Protect Your Photos While Traveling
A crucial but sometimes forgotten subject in travel photography is how to protect your photos once you have begun taking them. Can you imagine the feeling of getting home and finding out that all those photos on your camera have been lost because the memory card failed? Or if you are using your smartphone camera for your trip and lose the phone? Or drop it in the drink? Terrifying!
There are several simple steps we can take to be sure our photos make it home with us. The key word here is…you guessed it…back up your pictures!
Lets start with the simple. If you are using a smartphone, you can do one of two things. Backing up to the cloud is simple enough. On my Samsung S21, I go to Settings, then Accounts and backup and then I can select either Samsung Cloud or Google Drive. I can either have the phone back up automatically or I can click Back Up Now to have an immediate backup. You’ll need to have these set up in advance of your trip. For my iPhone friends, the process is equally easy; Click settings, then tap iCloud then tap Photos then tap on the switch next to Sync this device.
Remember two things about the above. First, make sure you have enough room on your storage account to handle all those photos. Memory is cheap, but you still need to have enough in place before you head out. The other thing to keep in mind is that the upload speed is dependent on the quality of the WiFi you are using and the availability of WiFi where you are travelling through. No WiFi - no backup. Also, Dropbox is an option if neither of the above would work for you.
Next, if you are using a camera, you must think about the memory cards your camera uses. You can go two ways here. First, you could just bring enough cards with you so that when one card is full, you just change to another. If I am on a short trip and know that I can get everything onto a couple of cards, I may go this route. Regardless of the trip length though, if the photos really matter, I bring my laptop computer and an external hard drive and I back the camera cards up onto both the computer’s hard drive and the external hard drive. This is double protection, but I have experienced failures on camera cards, computer hard drives and even once an external hard drive let me down.
Whichever route you decide is best for you, here are some tips to reduce your chances of losing your vacation photos:
Whether your smartphone camera or a camera with memory cards, back up every day. Loosing one day’s photos is better than loosing many days’ worth.
Don’t buy a single memory card with a huge capacity, these can and will fail (or fall into your coffee cup, etc) so buy a few smaller ones and cycle them as you go. I find 32 GBs as big as I feel comfortable with.
Avoid storing your memory cards with your other camera gear. Again, better to lose some photos than all of them.
Make sure your laptop accepts the type of card your camera uses. (SD, CF, what have you) If not, you’ll need to bring along a card reader. This simple device plugs into a USB port on your computer. You then plug your memory card into it and can then transfer today’s photos into a file on your computer. This card reader from Camera Canada can read both SD cards and XQD cards.
Speaking of files on your computer, stay organized. I create folders with the date and then load today’s pictures right into each folder (IE Dublin 06 26 2024) When I get home, I know exactly when and where I took the photos.
Either buy a memory card holder or find some container to keep your cards safe and dry. These little cards are easy to lose. If you buy a card holder, you place each card faceup in its sleeve and, once used, put it back in its sleeve face down so you know which are used and which are not.
This one will hold ten cards which should be more than enough for most people. and with that flag on it, you probably won’t misplace it!
Several modern cameras have slots for two memory cards. This allows you the option of having your photos copied onto each card, thereby giving instant duplication.
If you are flying, carry your external hard drive and memory cards with you. Don’t have them in your checked luggage.
Whatever method you chose to protect your photos, PRACTISE before you leave home so you can be sure you know how to perform your backups. Do you have the correct cables you may need? Can you do a backup easily so that you are more inclined to do one at the end of the day when you are tired?
Don’t erase a memory card until you are absolutely sure your backup has worked.
With some advanced planning and research as well as having a specific plan for protecting your photos while on the road, your chances of arriving home with all your photos are greatly improved.
