iggy Loc: Southern Utah

Way back when I purchased my first digital camera, I followed a recommendation to keep every image; no matter how blurry, bad, dark, or blown-out. Storage is cheap, and you never know when you might need one of those old images. Well, I've never really needed any of those images (yet). Today, I still keep everything. However, my shooting volume is beginning to outpace my storage growth, so I'm considering dumping the low quality shots, at least moving forward. Especially, considering my new d850 I'm getting tomorrow stores (up to) 100mb images. If my math is correct, and I shoot and keep 100 shots, I'll need 10gb to store it. For me, that's going to be about 75gb to 100gb per week.

I currently have everything in LR, and none of it is archived (or whatever the nomenclature is for offline storage in LR). Cataloging (sic) photos with images stored somewhere else (offline, but physically available) is something worth considering. I'm not a proponent of using the cloud for my primary method of storage, for at least 100 reasons. So, I keep everything (except backups of course) in-house.

I'm curious what you keep. I do understand this is a personal decision that depends on my particular circumstances - so please hold off on that lecture. As I make my decision moving forward, I'd like to include the perspective of others.


Thanks for your time.

rwilson1942 Loc: Houston, TX

I keep anywhere from 20% to 50% of my shots but I shoot mainly macro and can shoot 5 to 10 shots of the same subject to insure good focus.
I don' keep anything on your list of blurry, etc.

Bill_de Loc: US

I initially keep about 60% after deleting most of the duplicate or near duplicate images.

At times when I go through looking for something to print I will go through a few folders and delete the images I figure I will never use for anything.

I am never concerned with deleting too many. I can always shoot more. It's a hobby.

--

mrjcall Loc: Woodfin, NC

Learning how to cull your own images is one of the most important things you can do. Being your own critic forces you to understand why you would keep or delete images and is an excellent learning process. I often go back through my images to review them in light of new things I've learned to understand how my knowledge and priorities have changed. I currently have saved approximately 5% of the images I've taken over the years. That figure amounts to a bit over 1500 images. I have a very rigid set of values (often updated) I try to adhere to and have become very adept at hitting the delete Key!!! The good news is that I'm also becoming more adept at not taking images I know I won't keep....... 😎

Rongnongno Loc: FL

I am pack-rat. I even keep squirrel tails!!!

C6Joe Loc: NorthWestern Nevada

I don't keep everything, as I do edit what I shoot.

However.....

I have a NAS server, with 2 Western Digital Red, Pro, 10TB drives, that are mirrored (RAID 1) Not only are my mission critical data files stored, I have a shared drive for all my family's images. Right now, I have only used 2.6 GB of the space I have.

A brief description of the system. The NAS server is independent of the workstation or main server. It *IS* on the network. (Read: You must have some sort of network for this to be viable. Although, I *think* some of the NAS boxes now available, allow one to connect via USB, but that has to be sooooo slow!) In mine, there are 2, 10TB drives and as they are RAID1 mirrored, data sent to the NAS server, is written twice, identically to both drives. If I lose 1 drive, the other drive is untouched. I simply pull the bad drive, insert a new drive, and data is automatically written over to the new drive.

Redundancy at its finest!

I understand keeping everything, good or bad, but I see no reason for me. I believe the phrase, "To each their own" applies here..do what is best for you and your perceived needs.

Joe

mrjcall Loc: Woodfin, NC

Nothing wrong with keeping squirrels tails, they have some value, but not 'all' your images, eh?

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Iggy, after I shoot, say I shoot 500 shots, I'll go through them pretty quicly and usually wind up with maybe 50 that I think are somewhat decent then erase the rest. I KNOW I'll never use any others.
Now mind you these are NOT family keepsakes or an event where some of the people shots I might want even if they're not very good.
Of the 50 mentioned I might wind up working on 5 or 6 in Lightroom and will eventually erase the other 40 as well. From experience, I'll never revisit them again. So I wind up with maybe 10 from that shoot. That's my method.
SS

Leitz Loc: Solms

Well, that's one question ChrisT hadn't got to yet!!

BlueMorel Loc: Southwest Michigan

On my shoots I end up taking 5-10 of the same scene and save the ones with the best composition, lighting, etc. I might fiddle with some of the others a little in LR to see if they're worth anything, but otherwise I've been dumping about 50%. Mind you, I'm not in exotic places taking one-of-a-kind shots, either. It is not worth my time to have to go over a bunch of so-so shots again and again just to end up with the same ones I would have saved anyway.

iggy Loc: Southern Utah

Thanks everyone for your input. You've been a great help.

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

I am constantly going thru photos on my drive and removing images of lesser quality on the premise that my photographic and editing skills are getting better as I go forward. What was acceptable 3 years ago may not be worthy of keeping today.

Kfallsfotoman

As a old film user I tend to keep 90% of what I shoot. I do cull out the obvious useless files (totally black, blown out, accidental shots of my foot etc.)
But I don't et lightroom manage it - I understand all their catalogue system can do - which is more than I want or need for my non-pro work. Also most of the issues I hear with Lightroom have something to do with the catalogue (I'm in a few lightroom FB groups)

I use Nikon Transfer to transfer my files from the SD card, create a folder, and rename the files.
Once they are transferred I normally cull out shots - then separate raw files into a sub folder. (I setup to shoot raw and jpeg of same shot).

When I'm ready to edit - if necessary -I open lightroom and just import the raw's I want to edit.
This works for ME - since some of the events I shoot I only need SOOC jpegs.

At some point I move folders from my I internal working drive to external backup drives based on the type of shoot (family, events, my passion work etc.)

This would probably be too labor intensive for a commercial, wedding, or portrait photog - but it works for me.
I can easily find image I shot years ago

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Storage is cheap, but it isn't free. Having too many images can make it difficult to find what you want. I shoot raw, and I keep all the raw files I process and export as JPEG. I also keep some raw files that I do not process, just in case I want to process them later. Anything that doesn't look good gets dumped.

iggy Loc: Southern Utah

The advantage I see with managing the files/folders yourself, vs using Lightroom, is you won't go through what I went through when Apple ditched Aperture. I preferred Aperture's photo management to Lightroom, but made the move when Apple announced they were abandoning the product. Now that I've moved to LR, and observing Adobe play games with CC / Classic, it may only be a matter of time when I'm forced to seek another software solution for the management my images. I think I'll go to system files and folders next time. Thanks.