Photography Tips

Backup, Backup, Backup!

Hard drives, SSD’s, Flash Drives, SD Cards, and computers do fail without warning. Make sure you regularly backup your data, photos, videos, etc.

Everyone knows hard drives fail. It’s just that no one believes their hard drive will fail! And using optical media for backup isn’t a guarantee either.

  1. Data should exist in a minimum of three devices/places. The 3-2-1 backup strategy means you have a total of three copies of your files. Two of which are local, but on different physical devices/physical drives. And one additional copy off-site.
  2. One of the places should be off-site.
  3. Your off-site backup should not be live synced.
  4. Test your backup procedures and medium to make sure,
    1. You’re backing up what you expected.
    2. You can successfully restore from the backup.
  5. RAID is not a backup!

Of course, you must insure you have photos on your memory cards to backup.

  • Configure your camera to not release the shutter, if a memory card is not present.
  • Always use good quality name-brand memory cards. And only purchase memory cards from reputable and authorized vendors. There are too many counterfeit memory cards on the market. Don’t cheap out on a critical component of the the photo making process.
  • If your camera has two memory cards slots, configure the camera to write simultaneously to both slots for data redundancy.

Storage: Portable Backups

  • Reference: Storage – NAS, RAID, Long Term Storage, File Syncing, etc.

Backup Software and Services

  • BackupPC is a high-performance, enterprise-grade system for backing up Linux, Windows and macOS PCs and laptops to a server’s disk. BackupPC is highly configurable and easy to install and maintain.
  • FBackup – Free backup software with simple features.
  • Veeam Backup & Replication Community Edition – Free Backup & Recovery Software for Virtual, Physical and Cloud Workloads

Cloud storage options

Note: Files with sensitive information, should be encrypted locally, before they’re uploaded/synchronized to the cloud.

File Synchronizing

  • FreeFileSync is a folder comparison and synchronization software that creates and manages backup copies of all your important files. Instead of copying every file every time, FreeFileSync determines the differences between a source and a target folder and transfers only the minimum amount of data needed.
    • FreeFileSync Tips/Notes:
      • Use Synchronizing: Mirror mode if you’re just backing up, and not changing anything on the destination needing to sync back to the source.
      • If you’re syncing Lightroom Classic (LrC) catalogs, exclude *Previews.lrdata\ and *Sync.lrdata\. The previews and sync will automatically be recreated per your settings in LrC.

Reference

Flash Drive & SD Card Diagnostics & Verification

  • f3 – Fight Flash Fraud – Tests flash cards capacity and performance to see if they live up to claimed specifications.
  • h2testw is a program for checking the speed and memory capacity of flash drives, SD cards and HDD
  • ValiDrive – Quickly spot-check any USB mass storage drive for fraudulent deliberately missing storage.
  • CrystalDiskMark is a simple disk benchmark software.

Photography Tips

Concert/Event Photography

Street Photography

Photography Culture

Battery Charging and Storage

  • Remove batteries after use. Don’t leave batteries installed for extended periods of time.
  • Wait for the battery to cool down before charging.
  • Don’t leave batteries charging unattended, or while you’re asleep.
  • Never let a battery drain down to zero. Check the charge level, and charge it up to 50%+ before storing.
  • Store batteries in an insulator so the terminals don’t get shorted accidentally. See: LIPO bags.
  • Store batteries at or near room temperature.
  • As soon as a battery starts swelling, stop using it, and dispose of it, per environmental guidelines.

Reference

Camera Sensor Benchmarks

Back Button Focus (BBF)

Back Button Focus is a camera technique that separates focusing and shutter release to two separate buttons. It is a way to stop the camera’s autofocus system from being continuously engaged when the shutter is released.

Color Space: sRGB vs AdobeRGB vs ProPhotoRGB

RAW images are not restricted to a color space. The color space is determined when you export the image. For the Web and other electronic devices, export to sRGB. For printing, use AdobeRGB. If the target is a high gamut printer, then export to ProPhotoRGB.

Comparison of sRGB, Adobe RGB, and ProPhoto color spaces.
Comparison of sRGB, Adobe RGB, and ProPhoto color spaces

Bit-depth

Bit-depth, also known as color depth, can be seen as the number of shades between the darkest and brightest values of a pixel. When you capture an image in JPG, the depth is 8-bit. This provides 256 shades per channel per pixel. A 12-bit RAW file captures 4,096 shades per channel, while a 16-bit RAW file captures 65,536 shades (2^16).

Reference

Color Management and Monitor Calibration

Calibrating your monitor is important to make sure the colors in your photographs are accurate and look consistent across devices and when printed.

Accurate monitor calibration requires an investment in a colorimeter. A colorimeter is a device, paired with software, to calibrate your display to show the most accurate colors possible. The two most popular companies who make colorimeters for photographers are Calibrite (formally X-Rite Pantone) and Datacolor.

My recommended monitor, the ViewSonic VP2786-4K – 27″ 4K, comes with the ColorPro Wheel colorimeter and has true 10-Bit Color.

When calibrating laptops, make sure to do the following:

  • Turn off Auto Brightness Adjustment.
  • Turn off the Energy Saving options for Laptop Displays.

News, Reviews, Interviews, Articles, Photos

Services

  • StolenCameraFinder.com – Use the serial number stored in your photos to search the web for other photos taken with the same camera. You may need to enable the option in your camera to save the serial number in the EXIF data.

Buy, Sell, Rent

  • LenseRentals.com : Rent professional cameras or camera lenses for Sony, Nikon, Sony, Olympus, and Pentax
  • Adorama Rental Company : Order Pickup & Return available in Manhattan, NYC
  • Buy USED gear! … but use these tips by Tony & Chelsea Northrup
  • MPB.com : Buy, sell and trade in photo and video kit. Recirculates more than 300,000 items of used kit every year. Six-month warranty. Picture of the item: Yes.
  • KEH.com : Buy, Sell & Trade Used Camera Equipment. 180-day warranty on most equipment. Picture of the item: No
  • UsedPhotoPro : Picture of the item: Yes. 180-day warranty.
  • Moment Warehouse, where you’ll find all our like-new, Open Box camera gear. Every item is hand-tested with a 15-point inspection process to ensure everything works perfect before it ships.
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