I keep all my images too as they don't really take up that much space.

I keep back-ups of important images tho, just in case of hard drive failure.

Question 1) The crud is deleted straightaway, when I upload them onto my computer. So that is most of it, that will leave me with about two pics Seriously, all the really bad ones are gone, and the okays and the keepers are then sorted , edited etc. But, I don't keep all my pics, I am getting more ruthless too,except family snaps, kids , dogs etc, any of them no matter how rubbish stay. Stored on External HD.

Question 2) Only have a few on the wall, one of my lighthouse pics, a couple of the kids, have a canvas of a rose. Have started to get more printed 7 x5 as Phil mentioned, for the kids more than anything, so they have them to look at.
I don't like looking at my stuff though on the wall, get embarrassed

A few of my pics have been nicked off my Flickr, but quite a few have been used with my permission too, on websites, a magazine in Canadaphotographic blogs(not the, how not to do it section either!)have sold a few prints aswell, also been contacted by a stock agency who deal with prints and cards.

Never entered a competition, or approached a magazine, but might do in the future.

So a long winded reply, when I should of said not a lot at the moment

Ok, like me I am noticing a lot of people using external hard drives to store their precious pictures so might be worth offering some simple advice. Appreciated some people will know this.

External hard drives

Don't move them about, bump them or bang them whilst they are running which is when they are very vulnerable. Shut them down and disconnect/eject them properly and don't just pull out the cable. etc. Consider they are always running when connected.

Hardware is not designed to last forever, and you get good ones and bad ones so always assume you could lose everything at any time, what would you do? Couldn't face losing it, then back up a second time. Some software can control backups and control two drives or more so they mirror each other or share data.

I've noticed a tendancy in various forums people reporting external hard drives failing prematurely compared to those within computers. Don't immediately despair. Often this is a failure of a low quality power supply/adapter/housing rather than the drive itself. If you buy the same drives from manufacturers, you could always try a second power adapter which may be enough to get it going. If no joy, get someone who knows what they are doing, open the case and you could transplant the drive to a new casing or to the insides of your desktop computer to retrieve the data. There are other means possibly of getting the data back using software.

Mechanical failure of the drive is often as a result of knocks and bangs, but once you hear repeated clicking and the drive making odd noises trouble is on the way or has arrived.

If you do delete pictures etc. by mistake, if they are not in the Recycle Bin/trash etc then so long as you don't write data to the drives you can use specialist software to retrieve the files. The actually data is not deleted immediatly, only how your operating system (Windows etc.) knows it is there is lost.

Security. Consider having a backup of your backup stored elsewhere. If there was a disaster at home or workplace and your stuff could be lost Even if there was a burglary, would all your accounts, financial information, personal; data and images be lost or in the hands of someone else?

This was only some simple guidance, not intended to be exhaustive or an advanced guide, just a few pointers as we live in a world of cheap hardware and failures do occur and disasters do occur. Ignore it if it's teaching anyone to suck eggs.

First take two copies off the disk. (one is kept intact)

Second, view & chuck out those I don't like.

Third, see if those I like but have not been taken to my satisfaction (most) can be improved in PP, chuck those that can't and keep those that can or may in the future be needed for one reason or another including the sentimental or memory provider.

Fourth, work on those that catch the eye and save to external hard drive.

Rarely print except if asked by third party to do so, do sometimes look back at images from the past and keep on Lightroom any of the current years work I am particularly pleased with - not necessarily the best work just those I like best and may well have them printed at the end of the year as a book.

Have just bought a second HD but can't get it to work but that is a question for another part of the forum.

I check the pics on the camera before I put on the computer, once there on the comp, they stay there!! I hate deleting anything!

I keep the vast majority of my images, the ones I delete are often of the dogs when they have moved at the wrong second etc. As I shoot in RAW + JPEG, I do delete some of the RAW files of the 'snaps' of the dogs, just keeping the JPEG file.

The images I am most pleased with I host on Flickr, I have two pro accounts, one for my photography and the other for my dogs. I don't bother entering competitions or sending shots into magazines, however I have had some images in local newspapers and have sold some prints etc I have had a canvas made up of one of my photo's and another couple have been made into prints for the house

I probably should do more, but I never seem to have enough time as it is!