DIY Photography

Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time

Search

Submit A Story

StreamNation Introduces Shutter, an iOS Photo App Offering Unlimited Cloud Storage for Free

by 4 Comments

With how much of a push companies are making these days toward cloud-based storage, is it really a wonder that phones are still being sold with an infuriatingly small 16 gigabytes of space? When it comes to the actual cloud storage itself, we have to worry about the payments those storage services ask for as well; missing one could inevitably mean that we’d lose what we’d have stored for good. It’s a business model that I’m starting not to like, and I feel like it’s a poor way to ensure the safety of our backed up pictures.

StreamNation is a cloud-based service that’s deciding to do things a little differently; they’ve recently released Shutter, a camera app on iOS that promises us unlimited cloud storage for pictures absolutely free of charge. The app itself is simple: another point-and-shoot interface, but with a different method of storage.

[Read More…]

PSA: Have Photos Backed Up On CDs? You May Wanna Move Them!

by 14 Comments

To be honest, I have not backed up images on CDs for over 10 years now. But back in the days when a D70 RAW file was about 5MB it made sense. You could fit about 140 RAW photos on one CD. Or if you back up a few years earlier, photo labs would provide film scans on CDs, with the average size of 3MB per scan, a CD would hold over 200 photos.

Any why not? CDs were cheap, easily stored and cataloged and they would last forever. Right? Wrong. It turns out that the lifespan of CDs is not as long as everyone initially thought. And it also turns out that CDs are more susceptible to the elements than we thoughts. And your old photo collection stored on CDs and DVDs is probably dying s you read.

[Read More…]

Copying Large Video File Across Devices/Drives? This Is How To Make Sure You Don’t Goof Up

by 11 Comments

Whether your are a professional photographer or an aspiring photo enthusiast a day will come, when you will need to transfer all your valuable multimedia materials from one storage location to another!

Obviously, a single copy & paste or drag & drop should do the trick! However, please be aware that any backup or data replication scheme is composed of two integral parts: copying and verification!

The fact that you see a complete file list after a quick, copy and paste operation does not ensure the data that you have copied from the source location to the target destination are not corrupted!

You may wonder why have I written this post in the first place? Well, as a matter of fact I have found myself in a position where I needed to send via air mail an USB stick with video material to one of the media agencies we collaborated with. The assignment came literally last minute, and the deadline was within 4 days.[Read More…]

CloudPlug – Backup Solution Review

by Leave a Comment


As you may recall my computer kinda crushed on me last year. I’ve been looking for a backup solution ever since (in the meantime, there is not a single component in my computer that was not replaced, excluding the motherboard).

I found that the CloudPlug answers most of my needs, and decided to review it here on DIYP.

If you’re just here for the coupon, jump to the end. If you want to share your backup strategy, let us know on the comments.

[Read More…]

Lightroom Tip: Backing Up Huge Lightroom Files

by Leave a Comment

When searching for a backup solution I was most fascinated with the option of online storage. My major concern was the huge catalog files that Lightroom creates. I even listed the huge catalog files a deadly sin :)

I got a great tip on the comments explaining how to use XMP files to override the huge files issue. Thanks Jigar. (Unfortunately, the comment got deleted as part of my fight with a spam attack. Please post the comment again so I can provide appropriate credit).

My Lightroom workflow is very similar to the workflow Kerry showed on his Lightroom workflow video. That mean my catalog is always changing/evolving/growing. It also means that my backup software will notice that the file has changed and try to back it up after every session. Kinda heavy with a 60 Megs file. This is where XMP comes in to play.
[Read More…]

Seven Deadly Backup Sins And Seven Heavenly Ways For Redemption

by Leave a Comment


About a month ago my computer’s Power Supply Unit died on me. While changing that power unit was both cheap and got me banging my head against the computer case technically effortless, it got me thinking that my pictures are not all that secured on my hard drive. Now, I do back up to an external disk, but after hearing some tips from DIYP readers, I realized that I am guilty of seven deadly backup sins. Here is a collection on those sins and matching redemption as suggested by DIYP readers. A lot of the tips were given by more than one reader.

This is also a great opportunity to mention Brian’s excellent series about Photo backup.

[Read More…]

An Ode To My Power Supply Unit + Setup Shot

by Leave a Comment

There comes a time at any man’s life, where he enters their workroom oh-my-god-kids-what-is-going-on-room and something smelled funny.

Smells metallic. Burning. My socks on fire? No…. What is it? Smelling my way towards the source, I found it to be my computer. Or more precisely, my four years old power supply’s fan has decided to die on me. A dying fan means that the computer is heating up, which means that blue screens of death will pop in any second now.

I quickly went to the nearest computer store and bought myself a new unit with two fans. I figured if one will die the other one will still be there. Total cost – 65 Dollars. Definitely worth it.

Just before I throw the little guy to the little recycle bin in the sky, I wanted to say good buy in an appropriate, nice way. After all it did give me power for four years.

Loosing my power supply got me thinking that I need better backup to my pictures than the external hard drive I am currently using. After all my pictures are stored on my personal computer. If you have an idea, please post it in the comments section. I also went to reread some of the great stuff Brian has to say about backing pictures up.

So aside from the ode, there is also a setup shot and some explanations after the jump.

[Read More…]

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts