India Earl.

The Guide to Backups

I NDIA E AR L COP Y R IGHT 2018 P O S T P RO CES S WO RK F L O W

Intro.
Backup & Delivery Guide
It’s so ridiculously important to not skimp
on taking the utmost care of your client’s
images, especially if you shoot weddings
or events that cannot be recreated.
Having a reliable backup system isn’t
cheap, but trying to recover lost photos
ranges from $800-$10,000 typically, not to
even mention the backlash it can have on
your business if you can’t recover them.
Reliability is always worth the investment.
Remember, no system is perfect. This
is just the most reliable and effective
method that works best for me and my
work style. You can implement this entire
backup process, or just bits and pieces.
Either way, you’ll leave with a more
effective backup workflow that will give
you peace of mind.
I’ve broken this guide up into two parts,
the first being “the stuff”. Basically, the
resources and products I use for my
backup workflow explained in depth. The
second part being “the workflow” where
I explain how I go about this process step
by step and how to implement it into
your workflow so you’ll have a total of 6
backups of your images.
I N D I A EARL CO P Y RI G H T 2 0 1 8
THE STUFF
Shoot Dual
Camera Shots //
2 Backups
1 CF CARD IS MY MAIN CARD
I prefer to shoot on a 32/64GB card.
ˇ
This preference differs for everyone,
depending on what you’re shooting.
Some wedding photographers choose
to shoot only on 16GB cards so that in
case one card corrupts, becomes
damaged, or gets lost, then they didn’t
lose the entire set of images.
Others choose to shoot on 128GB cards
so that the entire wedding is on that
card and guard it with their life so they
don’t risk error. For me, I’m in the mid-
dle, typically shooting on the 64GB so I
don’t have to swap my cards as often.
Find the CF cards I
ˇ
prefer to use here
on Amazon.
* Not all cameras are capable of shooting dual card
slots, but if yours is and you aren’t familiar with how to
set that up, you can easily find how to set your camera
to shoot dual card slots by googling “shooting dual
card slots (insert camera model)”. Here are my settings
for shooting this method on a Canon 5D Mark IV which
is consistent across most Canon models. There are
tons of different options as far as how you record the
duplicate files, but this is what I’ve found to work best
with my backup workflow. Main card records RAW,
secondary card records JPEG.
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STORE YOUR CARDS IN A SAFE
2 SD CARD IS MY BACKUP 4 SHOCKPROOF, WATERPROOF, AND
DUST PROOF CONTAINER.
I prefer to shoot on a 128GB SD card Thinktank has a great
ˇ ˇ
ˇ
cheap option, it’s not a
Only buy legitimate memory cards from
hard case, but it’s cool
an authorized dealer with a legit
because you can clip it
warranty. I recommend purchasing
to whatever so you don’t
through BHPhotoVideo.com and Adora-
lose track of it. You can
ma.com, or if you’re like me and Amazon
get it here.
Prime is the best thing that ever
happened to you, order If you wanna get hip-
ˇ
through Amazon.com. ster-bougie AF, these
Just make sure you’re not wallets are freaking
buying from a third-party gorgeous and have so
dealer. much storage. You can
Find SD cards here on get it here.
ˇ
Amazon.
These are what I use.
ˇ
3
They’re not cute but
SIGNS OF A CARD CORR U P TIN G they’re functional, cheap,
and if you drop it/step on
it/squeeze it or whatever,
Get new cards every 1-2 years to ensure
ˇ you’re not risking corruption. Here are
you won’t poop your pants hoping the
cards are okay. I prefer to get two of
some signs that your card might be
these, one for my CF cards and one for
corrupting :
my SD cards. I keep the CF cards on
• Photos are missing
myself at all times, while my SD cards
• Damaged files such as black or neon-colored
stay with my gear. It’s not wise to put all
shapes covering part of the images
your eggs in one basket, so keeping the
• Your card is detected by your computer, but you
backups in a separate location is wise.
can’t view the images with error messages
You can get it here.
like “can not read device”
I don’t delete images off of my cards
ˇ
• When you get a new card, format it and date
the card so you know when to replace it before until the images have been delivered to
chance of corruption increases. I replace mine ensure I have those two backups.
every year since I shoot really often.
THE STUFF
External & Cloud
Backup //
3 backups
1 EXTERNAL HARD DRIVES // 2 BACKUPS
ˇ After tons of research and feedback,
these are the best hard drives I’ve
found as far as reliability and speed
goes. They’re more expensive because
there are no moving parts within the
drive, drastically lowering the chances
of corruption. I have two 1TB drives for
each year (which varies depending on
how quickly the drive fills up), one acting
as a primary drive I work off of, the other
working as a secondary to be a backup
of that drive that constantly mirrors the
other. You can find it here.
I replace these
ˇ
every year, or
once they fill
up, and archive
them by year.
Everything that
lands on these drives is backed up in
two more locations, a Synology backup
system and an online cloud backup.
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2 CRASHPLAN ONLINE CLOUD BACKUP
An automated, continuous online cloud
ˇ
backup system for a monthly fee (about
$10 per device per month, depend-
ing on the plan you choose). There
are quite a few options out there for
cloud backup systems but after a lot of
research and trying a few different pro-
grams, I found that Crashplan was the
best option for me. It’s low maintenance
because it automatically continuously
backs up anything that lands on what-
ever drives you set it to backup, and the
backups don’t expire. There is unlimited
storage, so you don’t ever have to
worry about it filling up. Even if you
delete a file off of your drives, it has
a “deleted file protection” feature
to make sure it always keeps that file
backed up in case you ever need it
again. It also gives the option of going
back in time to a precise version of a
file or folder, which can be helpful if
you ever have to backtrack to a certain
editing stage.
I highly recommend having at least one
ˇ
of your backup sources be a cloud back-
up, because if something tragic happens
like your house burns down, at least your
work will be on a non-physical drive, and
you can restore your computer back to
the way it was. I have crash plan running
on all 3 of mine and Jay’s computers
and all of our hard drives, so anytime
something lands on one of those while
we are connected to Wifi, I know it will
be backed up. Crash-
plan will also email
you backup reports
so you can make sure
everything you need
is backed up.
THE STUFF
A Synology
Diskstation //
1 Backup
1 SYNOLOGY DISKSTATION
Don’t be surprised if you haven’t heard
ˇ
of a Synology system yet! I remember
the first time it was explained to me, it
all flew over the top of my head (and
it still does for the most part now), but
the good news is you just need a very
basic understanding of how it works
to be able to use and rely on it. This is
my strongest backup source and can’t
believe I haven’t always had it. Luckily I
have a photog friend, Chadwick (www.
faces-photo.com), who knows them in-
side and out and taught me everything
I know about them as well as set mine
up so I didn’t have to try and pull out
my hair trying to figure it out. He’s crazy
smart so I had him write up this section
since he’s the pro!
To start off, RAID is not a backup. There
ˇ
are lots of techie photographers that
will scream until the end of the day that
RAID is not a backup - and I agree with
them. This system as a whole is a
redundancy backup system, all of
it together is a system that protect
you against yourself and unfortunate
disasters.
Let’s start at the beginning. RAID =
ˇ
“Redundant Array of Independent
Disks” in boring basic terms that means
a whole bunch of hard drives working
together acting like one. There are lots
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of options on RAIDs to choose from so
here is a basic overview so you can figure
out which one works best for you:
RAID 0 – Two hard drives required, and the infor-
mation is striped across the two disks. This is useful
when you have two smaller drives and can combine
them to act as one drive. If one drive fails, all data
is lost.
RAID 1 – One disk is copied twice on two different
hard drives. For example, you have two 1TB hard
drives. You create a RAID 1 and it acts as only 1TB
but mirrored on both hard drives. It is awesome be-
cause if one drive fails you just replace the bad hard
drive, and still have all the data intact. Downside, you
have to buy so many hard drives to accommodate the
amount of space you may require.
RAID 5 – By far the most popular version of raid used
in business solutions. This is basically combining hard
drives and striping data across several hard drives
while creating a fault tolerance that allows data to be
saved if one of the hard drives go bad. For example,
if you have five 1TB hard drives... you RAID 5 of them
all together which gives you a usable 4TB of space
with a one drive fault tolerance. Basically, if one of
your 1TB hard drives goes bad, you replace it and
the data stays intact. The downside (which is rare but
does happen) is if two hard drives fail, all is lost.
RAID 6 – It’s exactly the same as a RAID 5 except you
have the fault tolerance of two hard drives going bad
instead of one.
RAID 10 – This is a combination of RAID 1 and 0
hence the name is sometimes referred to as RAID
1+0. Essentially you are striping two hard drives
and then mirroring those RAID 0 combinations. This
requires a minimum of 4 hard drives. This is by far the
most expensive option and the best performance.
Determining which is best for you
ˇ
depends entirely up to you and your
needs. Each person’s situation and needs
are very different.
Here is the option that I have, and works
ˇ
for most people. This will focus mostly
on the RAID 5 and 6 options. The only
problem is setting up a RAID in most
situations takes a bit of “techie back-
ground” and nerd willpower.
Luckily for us in the rest of the world that
ˇ
don’t understand the inner workings of
a computer there are options. Synology
DiskStation is what I use, and is the best
option I’ve found as a photographer!
Synology DiskStation is a box that holds
the hard drives but also has an operating
system and computer built in to do all of
the heavy lifting for you. Depending on
the system you buy it is about the size
of a few school books stacked on each
other ( so it’s not very big and can easily
be hidden conspicuously in a closet or
under a desk). There are several other
options that also do something similar,
however I’ve found Synology to be the
easiest to use. There are hundreds of
people on YouTube doing videos
showing how to perform certain
functions with the Synology, which is
helpful for when you’re learning about
it’s unique functions. Also it is the one
CONTINUED...
A Synology
Diskstation //
1 Backup
box I’ve found that has a lot of extra
bells and whistles that push it over the
top (controlling and creating surveillance
options, automatic backup, and an
alternative to Dropbox or online file
share system).
Going back to the initial statement of
ˇ
RAID is not a backup, it’s true. A RAID
is an option to help prevent you against
hard drive failure. The Synology system
creates a RAID 5 or 6 putting together
many hard drives to make one big hard
drive that if one of them fails the rest of
them take over and save the data. The
Synology box will beep and make a lot
of annoying noise telling you about the
failure so you can pull the failed hard
drive out to replace it, then click a button
to tell the system to repair the problem
and BAM! Problem solved. The problem
with RAIDs and why people talk about
RAIDs not being the answer is if you
accidentally delete a file, then the file is
gone. The RAID protects against hard
drive failure but not against accidental
deletion. So here is where the system will
shine and work with a backup to create
the whole system. Inside the operating
system of the Synology there is an app
called “Cloud Sync” where you can
sync the online backup system of your
choice (Backblaze B2 for my synology,
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Crashplan for my computers) and set it
to do a “one-way sync”. This basically
means that anything you upload onto
your Synology will also be uploaded
to the online cloud storage system. So
if you delete something, it will stay up
there until you decide to delete it off
of the cloud also. Also, for those of you
who might be a little more paranoid,
there are several apps in the system that
will allow you to automatically backup to
a local hard drive OR another Synology
system in another location. The options
are limitless for backups you can connect
to the server that will automatically sync
So, to recap - RAID alone is not a back-
ˇ
up. However, a redundant system that
protects you against hard drive failure
and an automatic upload to a cloud
backup system in case of accidental
deletion IS a system that will protect you
against yourself and unintentional
disasters and IS a backup system! There
isn’t a perfect solution, but there are
several options that come close.
DEFINITIONS
Striping: Basically writing lots of in-
formation across multiple disk drives.
The use of striping combines two or
more hard drives to look and act as
one hard drive and the information is
written across all of them as one file.
Mirroring: Writing the same
information on two separate disks.
Two identical copies of a file on two
disks. Essentially you write a file on
one hard drive and it is automatically
copied and mirrored to a second
hard drive.
For info + help on setting up a backup
ˇ
system that is catered to your needs you
can check out http://bit.ly/backupwork-
flow. Chadwick offers two options for
setting up your server:
Option 1 : Do it yourself
$199 for tutorials and videos on how to setup your
own server and workflow on how to use it. If you’re
pretty good with computers, this would be an awe-
some option for you so you can follow along at your
own pace.
Option 2 : Custom setup by Chadwick
$500-$1000 depending on what system you’re install-
ing, this is what I’d recommend to anyone who isn’t a
techie and isn’t already familiar with backup systems. I
loved doing this option because Chad did everything
for me and I didn’t have to worry about doing it wrong
or getting lost in learning the new system!
THE STUFF
Jpeg Mini //
Photomechanic //
Pic-Time
1 JPEG MINI
ˇ With JPEGmini you can reduce the file
size of your photos by up to 80%, while
keeping their original quality and JPEG
format. So it’s basically awesome for
saving storage space on your drives
so you can get the most out of all your
backup options, saving you money long
term! They offer a Lightroom and Photo-
shop plugin as well so when you export,
it will automatically take care of the
optimizing and downsizing. You also save
a ton of time waiting
on uploads and down-
loads because the files
are so much smaller!
Use code “INDIA” for
25% off JPEGmini Pro.
www.jpegmini.com/
pro
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2 PHOTOMECHANIC
You’ve probably heard about Photome-
ˇ
chanic at one point or another if you’re
a photographer (see image 7a on next
page), and while some people love
it and some don’t, it’s a life saver for
my workflow. It’s super fast, helps me
backup my images in multiple locations
at once, and makes culling a breeze. It’s
a one time fee of $150.
Cull (cuh-ling) : sorting through images
ˇ
picking out the best ones you’ll edit and
deliver.
http://www.camerabits.com/tour-v5/
ˇ
3 PIC-TIME
There are several options for online
ˇ
gallery delivery but Pic-Time is by far my
favorite for user and client
experience, high resolution backup, the
clean looks, low price (https://www.pic-
time.com/#Pricing), built in online store,
and functionality. (see image 7b on next
page)
This link will give you 2 months free of
ˇ
Pic-Time! Each plan varies in price
depending on how much space you
need. http://picti.net/Zn5TV
THE STUFF

Jpeg Mini //
Photomechanic //
Pic-Time

P i c -Ti me
Ima g e 7b .

Photomechanic
Image 7a.

IN D IA E AR L COP YRIGHT 2018

The Workflow
1. Get home from wedding/shoot and immediately back up images. I
don’t consider myself done working for the night until I get the
images backed up on at least 3 sources (not including cards, I typical-
ly do 2 external drives and my synology). If I’m traveling in a place
with slow WiFi, I’ll only backup the JPEG files to the synology rather
than the RAWs to speed up upload time. If there’s no WiFi, I’ll do a
backup of the JPEGs on my desktop in addition to the two external
drives so there are 3 copies, this is the only instance in which I store
files on my computer’s hard drive. Make sure you keep the physical
backups separate when traveling to avoid losing a bag with every
copy of your backups in it! I typically keep one external drive in my
carry on, one in a backpack, and the cards on my body (in a pocket
with a zipper).

2. I create a folder where all of the images and files (raw, edited,
catalogs, etc) will go. This is how I go about setting up the
organizational side of folders so I can keep track of everything. I like
to keep everything in one place so it’s easy to navigate and go back
through if I ever have to. After I make these folders on one hard
drive, I’ll copy them to my other hard drive so they mirror
one another.
Jim + Pam Wedding
Jim + Pam Wedding RAW
Jim + Pam Wedding CULLED
Jim + Pam Wedding LR CATALOG
Jim + Pam Wedding EDITS

3. I use Photomechanic to do my initial backups and culling. I have two

separate culling workflows, one for shoots, and one for weddings.
I do this to conserve space, because with weddings I need to have
every image I shot backed up. But for shoots, I don’t necessarily need
every single image I shot because I’ve never had a client ask me to go
back through images for something I didn’t include. This is a personal
preference, and some people may say that’s foolish to not keep every
image I shot from a shoot, but I’ve been shooting for 5 years and not
one client has ever requested a photo I didn’t deliver.

I N D I A EARL CO P Y RI G H T 2 0 1 8
 those images to “Jim + Pam Wedding CULLED”
4. The wedding import and cull “Edit > Select Color Class > Winner” then to
on my main/primary drive. I will import into
“View > Selected”. From here, I’ll do my sec-
— For weddings, in the import dialogue (photo Lightroom from that folder. I’ll copy that CULLED
ond cull, paying more attention to duplicates,
mechanic calls is “ingest”) I import the files folder over to the secondary/backup hard drive.
similar shots, weeding out the not as strong
into both “Jim + Pam Wedding RAW” on
images, etc. (see image 12a on page 12)
both drives using the primary and
7. Then, I’ll manually copy the entire “Jim + Pam
secondary destination folders feature. I
5. The shoot import and cull workflow Wedding” folder to my Synology and I’ll continually
rename images on import to “Jim_Pam_
update it as well as my secondary drive as I make
Wedding_IndiaEarl_RAW_#”. — I do not ingest or import the images onto
progress editing.
hard drives. In the left hand side of the
— While this is happening, if you’re connected window, I open up the folder the image
8. In Lightroom, I’ll create a new catalog and save
to Wifi and your Crashplan is set up, it will files exist in on my CF card. Once that’s
backup the new files landing on your drive. it under the “Jim + Pam Wedding LR Catalog”
opened, I’ll go through with the same
(see image 11a on next page) folder. Everyone handles their catalogs differently,
culling and renaming process.
but I’ve found it to work best for me to create a
— The only difference between the wedding new catalog for each shoot and wedding that I
— Once the images are imported, I’ll and shoot file folder setup is there is not do. Even if I shoot engagements and wedding
go through and start culling. Everyone a folder holding the imports, just the culled day for the same couple, I’ll still create a catalog
has their own preferences of how they images. I’ll drag these images over to the for each time I shoot them. This is what works for
do this, but I personally will go through “Jim + Pam Wedding CULLED”. (see image me to keep everything organized.
and mark all of my favorites with a 1 13a on page 13)
which will highlight them to neon pink. — I still keep all the images on the two cards I — Under the “Import Dialogue” I’ll make sure
I go through really quickly, not dwelling shot them on until after delivery. to “Add” the images without moving them,
on any images or comparing one to the and check “Build Smart Previews”. If you’re
next, I do that during my second cull. 6. Once I’m done culling, I rename the final cull of im- not familiar with smart previews, you can learn
Once I get the first cull done, I’ll go to ages to “Jim_Pam_Wedding_IndiaEarl_#” and drag more about them here but I’ll give you the
basic rundown.

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 Import Dialogue Settings // Image 11a.

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 Image 12a.

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 Image 13a.

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 — Alright, so smart previews are basically a
really small, compressed preview of the
image(s) that you can edit without actually
editing using the original RAW image. There
are a few different benefits to building smart
previews, but the main reasons I build smart
previews upon import is so my Lightroom is
faster and I can edit from my laptop without
having a hard drive attached. I do this
because when I’m editing from my laptop
(which is 95% of the time), I’m usually on
the couch or traveling or just not sitting at a
stationary desk/table, which means it’s pretty
easy for my connected external hard drive to
get bumped around/ejected which is really
bad for drives, and it drastically increases the
chances of your external hard drive corrupt-
ing (aka an “oh shit” moment).
IN D IA E AR L COP Y RIGHT 2018
— The smart preview files are stored in the
catalog file, so once the smart previews are
built, I’ll copy the catalog folder onto my
desktop, eject my hard drive, and edit off of
that catalog file. The files render basically
the same and I don’t have to worry about my
LR being slow or risking corrupting my drive.
When that editing session is done, I’ll copy
and paste the updated catalog from my
desktop back onto my external hard drive. I
constantly do this as I make progress editing
over time until the session is ready to export.
— When I export, I plug my external hard drive
in, select all of the images, and export them
all at once. Your computer should automat-
ically be able to locate the RAW files. My
export settings for LR are 100 JPEG quality
and 300 resolution. If you wanna get a more
in depth understanding of smart previews,
you can learn more about them here :
https:// helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/help/
light- room-smart-previews.html.”
— I export my edits to the “Jim + Pam Wed-
ding EDITS”. I’ll run Jpeg Mini on the final
edited files to downsize the file sizes by
80% without downsizing the image quality
before I start backing them up to the other
sources or uploading them to the online
client gallery.
9. I’ll back up the edits to the secondary drive and
synology.
10. Then I’ll upload the images to a Pic-Time gallery
and send them off. Once the images have been
delivered, I’ll delete them off of my cards. I keep
the backups and don’t delete them off of at least
two sources to make sure that if they ever lose
their copies of the images I’ll still have a backup
for them, although my contract (https://www.in-
diaearl.com/product/customizable-contract-set/)
does not hold me to do so.
 The Outro.
If you follow this system, you’ll have 6 backups total up until
delivery, with 4 remaining afterwards. Like I said, no system is
perfect, but I highly recommend having an absolute minimum
of 3 backups (4 if you’re a wedding/event photographer) if
you want to go the minimalist direction, one of them being
an online backup. It will take time to get used to a new
system, and it is definitely an investment, but if you’re in
a business of being trusted to preserve memories for your
clients, it’s something to take seriously.

When I was getting used to the workflow I found it helpful

to have a checklist so that I was making sure I was getting
it backed up in every location. Here is a simplified checklist
following this workflow to get you started!

Import images to both your main and secondary drive

Cull and copy culled images to both drives

Cards stored in safe location
Connected to Wifi for the Crashplan backup

Create catalog and import

Backup catalogs + files as edits progress

Export from LR + run JPEG Mini Pro

Upload to Pic-Time and deliver to client

Backup edits + catalog to secondary drive
Backup edits + catalog to synology

I know it sounds like a lot of work, but it actually is a really

easy and simple workflow once you get used to it. It only
takes me about 20 minutes to get everything backed up in
6 locations after each shoot and wedding I do so I can have
peace of mind that my client’s images are safe. Now, you’re
ready with a fool-proof system that will keep your work and
your client’s memories safe and protected. Don’t wait for an
“oh shit” moment to start taking backups seriously.

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