How can I take control of my photos for editting and uploading?
January 2, 2016 3:33 PM Subscribe
Up until a few days ago, I took lots of pictures on my iPhone 5, deleting the bad ones as I went along, editing several with apps, posting some to Instagram or Facebook, and then uploading them to Smugmug for categorizing, sharing and archiving. I have now added a Sony RX100III to the mix and after only a couple days am over my head in multiple copies of photos, running out of space on my phone, accidentally deleting photos I wanted to keep, not sure which photos I've edited and which I haven't.
I have both PlayMemories and Eyefi Mobile apps on my phone that allow me to either selectively move photos from the camera to the phone, or have them automatically copy to the phone as soon as they're taken. I moved some of my favorites over to the phone for editing so now I have duplicates, some edited, some not, and multiple copies everywhere. I prefer to edit on my phone in my spare time and while mobile - I'm not interested in editing on my computer.
What strategies can I use to manage photos between the two devices, having access to them when needed for editing, sharing, and archiving?
I have both PlayMemories and Eyefi Mobile apps on my phone that allow me to either selectively move photos from the camera to the phone, or have them automatically copy to the phone as soon as they're taken. I moved some of my favorites over to the phone for editing so now I have duplicates, some edited, some not, and multiple copies everywhere. I prefer to edit on my phone in my spare time and while mobile - I'm not interested in editing on my computer.
What strategies can I use to manage photos between the two devices, having access to them when needed for editing, sharing, and archiving?
Best answer: ...so now I have duplicates, some edited, some not, and multiple copies everywhere...
This seems to be a pretty common problem from well before ubiquitous networks and I don't think there is any solution that doesn't require good logical systems that you use diligently. I have never found a single software solution that solves these kinds of problems. I have always had to devise something, based on my own requirements and the issues I come up against, and have found it changes over time.
One thing I suggest you do is find out exactly how you are ending up with unintended duplicates and think through how you can stop that. Unwanted dupes are nightmarish and the more you get, the less likely you are to solve the problem because it gets overwhelming very fast. You also need a way to identify the edits you want to keep obviously, but I don't know how photo file management works in those apps. The 'traditional' way would be to edit the filename and/or metadata to indicate the status of the image or perhaps to 'rate' it somehow, like the 0-5 star system Lightroom uses.
You may find that it takes a bit of effort to arrive at a something that suits you but I believe it is well worthwhile. I have tens of thousands of pictures going back decades and I keep track of them relatively easily as long as I am careful to keyword and rate them as I go. You will probably find you'll have to nuke your collection from low orbit (just slam it all onto your computer, to come back to later) and start again a few times. It feels bad when you're doing it, but much better after you do and then allow yourself the freedom of the new system that works better.
My system would not suit you - all computer based, local storage, based around Lightroom, with only small selections exported to the web - but some system will and you will probably need to, at some level, design it yourself so it fits the way you operate, and work it systematically so it doesn't get out of control.
posted by mewsic at 12:36 AM on January 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
This seems to be a pretty common problem from well before ubiquitous networks and I don't think there is any solution that doesn't require good logical systems that you use diligently. I have never found a single software solution that solves these kinds of problems. I have always had to devise something, based on my own requirements and the issues I come up against, and have found it changes over time.
One thing I suggest you do is find out exactly how you are ending up with unintended duplicates and think through how you can stop that. Unwanted dupes are nightmarish and the more you get, the less likely you are to solve the problem because it gets overwhelming very fast. You also need a way to identify the edits you want to keep obviously, but I don't know how photo file management works in those apps. The 'traditional' way would be to edit the filename and/or metadata to indicate the status of the image or perhaps to 'rate' it somehow, like the 0-5 star system Lightroom uses.
You may find that it takes a bit of effort to arrive at a something that suits you but I believe it is well worthwhile. I have tens of thousands of pictures going back decades and I keep track of them relatively easily as long as I am careful to keyword and rate them as I go. You will probably find you'll have to nuke your collection from low orbit (just slam it all onto your computer, to come back to later) and start again a few times. It feels bad when you're doing it, but much better after you do and then allow yourself the freedom of the new system that works better.
My system would not suit you - all computer based, local storage, based around Lightroom, with only small selections exported to the web - but some system will and you will probably need to, at some level, design it yourself so it fits the way you operate, and work it systematically so it doesn't get out of control.
posted by mewsic at 12:36 AM on January 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
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Here is one discussion of an Iphone/Eyefi workflow. I don't know that it will solve your problem, but it might provide enough key terms that you can Google up something useful.
http://camvergence.com/workflows/icloud-photo-library-workflow/
This author uses Google+ to back up everything, immediately, then sends the finished/edited pictures to Flickr.
http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/23/5210112/the-verge-at-work-making-perfect-pictures-on-your-iphone
posted by craniac at 7:52 PM on January 2, 2016 [1 favorite]