I’m always curious how other photographers set up their own workflow so this is a long post to share with anyone who might be interested. I’m going to focus on two of our computers here at the studio. The first image is of my setup where I do all the importing, processing and proofing and production work on a 2010 cMP, details in my sig.
The second image is of my partner's computer setup. Being my better half, she gets the newer, shinier toys (check the keyboard / mouse courtesy of Colorware). As we quite often swap computers depending on requirements and who is traveling for a shoot, etc., it's difficult to say exactly whose is whose. Generally though, I handle all the tech for my studio and so make all the decisions hardware-wise. On the whole, the hardware is collectively ours but I like to think there is a little bit of me in all of them
Details also in my sig.
All 5 computers in our studio (1x cMP, 4x MBP) run the same Dropbox Plus (1Tb) + extended version history (up to 1 year) where we store Lightroom Catalogs, Final Client Images, Portfolios (keynote and PDF), Inspiration / Moodboards and Client Proposals - basically, any files that everyone needs access to. Once everything is synced, any user can edit and pick up the catalog wherever they are in the world - provided they have hard drive with the raw files. All raw images (we use a Canon 1DX II and a Canon 5DSR with a 5D Mark III as backup) are stored on external drives only.
In terms of storage, we utilise the following items:
Day-to-day / on shoot storage
- 2x Samsung 500Gb EVO 850 SSD drives in StarTech 2.5" USB3.0 Rugged hard drive enclosures (these and the LaCie's below go on shoots with us, only for storage of current week's Raw images)
- 2x 2Tb LaCie Rugged TB2 / USB3.0 hard drives (only for 2017 Raw, LR and Client Images. Cloned, one for myself, one for my partner. These always only ever contain the work from the current year. )
- Numerous 4Tb Buffalo MiniStation rugged hard drives that are backups of the LaCie's (at the end of every year we make sure the LaCie's are backed up to the Buffalo drives and the server before wiping them clean and reusing them again as only Current Year storage. These are then backed up to their own newly purchased 4Tb Buffalo MiniStations). These drives are usually kept at home away from the office. My partner and I each have our own copy.
Long term storage
- Synology DS416Play (4x 8Tb WD Red in SHR RAID setup) - this new NAS contains everything from 2017 onwards.
- Synology DS414j (4x 8Tb WD Red in SHR RAID setup) - this is an older NAS containing everything from 2014-2016.
- Orico 4-bay USB3.0 SATA HDD enclosure - random assortment of 3.5" and 2.5" HDDs from before 2014. Looking at around 20Tb in total scattered across the globe.
- No cloud backup solution as of now, no bank vaults or Pelican cases stuffed under the bed. Though a couple of hard drives with all our client images from the last few years probably should go into a safe deposit box somewhere.
We are predominantly an Adobe-based studio. This is more out of work experience / familiarity going back 10+ years and convenience. We currently utilise separate personal CC subscriptions as currently it is just too expensive to go on a Business plan (we're a small studio). Yes, I yearn for the old days of actual Adobe products instead of subscriptions! We use Lightroom, Photoshop and our retoucher / graphic guru uses Illustrator / InDesign and After Effects for our short video clips. Plugins such as Google Nik Collection and Alien Skin Exposure X do get used but to be honest, our style is very natural so we try to avoid too much post unless its for beauty or architecture.
We have started experimenting with Capture One, particularly for its tethering reliability and other benefits but I'm still not sure if we'll make the switch. Learning new software is a huge hassle for us when free time is already limited.
As photographer / director of operations, I have a separate Accounting user account setup on my cMP that only uses Pages, etc., and Google Drive that only I have access to (also on my personal MBP and my partner's). Nothing to do with finance or how the business is run is stored on Dropbox.
What you guys can't see is that there are two large floor to ceiling cork board panels to the left of the top image filled with clippings, cutouts and printouts which we use as a mood board for everything we find inspiring, client proposals and other random images.
Some other hardware we use:
- EIZO CS2730 with CH2700 27" LED
- Dell UP2716D with hood 27" LED
- EIZO CG222W with hood 22" LCD
- 2011-2014-2015 MBPs (16Gb RAM, 512Gb SSD, etc)
- OWC Thunderbolt 3 Dock (13 port)
- OWC Thunderbolt USB-C Dock (10 port)
- Wacom Intuous Pro (M)
- Wacom Intuous Pen (S)
- Rain Design mStand for MacBook Pro (2x)
- Gitzo Series 3 carbon fibre tripod with Induro PHQ-3 5-way head (my go to combination for weight + value)
- Manfrotto 055 aluminium with Manfrotto 410 Junior Geared Head
- Manfrotto 190Go! carbon fibre 4-leg travel scouting tripod
- Elinchrom Pro ELC HD 500 (2x units) monolights
- Elinchrom Softlite 70cm beauty dish
- Phottix Luna / Octa 110cm collapsible soft box with Elinchrom mount (custom fitted, my favourite light diffuser)
- Variety of reflectors, grids, snoots, etc.
- 3x Canon Speedlights (2x 600EX II RT, 1x 480EX II RT); 1x ST-E3-RT wireless trigger)
- Nanuk 935 hard case roller (similar to Pelicans, I went with this because of the gorgeous army green colour)
- LowePro X200 AW Roller
- Able Archer Photo Rucksack (light grey, love this)
- And a whole bunch of other stuff I can't remember right now
Anyway, I hope the gear list may prove useful for some people looking at how my studio is run. All of the equipment was exhaustively researched, I know there are alternatives, cheaper or better, but everything here was carefully selected to provide the best value for money while not compromising on quality.
My advice to all new photographers is to buy the very best you can afford - within reason.
Never update to the latest and greatest unless you're either a) sponsored or b) can afford to lose time, money or effort in troubleshooting an increasingly common issue of essentially undertaking final beta testing for said camera or computer hardware.
Unfortunately, the theory of diminishing returns is something that took me many, many years to finally understand. Damn, this is long!
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