I can’t tell you how many times someone has said to me ‘I’ve lost all my photos, can you get them back for me’. In most cases the answer is ‘no’ as there has been poor file management and no back-up systems in place. I get really frustrated when I come across clients, friends and family who brag about having all there ‘memories’ backed-up on the computer when technically they dont have a back up at all. Systems are so vulnerable to viruses, defects, crashes and the most common ‘My hard drive fell off the desk and now it makes grinding noises’……. EEEKKK

My advice to most people is to always have a back up of your back up, if that makes sense. Below is a brief summary of my ‘Digital Asset Management System’. Firstly I use the KISS principle, keep it simple stupid! On my main Mac Pro I have a relatively small SDD that runs the operating system and programs. Along side this is another SDD for scratch disk & cache space for the operating system and programs. Using SSD (Solid state drive) is basically a giant flash memory card, fast and hard to break as there are no moving parts inside the drive. Next to these drives sits a 2TB Hybrid drive that contains all my business documents, image files and other important things. It’s especially handy to have images inside the computer, compared to an external drive as it works fast to preview & edit the file. I keep all my music and videos on a separate ‘external’ hard drive that has a standard connected as speed isn’t an issue here.

Keeping in mind that I am in the photography industry most of the above doesn’t apply to 90% of the population but the next steps do, BACK UP!!!!! So with my computer and external hardrives I back them all up on a ‘NAS’ RAID server via ‘Timemachine’ that is built into the MAC OS. I still can’t get over how amazing and easy to use that software is, I swear by it!

OK well all my stuff is backed-up now, but what if my office burns down or gets ruined by Melbourne’s unpredictable weather???? Simple, have another back up of your back up. This means I have another external ‘NAS’ RAID Server that comes home once a month that duplicates the back up that is plugged into the main computer 24/7. It’s important to keep this ‘secondary’ back up in a separate location just in case. It’s heartbreaking seeing people who have lost entire family histories and photos because they didn’t have a proper back-up system in place.

Worst case scenario now is that you computer is damage, stolen but at least you still have your entire system and data backed-up. Timemachine can restore a new computer to the same state as your old one…brilliant.

Any questions or if you need clarification on anything in the post please contact me: info@johnwilson.com.au

Back Up Flow Chart

ROKEBY Studios

Over the last 5 weeks I’ve had the absolute pleasure of sponsoring exhibition printing for Chissy Cauchi. In early 2011 Chrissy spend two months travelling through India where she worked with Aid Organisation Projects Abroad, as a volunteer at the love & care Orphanage in Madurai, South India.

Combining her passion for children and photography, Chrissy documented her experience in pictures, in what has become the Madurai Kids Photographic Exhibition. It’s been held at Rokeby Studios in Collingwood tonight, Thursday 18th August 2011. Come along and enjoy the photographic prints, short films, auction of exclusive framed prints, drinks, nibbles and live DJ set.

Click to enlarge invitation

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been working closely with Chrissy and Marija Ivkovic from Rokeby Studios editing and printing the prints for the exhibition. They have been beautifully printed on Photographique Rag.

Tickets for the exhibition can be purchased here all money raised is going directly back to the orphanage.

JWP is sponsoring a $1000 door prize to this event.

These images are a before and after example of an image going through the process of being professionally retouching and print finishing. It’s a personal image that I spent 12 months working on….literally!! I have test prints all over my office wall with my workings on it.

I encourage photographers and clients to draw on their test prints, stick them on the wall and constantly reflect how they could improve it before printing it for exhibition. There is a huge debate around retouching whether it’s right or wrong, some photographers use it very minimally others create there entire masterpieces using retouching techniques. I guess Adobe has keep the world interesting!

In reality there has only been three components I have changed in this image. Spotting (Cleaning up sensor dust and any annoying marks) colour balance and contrast. I can’t stress enough how important contrast is, especially mid range (80-200 Levels). I’ve worked down to pixel level on the image and it now sits framed as a 24×35″ print in houses and offices around Australia. ‘Bruny Island Tasmania’

John

Before Retouching (Original Raw)

After Retouching

Many people put this question forward to me everyday, ‘Why would I pay more for this print when I can get the same thing for less than $1 at the local camera shop’. Here’s why.

Fine art printing consists of implementing technical skills to prepare a print for exhibition or folio presentation in a professional colour managed environment. I could write pages on this but here are the basics.

Before I run any of my personal or client work of on my Epson 44 inch printer I subject the digital file though a ‘print finishing’ process which includes applying print outputs (Returning any clipped shadows or highlights within the printers tonal range capabilities, generally 8-250 levels), colour balance, contrast (especially mid range contrast) sharpness and most importantly soft proofing. This allows you to simulate on your monitor how your image will print, creating these ‘Soft proofing profiles’ is a painful process but detrimental to the success of the print. Each different type of paper has it’s own profile. In the long run ‘Soft Proofing’ reduces costs of reprinting.

There are many variables though depending on how photographers set up there files, especially when it comes to monitor calibrations. Every file is different, many of my clients submit work that is either too dark (unexposed) or flat (lacks contrast). In a perfect world it would be ideal to calibrate your monitor and printer to ‘what you see is what you get’. Well, through calibration and testing I have achieved this in my ‘Colour Managed Workflow’. Another aspect to consider is how different (Professional & archival) papers represent different tone and colour. For example a B&W landscape may look textured, sharp, moody and ‘pop’ on a rag style paper but look completely awful on a lustre style paper.The best thing you can do when printing for an exhibition or your folio is to work closely with a professional in ‘Fine Art Printing’. Look at samples, compare and ask questions!

If anyone would like to know more information about print finishing/retouching or clarification please contact me through www.johnwilson.com.au