such as Adobe Lightroom) includes features to help catalog your photos using keyword tags. You could then tag a photo with, say, "open-form walnut wipe-on-poly" etc., then, at a much later date, you could search your catalog for all "open-form" or all "open-form walnut" etc.

In my opinion, this only becomes useful if you're going to be cataloging hundreds of photos. My woodturning rate is currently on the order of 1 project per month, so I personally see no value in expending the effort in shooting and cataloging my woodturning work.

Backups: Cloud storage is fine, but like Owen, I'm a firm believer in belts, suspenders, and duplicate underwear. Buy an external USB hard drive from your favorite huge-box-store (Costco, Sam's Club, etc.)--I think 4 TB for $100 in 2017? That'll store probably (a lot) more than 500,000 photos stored at the highest resolution of your camera. Then, put into your calendar app a monthly reminder to backup all new photos to your external drive. Every 3 to 5 years (also put a reminder in your calendar app), plan on buying a new external USB drive and transferring stuff from the older drive to the new drive.
 
Joined
Apr 25, 2017
Messages
12
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0
Location
Southern California
I use Adobe Lightroom to edit my photos, and then use Google Photos to store the JPGS. This way the photos are on all my computers and smart devices, plus they are backed up in the cloud and external hard drive
 
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