KerryF

So I recently went to Bueno Aires and Antarctica and I took a total of 6700 pictures. My first step to get to a managable number of pictures before I start editing, is to get rid of all of the bad/unuseable pictures (pictures of my feet, of the sky, trying something new that didn't work out, etc.). So that got it down to 6500 pictures. Then I start flagging the ones that I really liked and those that had potential but would need a lot of editing and that got the number down to 850. I then started editing the pictures as needed and there would be some that, for my level of editing with Lightroom, just didn't workout or pictures that were very similar to other pictures, and the bottom line is that I got the number down to 650 pictures that I uploaded to Shutterfly. Then my wife got involved to start putting them into a photo book and the final number of pictures that made it was 550 pictures.

So the actual question is, what number of pictures would you keep on your hard drive: all of them (6500), just the ones that you edited (850), or just the ones you uploaded?

We all have different levels of hoarding pictures that we have taken and I am curious what level you are. Up to this point, I have kept them all, but that is getting to be a lot of pictures (for me) and maybe it's time to do some house cleaning.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

I rarely keep more than 5% of digital. So, that's 5 of every 100 or 335 of your 6700. Every initial culling pass will kick 50% or more of the original digital frames. That you kicked only 200 indicates you're not being critical enough in your initial assessment. I only keep what is edited and finished and confirmed. Even during the edit process, I always re-assess every image with the goal of getting rid of anything repetitive or inferior, even after fully edited.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I used to shoot events, mainly for non-profit organizations I belonged to. A 1-day event could yield 800 shots. A 3-day event might produce 1500. My keeper rate was generally around 10%.

But I kept them all. I have a color label system to tell me which are the ones I think are good. The rest are there for repair of problems that I find later and to provide full coverage of people who might not be in the best shots. The only ones that get deleted are the pure junk shots (but even then there could be some interesting abstracts with a little postprocessing).

I don't keep any of them on my main drive. They are all on an external drive. The internal drive is reserved for programs and essential data files.

If you want to do the housekeeping, back up everything first. Then you can go through and do triage. The backup will be there if you make a mistake and delete something you didn't plan to or hit the wrong button accidentally. I would also advise that you have sidecar files for all your shots. That way if you want to re-import an image, the edits will be there and you don't have to start over. Sidecar files are small enough that it won't impact your storage requirements significantly.

KerryF

I did not make it clear, my PRE-first pass was just getting rid of unuseable pictures, my actual first pass, I went from 6500 down to 850 (before I started editing). We are at way different levels of photography, at best, I am an intermediate level and so I'm not as critical as I should be, that's why I get my wife involved because she doesn't have the emotional attachment to the pictures that I do, she either likes it or doesn't.

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

I keep JPGs of all that didn't stink in an "archive" folder on an external drive, "keepers" on my main drive.

KerryF

I have the pictures backed up on multiple drives, both internal and external. This is just about a change in philosophy on which pictures I should keep and proceeding with the house cleaning. My initial thought is just keep the pictures that I have put in the time to edit and those that I felt weren't worthy of editing, shouldn't be worthy of keeping.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I treat vacation photos differently from the event or family photos. The event photos include images of people and they get tagged with names. At my age, there have been numerous occasions where someone has died and I need photos for a memorial. I have the outtakes backed up for that purpose. They may need (more) postprocessing when I find them, but that's just for a few photos, not ALL the outtakes.

Vacations are primarily scenery. The outtakes are less important for the future.

But if you do housecleaning, save your current catalog with your backups so you can use that catalog to look for individuals when needed. That catalog will be in the backup. The current catalog with housecleaning subtractions can be renamed (maybe with the date) so you know which catalog you want.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

That sounds like a great vacation. I can see that every shot you took documented something that caught your attention. If an image didn't have immediate recognition when you returned, there's a good chance that there will be a discussion somewhere down the line when the subject will come up as a question in conversation. It's also possible if you have an inquisitive mind that you may have a question when reviewing an image that can be answered by looking at the images just before or just after. So from my perspective, I'd suggest keeping them all, even if you do so via some sort of offline method.

Now let me ask you this question...was this a three week vacation? If so, you averaged about 325 pictures per day. If you were out and about for ten and a half hours per day, that means you snapped an image just about every two minutes all day long. For me, that's a lot of snapping.

And by the way...don't discard those experiments that didn't work. If you really want to learn that new technique, you need to study and understand what went wrong. That's the only way you can figure out how to reliably make things go right next time. I'd create a folder with images that I captured while learning. Eventually when you have everything figured out, you can decide whether to delete the whole folder.

Having said all this, I do not take this many images when I go on vacation. I am on vacation to see, experience, and maybe learn a little bit. I want to remember having been to a place or to an event. That can't be accomplished while concentrating on a camera or watching everything through a viewfinder, whether it's optical or electronic. For me, 100 shots a day represents pretty intense shooting. A year ago I attended a railroad history convention in Kansas City. We did two days of extensive touring with many stops for exploration, including a half-day train ride. I took a total of 255 carefully selected exposures and kept 250 of them. A few of those were shot through bus windows and include reflections. They are keepers, too, because they record unique experiences that are unlikely ever to be duplicated, like underneath a large crane unloading containers from railcars. Another is from the very heart of the BNSF Railway's Argentine Yard. The reflections don't matter. They are actually part of the experience. There are some "artistic" exposures also, like the decorated ceilings in Kansas City Union Passenger Terminal or a parallel track speeding by from the window of the Southwest Chief.

I'm not telling you all this claiming to be a great photographer. Some of what I kept would be of little or no interest to almost anyone else. But it's of interest to me. And I'm pretty proud of it and will look at it again down the road.

KerryF

It was 4 days in Buenos Aires, 2 days in Ushaia, and then a 3 week cruise. Most of the time that I had my camera on continuous shooting for the wild life (7 different kinds of penguins, 3 different kinds of albatrosses, several kinds of seals, and a variety of other birds, not to mention all of the scenery at the Shetland Islands, Elephant Island, South Georgia Island, Port Stanley on the Falkland Islands, and of course the Antarctica Peninsula), in particular, there were a couple of pods of dolphins that were playing and jumping around the boat and I must of taken 500-600 shots. Then there was a large pod of Fin Whales (around 75) that again I took a lot of photos hoping to catch that one or two great shots. Yes, I took way more than I usually do because it's not likely I will be back, so I took way too many because that is better than the alternative of not taking enough!

mr spock Loc: Fairfield CT

I find this discussion very interesting and as a casual “photographer “ generally agree with larryepage’s comments.
Taking 100 shots a day would certainly keep me busy while on vacation exploring the sights and sounds of my surroundings. However I have a question for the professionals in the audience. It’s much easier (and certainly cheaper) to shoot thousands of shots today with digital technology. But what was a normal day’s shooting with film?
I can remember taking 24-36 photos at a family gathering, going to Walgreens for development, waiting a week for the pictures to come back and the winding up with maybe 10-12 “good” ones.
My how times have changed

mr spock Loc: Fairfield CT

It certainly sounds like the trip of a lifetime to me. I hope you didn’t miss any real life experiences because you were too involved in taking photos

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

It might sound like a lot, but for wildlife you probably shoot a lot of bursts so each shot might be 3-4 images. That gets you down to 25-30/day, or maybe 3-4/hour.

bdk Loc: Sanibel Fl.

in school we were taught to throw out the pix of your feet , blank pix and really blurry ones. Then save EVERYTHING else. Storage space is cheap. cause some day you will want a pic of that iceberg with the yellow stain on the side. cant afford storage space. Get a facebook account and save everything there. Its free.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

Facebook is not a good storage site. They alter the photos to fit their constraints. They don't save raw files.

For backup you want to save everything, not just your photos. You want to save emails, word processing files, excel files, text files, program configuration files, anything that would cause you pain if it disappeared. There are two kinds of backup to consider: local and cloud. Local storage is cheaper and more convenient. Cloud storage is safer.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

As many as I want...
I don't count them.