Lost File dilema

[Dave Gurtcheff]

In my film/darkroom  days, the ultimate back up was a negative. My filing system of keeping track of negatives, subject data, etc left a lot to be desired. When I switched to digital 5 or so years ago, I decided to develop two Excel spread sheets. One keeps track of the RAW files, subject date, camera used etc. The second spread sheet tracks Photoshop finished images, either digital camera produced, or scanned negative produced. I am a retired Engineer, but have had a nice Fine Art Print business. A new client came to our home/studio to look at 7 or 8 portfolios of finished 13"x19" prints, and selected three images, and wants them 16"x24". One of the chosen images I can not find the file. Apparently I forgot to write the file number on the print (I do this often), but disaster of disasters, I failed to enter it into my Excel sheets. Chances are it is filed on a CD/DVD/Blu_ray disc, but iI have a ton of these...no way to find it. I have a very similar image, take on another day, with slightly different lighting conditions, and I was going to approach the buyer to see if he wouild like a substitute. However before doing this I set up the 13"x19" portfolio print, and copied it using a firm tripod, Alpha 900, 50mm Sigma Macro lens, and mirror locked up. I bracketed three exposures and combined them in Photomatix Pro. The original print was tack sharp (Canon 1DS II or 1DSIII, L glass processed on DXO). I used PK Capture sharpener, resized in "Blowup 2", and output sharpened in PK. The resulting 16"x24" is stunning. In fact I tweaked levels and saturation in the copy, and I like it better than the original.
I don't reccommend losing files, but sometimes there is a "FIX"    
Best regards to all
Dave G
www.modernpictorials.com

[John.Murray]

Wow!  I'm glad you managed to salvage the situation.  

This is a perfect example of applying old style "paper" ledger thinking to a new problem.  Although computers are wonderful at creating electronic spreadsheets, etc  - they are even better at indexing, searching and storing information.  It sounds like you are using optical media as your primary source of image storage???  A quick search here and other places will lead you to the conclusion that this is not the most optimal solution.

Spend a few $$$ and hours and watch Michael and Seth Resnick's "L-L Guide to Asset Management - Where the #%*! are my Pictures? "

[Dave Gurtcheff]

Wow!  I'm glad you managed to salvage the situation.  

This is a perfect example of applying old style "paper" ledger thinking to a new problem.  Although computers are wonderful at creating electronic spreadsheets, etc  - they are even better at indexing, searching and storing information.  It sounds like you are using optical media as your primary source of image storage???  A quick search here and other places will lead you to the conclusion that this is not the most optimal solution.

Spend a few $$$ and hours and watch Michael and Seth Resnick's "L-L Guide to Asset Management - Where the #%*! are my Pictures? "

Thanks for the reply. My wife of 51 years and I just came home from "Happy Hour" at our local pub, that exhibits 70 of my prints. I will check out your link tomorrow. I now use double USB 1 terabite external hard drives as my primary storage. When I fill them up, one will be stored off site, as I do with my optical media backups.
I use a third external drive for daily back ups.
Very best
Dave

[Harold Clark]

Thanks for the reply. My wife of 51 years and I just came home from "Happy Hour" at our local pub, that exhibits 70 of my prints. I will check out your link tomorrow. I now use double USB 1 terabite external hard drives as my primary storage. When I fill them up, one will be stored off site, as I do with my optical media backups.
I use a third external drive for daily back ups.
Very best
Dave

My computer store guys tell me to start the hard drives at least once a month, that if just left sitting they are more likely to fail.

Re indexing, I use the shoot date as the file number for all my stuff, hopefully my foggy memory can at least place things in the right year which helps narrow the search.

Harold