How to safely store your photos in the long term
Yay! Your memories have been delivered by way of digital images (jpegs)! But don't stop there. Technology is a fickle beast and I want to make sure you safely store your images so you can still access them when you’re old and wrinkly.
When you first get your photos delivered
Download them!
High resolution = the highest file size with the most information, perfect for printing good quality images at any size.
Web resolution = small compressed file size with a compressed amount of information, perfect for online stuff but won't print in the best quality or bigger than a 6x4 print.
Your photos will live temporarily in the Pic-Time gallery system for 12 months. As I pay for storage using this system, I will host your wedding on there for 12 months before the photos are removed. I will email you, with notice, before I do this.
My archive system
Once your wedding is delivered, I will archive your wedding photos as high resolution jpegs. I keep the raw files (very large in size) for 12 months before they are deleted. I can not guarantee I will keep your wedding photos for an extended period beyond five years so long term storage is your responsibility.
If I need to access the archives to retrieve your wedding photos, there will be a $60 archive retrieval fee.
Keeping your images safe in the long term
Suggested ways to store your images once downloaded:
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Upload the images to an External Hard Drive
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Upload all the images to a Cloud Based Storage System like Dropbox or Google Photos (and be prepared to pay for this on a long term basis)
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Print your images
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All of the above!
Don’t save your images to your computer as your only storage option. I’ve had many couples contact me years down the track asking for their photos because their computer died, or they mysteriously lost the photos.
Remember that you can save space by saving the low resolution images for the long term, but please know they can never be resized beyond a small 6x4” photo print size.