Camera Labs

Hello.
Sorry if this is the wrong forum to post.

I'll shortly be going abroad for over 4 weeks and anticipate taking literally many thousands of photographs.
There will be bracketed shots, some multi panoramas I will later stitch together, many hundreds of single shots, I will also be taking my Infrared converted camera.

My question is how do you guys organise so many photos on camera so that when you come back they are relatively easy to find and process. (or even remember why you took those shots in the first place)

My cameras are EOS 550D and EOS 450D converted to IR.

Thanks for reading.

I recently went on a trip (only 10 days, but there were over a thousand photos involved) and I did the following:

1) In terms of digital storage, I had 2x16GB CF cards, 2x8GB CF cards, my netbook, and a 1 TB WD My Passport external (USB-powered) hard drive. The netbook has very little internal storage. It was just a way to transfer photos from the CF cards to the WD hard drive (using a separate CF card reader).

2) To the extent that I could, I tried to leave photos on the CF cards after transferring to the WD hard drive, so that I would always have 2 copies of everything. Depending on how many cards you have, you may run out of space doing this. Especially on your much longer trip, it may be simpler to either bring a laptop with more significant internal space than a netbook, or just bring a second external hard drive. (Or just don't have double copies. I'm kind of paranoid.)

3) Other than creating separate folders by city, I didn't do any sorting of my photos while I was on the trip. It may be useful for you to keep notes (hand written or typed) if you take photos of buildings/monuments/places whose names you might forget later.

4) When taking pano/HDR shots, first take a shot of your hand holding up 1 finger, then take your several shots, then a second shot of your hand holding up 2 fingers. This will make it clear later which shots you intended to stitch together so you won't have to remember.

Of course, all of this advice might be useless if you aren't bringing a laptop/netbook or external hard drive. What forms of digital storage will you have at your disposal (including memory cards, hard drives, computers, etc.)? If you aren't bringing a laptop, will you have regular access to a computer (internet cafe, library, hotel, etc.) to transfer files to an external hard drive?

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Body: Canon Rebel XS, Canon EOS 7D
Lenses: Sigma 17-70mm f2.8-4.0 OS HSM DC Macro, Canon EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 IS II, Canon EF 50mm f1.8 II, Canon EF-S 10-22mm f3.5-4.5 USM, Canon EF 85mm f1.8 II USM

Thank you for the reply and good tips theorigamist

I have so much equipment/baggage to take that a laptop is probably out for this trip.
However I will have access to internet cafes/hotels etc where I could d/load my photos to external HD.
I have just bought a 1TB Toshiba USB drive, (absolutely amazed at how small/quiet it is (Amazon £68.)
I also have my iPod Classic that is set up as a hard drive so there is another 160GB. Also about 120GB in SDHC cards.
I anticipate in the region of 5 - 6 thousand photos (mostly RAW) but who knows maybe more!

Oh and I am paranoid about losing my photos too...

Hmmm, sounds like a bit of a conundrum.

I would consider using different and clearly marked cards for different types of photography.

When setting up HDR shots use one set of cards, when doing taking shots to be stitched together use another set and then one set for general shots.

Might even be worth storing them in different places/card wallets to help keeping it separate and clearly organized.

The mantra backup backup backup is worth saying lots.

I'd consider taking enough space on cards for the amount of shots your planning and then backing these up on to a hard drive. This way you'll have 2 copies.

Keep your full memory cards with your passport and your hard drive in your hand luggage so your not separated from them. When traveling hardware can be replaced easily, photos cant.

Have a look at portable apps too. Lots of useful stuff to add to a hard drive if your using internet or other shared computers. There are some of my thoughts on a blog post HERE

_________________
Canon EOS 550D (with Magic Lantern)
18mm - 135mm Kit Lens, 50mm f1.8, Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM
430EX II Flash with Phottix Strato Wireless Tigger Set
Manfrotto 190CXPRO3 with 496 Ball Head. Gorilla Pod SLR
Canon Powershot A720IS with CHDK and intervalometer script. Pentax Optio W90

My Blog - http://www.ianganderton.wordpress.com

I would definitely recommend AGAINST this. Although it sounds like it would make for easy organization, in practice you'll miss shots while you switch memory cards. Also, the photos on your various cards will not be in the order you took them anymore. (When I was going through my photos after my trip, it was really helpful that the photos were laid out chronologically. Churches/landmarks/statues/etc. that look similar when placed next to each other are readily identifiable when they're with other photos that are more distinctive.)


+1. And it sounds like you'll be just fine here. Your 550D is the same resolution as my 7D, so I would guess your RAW files are 22-25MB each. If so, then your 120GB of SD cards will hold nearly 5000 photos. Then your iPod can be one full backup, and your external hard drive can be a second full backup, with plenty of space left over. If you run out of space on your SD cards, you can safely clear them for reuse, as you'll already have double backups. In fact, with your 120GB of SD cards, 160GB iPod, and 1 TB hard drive, you could safely store double copies of approximately 11,500 photos.

_________________
Body: Canon Rebel XS, Canon EOS 7D
Lenses: Sigma 17-70mm f2.8-4.0 OS HSM DC Macro, Canon EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 IS II, Canon EF 50mm f1.8 II, Canon EF-S 10-22mm f3.5-4.5 USM, Canon EF 85mm f1.8 II USM

Thank you for great tips and advice.

As a relative newcomer to photography one thing I am sure about and that is I am really glad I found this forum. There are some very helpful people here willing to share their expertise and knowledge.

Thanks go out to you.