FAQ: How do you edit a wedding without actually being there? from Colorati on Vimeo.
A lot of people want to know how we can edit a wedding without actually being there. This video explains our process of Image Selection and how we leverage our experience, intuition and your feedback to showcase the best images to tell the story well.
A lot of people ask if we match them up with one technician. It’s a great question and a good idea, but the answer is no- for a very good reason!
A lot of people want to know if their style fits with our Standard Color or Custom Color service. This video breaks down how we determine which service works best for you.
Updating your Raw files with our work is easy with XMPs. This video tutorial walks through the process and explains XMPs.
Links:
Download: Dr. Brown’s Services for CS5
Download: Dr. Brown’s Services for CS4
iPhone-friendly video link: Using XMPs With Bridge/ACR on Vimeo
In this video I answer a common question, “Are you calibrated to a certain lab?” We take a look at how labs and Colorati are on the same page when it comes to color.
This video answers some common questions about how our service works regarding USB hard drive retrieval, using the order form, and sending in multiple orders at once.
For years Western Digital has been the best choice for portable USB hard drives and we’ve endorsed them openly for the drive of choice to send orders to Colorati. They’re reliable, you can buy them anywhere, the price is right, and they’ve always been Mac & PC ready.
Well… things have changed a bit and we no longer feel it’s the best choice. Why? Two reasons:
1) Out of the box formatting (No longer Mac & PC ready.)
2) Multiple interface options
A house divided
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Here’s the deal: Western Digital is now selling hard drives specifically formatted for your operating system. For the most part, this is a great thing!
However, in our environment it can create some potential hiccups. We are a Mac environment (HFS format) and we can copy data from of a Windows drive (NTFS format) but we can’t copy anything back onto the drive.
Technically, we could but we’d have to reformat your drive to FAT32 which is universal. We prefer not to reformat your drives. It shouldn’t be your only backup, but many times it is and we’ve seen far too many of them come to the rescue.
Drive Interface
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Western Digital Passport drives are USB 2.0 only. Nowadays there are so many options available for multiple interface drives. They have come down in price and it’s a nice feature to have.
Here’s the advantage: speed. In a Macworld speed test with an OWC hard drive, a 1GB copy showdown looked like this:
USB 2.0 1GB file copy: 0:52
FireWire 800 1GB file copy: 0:35
That’s significant when you average between 15-20GB or more per event! Many of you send us us over 30 events a year plus engagement sessions.
So what do we suggest?
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Glad you asked! Remember, the biggest issue we have right now is the formatting straight out of the box. So our recommendations below will be for drives that are Mac and PC ready- no special formatting needed! Interface is secondary.
Having said that, if we could have our pick, it would simply be any drive with FW800/400 and USB 2.0. The following three drives meet both requirements for formatting and interface. There’s also one bonus feature: drive speed. Most portable drives spin at 5400 rpm. These drives are much faster at 7200 rpm.
Multi-Interface options:
A nice choice in the performance AND aesthetics department would be the G-Tech G-Drive mini. At $120 for high performance, multi-interface, and a 3yr warranty, you’re in good shape.
The LaCie Rugged has been around for a long time and has many interface and capacity options. We’ve had great success with this model and it also spins at 7200 rpm. (Starts at $99 for USB only, FW+USB starts at $129.) 3yr warranty.
As mentioned, the OWC Mercury. I’ll admit, it’s not the prettiest drive, but it does perform well in speed tests. 
Cost: $129, 3yr warranty.
USB Only:
If you want to save a few bucks, you can go with the USB only drives that are under $100.
LaCie has been a long time performer in external drives. Here are just a couple options:
LaCie Rikiki: $74.99, 2yr warranty.
LaCie Petit: $74.90, 2yr warranty.
Afterthoughts:
- 250GB is PLENTY for most orders, even if you are sending 2-3 complete events. Buying any more than that is unnecesary.
- Don’t store files on the drive that you don’t have backed up elsewhere.
- Use this drive exclusively for sending and receiving orders with Colorati. Sensitive files like tax documents, personal photos, etc are best kept on your system at home.
- If you are a Mac user, then the formatting is a non-issue. Also, if you are a PC user and use our Standard Color service but request XMP delivery only, then the formatting is less of an issue since we email your XMPs back to you.
Western Digital is still making awesome, reliable products. However, with the options and pricing that is available today, we think there are some seriously competitive options that may just make things run a little smoother when sending your orders to Colorati.
Hope that helps! Please let us know if there is anything we can do for you.
Hey gang,
We have been working hard on a plan and making lots of progress! Due in next week are some fabulously talented people who will join our crew and edit your images with the same TLC you’re used to!
In the mean time, we are indeed accepting new clients. If you submitted a contact form and have not yet been contacted, stay tuned- we’ll be in touch shortly. If you’re ready to get started, here is all the info you need:
1) We recommend putting your files on a Western Digital USB “Passport” drive. This is the most efficient way of sending and receiving files.
2) Once you’ve done that, visit our online order form and tell us about each job you’re submitting. You can also request a shipping label. (Please check our twitter stream for daily posts on production schedule: @colorati)
3) Before you close up that package, fill out and include a completed Credit Card Authorization form. We’ll keep it on file for all future orders. CCAuth
Once we get your files, we can pull 20 sample images from the first order and post them for your review. We can dialogue about your preferences and how we can improve. When we are both confident, we’ll proceed and send your final files back when we have completed your order.
As always, we are available by phone or email to help in any way. Be well and be in touch!
If you’ve spent any amount of time crafting up your own Photoshop Actions, you’ll want to save those actions to a file on your hard drive. This way you can email them or move them to a new computer.
This video walks you through the process. Enjoy!
Hey Lightroom users!
Sending us your files is super easy. This tutorial shows you the fastest way to get your hard drive prepped and ready to send.
This method will keep your star ratings, color labels and even custom cropping all intact.
Enjoy!
