Note: Photo tips are answers to questions asked on our Facebook page. If you would like to submit a question, please click here to submit your question. We will then post them on our Facebook page and let our fans respond to the question. We will then transfer the question over to our blog so we can keep them in an organized way for others to see.
Question from Krystle: “How long do you keep clients’ photos on your extra hard drive? Is there a time limit you give yourself to keep them? When you decide to get rid of them do you save your favorites for your portfolio?”
Amanda: I don’t know what the norm is, but in my mind, tax records and such are 7 years. Stands to reason that photos may be archived for up to that long. In my opinion I would think 1-2 years if you let the clients know that you will be removing them from the archive after 2 years, and their photos will no longer be available for purchase.
Katlyn: I have kept all my sessions on a hard drive so far… I haven’t had to get rid of any yet, but I am just finishing my first year. I also burn the original shots and edits onto DVDs in case anything happens to my computer, or hard drive.
Katy: I do the same as Katlyn…then you’ll have a library of your work.
Tatum: All my professors taught us to keep our images archived forever basically and in 2-3 locations. One virus and you could be screwed. The always bought portable hard drives and stored them by year. Especially since you can get a terabyte for pretty cheap now. It’s better to have a library than just your recent work.
Steve: With hard drive storage so inexpensive, I would advise keeping a separate USB drive in an alternate location for a few years. Just fill it up and put a piece of tape with the inclusive dates on the drive..
Rebecca: wedding photos need to be kept forever!!
Katlyn: I don’t think I could stomach erasing my hard drive… I will probably end up buying a new one.
Debbie: Our wedding photographer only kept them for a year – and failed to let us know!!!!! I was really disappointed as I was looking to buy the disc with them all on. Won’t be recommending her that’s for sure :@
Brian: I keep all my images indefinitely on three different sources. Bluray, 1T USB 3.0 Drives, and my NAS
Nicole: My wedding photog kept them for a year and told us with lots of time to order anything. I personally haven’t been shooting for long so I have everything still.
Sarah: I have everything I have ever shot. But now that my business is starting to pick up I will only be keeping sessions for 1 year.
Jaye: I have it written in my contracts that I keep the negatives (RAWs) for 6 months and edited images for a year. However, I have yet to delete any edited images. I just buy new hard drives when the one I’m using fills up. Mostly that’s in my contract to safe guard against hard drive failure when they (inevitably) fail since I only back-up off site for a year.
Tabitha: I have kept all of my work in 2 locations. I don’t know why I would ever delete it? It is my art work.
Feel free to keep responding to this question using our comment section below.