security of photos in photographer's hands

[urban.one]

Im curious as to how photogs ensure that photos they have taken of clients remain safe. My two initial thoughts of threats are:
1) having your computer system hacked and images stolen;
or
2) having your camera with images, computer system or storage device physically stolen.

Some random questions:
-what precautions do you take?
-do you have your data encrypted or use other security software?
-do you backup your images and keep this somewhere away from your main system/storage?
-after a shoot outside of your studio, do ensure to promptly get your images into a safe location and for example, not leave them in your car?
-do you ensure others in your home or family dont have access to your images if they are not part of your team?

[syeve]

Just my 2 cents, but I think photog's believe their photo's are a lot more valuable/desirable than they really are.

[quazimoto]

Wedding photos I'm sorry are priceless and are valuable. That being said I put the photos on two separate hard drives as well as one copy on blu-ray disc.

[Mitsu3000gt]

I don't do anything other than back up my images multiple times on different hard drives, CD, online, and I always keep the original RAW (NEF) file which can't be duplicated, so if there ever was a question, I could instantly prove a photo was mine. Watermarked or not, if I saw one of my images somewhere I didn't want it to be, I am still covered.

I should probably watermark my photos just for the hell of it haha, but haven't got around to it. At this point, if someone stole one of my photos, I'd probably be flattered as long as they weren't using it for monetary gain, advertising, or something like that.

I have seen some watermarks on photos that really make you wonder why the person bothers, though. I'm not sure if they are (somehow) worried about the photo being stolen, or just do it to all their images because its quick.

Maybe I will make a watermark LOL....first I have to think of a name...probably something unexciting like "MJ Photography" lol. Do you have to pick a name that isn't taken anywhere? Or can you use whatever you want?

[blitz]

I'm not a proffessional and I've never made money off of photography, but my photos are pretty important to me personally. I'm not worried at all of them being stolen, just don't want to loose them.

I backup full sized JPEG's online with Adorama ($25/year unlimited storage), and RAW's onto a external HD. I'm running out of room on my laptop so I'm planning on getting a Raid 1 drive to store everything.

When I'm on vacation I'll generally download my photos onto my laptop every night and leave them on the memory card too.

[syeve]

Maybe I misunderstood the original post...having them safe is of course very important. I was speaking to the fact that the "theft" of a picture is a rarity. I have seen it happen...like twice.

[urban.one]

In my OP, I was refering more to how do you ensure that images youve taken for or of clients remain safe, for the clients benefit first.
For example, lets say youve taken some prenatal photos of a mother or glamour shots of a wife that the client only intended for their private viewing and would be unhappy if they got into the wrong hands.
Or another example, is if you did some photography for a business that they used in their marketing or promo material and again they might be unhappy if those images got out.

Im not a pro yet my computer files are one of the most valuable things to me in my home and Id hate if they got taken and someone else had access to my family's photos.

[quazimoto]

There is ZERO way to make sure anything is 100% fool proof. Even if you encrypt the files or password protect them in a zip or anything like that you'll always have freaks with the ability and time on their hands to get at it anyways.

Right now though we have a large safe which is bolted to the basement floor in our home. Seriously it's anchored into the cement. I keep backup hard drives in there which have everything on them. There is always a chance anything a person does in front of the camera though could make its way to the viewing public.

[89coupe]

#1 rule of backing anything up, never keep it on site.

[Tomaz]

Originally posted by urban.one
Im curious as to how photogs ensure that photos they have taken of clients remain safe. My two initial thoughts of threats are:
1) having your computer system hacked and images stolen;
or
2) having your camera with images, computer system or storage device physically stolen.

Some random questions:
-what precautions do you take?
-do you have your data encrypted or use other security software?
-do you backup your images and keep this somewhere away from your main system/storage?
-after a shoot outside of your studio, do ensure to promptly get your images into a safe location and for example, not leave them in your car?
-do you ensure others in your home or family dont have access to your images if they are not part of your team?

It sounds like you are paranoid of photos leaking from a "private shoot" in your "bedroom studio". lol;)

Either way, If I ever become good enough for "professional" status, everything would be on a hard drive and disk backup at home. It will take a while to "hack" seeing there is no internet connection out there.
As for some photos online, I am not bothered by my photos being out in the open, as long as they are watermarked.

[e31]

What about bringing security before your photos are downloaded onto a computer? Does anyone make field backups when doing a shoot? I have an older flashtrax device that use to copy compactflash card data, but luckily I have not had anything stolen or lost so far.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Originally posted by e31
What about bringing security before your photos are downloaded onto a computer? Does anyone make field backups when doing a shoot? I have an older flashtrax device that use to copy compactflash card data, but luckily I have not had anything stolen or lost so far.

I keep a 120 GB Hyperdrive Colorspace with me while travelling and backup my pictures every 4GB. It also lets me back up everyone else's pics who I am traveling with, because it accepts every possible card type. When I get back to my hotel I also put them on my Netbook.

If I had a camera with dual card slots, I would use the second one as a copy of the first, especially if I was on a once in a lifetime trip or something like that.

[quazimoto]

That's why cameras with dual card slots rock too! I think it's also why in the future I'll only buy cameras that have two slots but I think both Canon and Nikon are going to push harder and harder on the dual card slot front.

[Xtrema]

RAID5 NAS + External backup.

[soupey]

haha i just do backups of my photo folder every few months on another hard drive. guys all sound paranoid with the multiple backups you have :nut:

[SJW]

Urbanone please change your avatar. It sickens me every time i read one of your threads.