It’s summer! We take a lot of photos in the summer! There are lots of special memories to capture as we get out and enjoy the beautiful weather. Consider these tips to get in your photos and to keep your photos safe while you’re on the go!
June Tip – Throw a Beanbag in your Bag!
I don’t want to weigh you down for the summer, but I do want to make sure you get in your photos! Selfies have their place but get some nicer photos of yourself this summer. Use a beanbag to prop up your phone and set the timer – GET IN YOUR PHOTOS!
Protect Your Photos While Travelling
On the go this summer? Your photos are at risk to theft, faulty memory cards, lost baggage, lost cameras or phones, not enough storage space, excessive heat (please don’t tell me you’re going somewhere with excessive cold this summer!), and our own mistakes, while we are travelling. These are great steps you can take to protect your photos:
1. Plan ahead. Think about how to backup your photos while you are away from home and pack the supplies you need – cords, external hard drives, extra memory cards, arrange for automatic backups and cloud storage space before you leave.
2. Label everything – put your contact info on your cameras, bags, phones, laptops, memory cards, external hard drives.
3. Take Ziploc/plastic bags for your memory cards, external hard drives, laptop and cameras. Be prepared if you get caught in a downpour!
4. Carry a second camera (and use it). If you lose one or it is stolen before you can download the pictures you will have some pictures on the second camera.
5. Buddy up. If you are travelling with a partner have them carry the second camera and take pictures. If you download your pictures to an external hard drive as backup have them carry the backup copies of your pictures and you carry theirs.
6. Purchase an inexpensive carrying case for your memory cards. They’re too small to leave them loose in your luggage.
7. Download and backup your photos every day. Download to your laptop and do not delete the images on your camera memory card – this gives you two copies of each image.
8. Backup your photos by downloading to your laptop and copying to an external hard drive.
9. Backup your photos to a cloud service. Dropbox, Carbonite, iCloud and Amazon are good choices while you are travelling. The problem may be finding a suitable internet connection. When you get a good connection – send a copy of your photos to the cloud. Be sure to arrange for this service before you leave home, and make sure you have enough space for all the photos you will be uploading.
10. Do not shoot all the pictures from your trip on one memory card. Instead of bringing the largest memory card you can find, use multiple smaller memory cards. This way if you lose a memory card, your camera is stolen or becomes lost, or a memory card is damaged you will not lose all the photos from your trip.
11. Don’t erase your memory cards while you are travelling. Keep your photos stored on them until you get home.
12. Set up Apple iCloud or Google Photos before you leave. When wi-fi is available your photos will automatically upload to the cloud. Check this is working as you travel – don’t assume your photos are safe. Be careful setting up syncing with these sites – if you sync your photos they will upload fine, but if you then delete them from your phone they will delete from the cloud as well. Check your settings before leaving home!
13. If you are using multiple memory cards, try cycling through them. If you have three memory cards use card 1 one day then a different card the next day. If you are on the move you won’t lose a whole week’s worth of photos if one of your memory cards becomes lost or damaged.
14. Not taking your laptop? Research other portable backup devices like the Nexto DI or HyperDrive which will allow you to download a copy of your photos so they are not only stored on your memory cards.
Happy travels this summer!