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ARTICLE Snap Away! Organizing Digital Photographs So, you took the plunge, eh? No more loading film in the middle of a wedding ceremony? No more missed shots due to being ‘at the end of the roll?’ Congratulations! You must be the proud owner of a digital camera. For years, you’ve stored your pictures and negatives in a box, still in the envelopes they came in from the developer, eventually be placed into albums. Instead of searching through boxes, envelopes, or albums, how will you easily find those digital pictures from Aunt Bertha’s 90th birthday party or those precious shots of your kids in the tub? Get them organized! Taking the time to organize your digital photo collection is a worthwhile investment for both the present and the future. If digital pictures are not organized, specific photos become hard to find or permanently lost and the hundreds or thousands of them can get out of control pretty quickly. What to do with all of those pictures? Here are two ways to organize them: Set up folders on your hard drive Most digital cameras come with software that allows users select the images they want to download and do some minor editing. Once they’re transferred from the camera to your hard drive, they will all need a ‘home.’ A system of folders can act a functional home for your photos. Just like a folder holds documents, a folder can hold pictures as well. Before creating a system of storage folders (also known as ‘digital shoe boxes’), think about how you’ll want to store them in order for you to be able to find them when you need them. By year? By event--all weddings or birthday parties or vacations? By type--landscapes, portraits, special projects? Let’s say you’d like to store your photos by year. Step 1: Create a folder on your hard drive and give it a name (ex. ‘Digital Photos’). Step 2: Create a sub folder to be placed in the Digital Photos’ folder named ‘Photos 2005.’ Step 3: Depending upon when and how you take pictures, create a subfolder (to be placed in the folder called, ‘Photos 2005’) for either every month of the year or by event. Example of such subfolders: ‘January 2005’ or ‘Anna’s 2nd birthday party.’ The most important decision you’ll make is how to categorize your folder system. If you usually look for pictures by the month you took them in, use subfolders labeled by month. If you look for pictures by the event, then create subfolders by event. It’s not about what works best for your friend or your co-worker—it’s about what system will work best for you and help you find your pictures when you need them. Use digital photo software For those who wish to let their computer do the bulk of the work, a software program aimed at digital photography is a wise investment. Most software for organizing photos is intuitive, user friendly, and comes with a few ‘bells-and-whistles’ such as rotating, cropping or red-eye removal. One example for PC (or Mac) users is Adobe Photoshop Album or Adobe Photoshop Elements. For Mac users, iPhoto comes bundled on all new Macintosh computers and makes organizing digital photos easy for even a novice. A few digital photo organizing tips: • Download photos off your camera as soon as possible after taking pictures. Not doing so can lead to the painful realization that your memory card is full at a poor time (like your toddler’s first steps or your friend's wedding). • Don't download what you won't want to keep and show others. I like to compare it to looking at your mail over the garbage can and immediately getting rid of the junk. It’s a photographic purge—the less you have in front of you to organize, the easier it will be to get them all in order. • Name your photos. When downloading pictures from a digital camera, software programs will often import the pictures and assign them a number. Giving them a name, such as, ‘Uncle Ben at Grand Canyon’ or ‘Mattthew’s First Steps’ will enable you to find them with greater ease than if they were just labeled, “Image_419.jpg.” Back it up! Last but not least—do not forget to create a backup file of all of your pictures! There are no negatives with digital photographs. Don’t keep all photos on your hard drive—they quickly take up a ton of space and can be lost forever if your computer crashes. An easy way to back up and store copies of your pictures is to burn them onto a CD or DVD and store them in a safe deposit box or fire-proof safe. Now that you have all the tools you need to organize your visual memories—start snapping away! *Browse the Article Archive for Organized Artistry's time, money, and sanity-saving tips and ideas...
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Editors/Publishers:You are granted permission to publish the above article in its entirety provided that the following 'footer' is included after each article: Article by Stacey Agin Murray, professional organizer and owner of Organized Artistry, LLC. Visit http://www.organizedartistry.com for your FREE e-list of 'Top Ten Tips for Organized Living.' A courtesy copy e-mailed or snail mailed to the address below is appreciated. | ||||||||||
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Organized Artistry LLC • PO Box 2682 Fair Lawn, NJ 07410 • 201.703.8438 stacey@organizedartistry.com | ||||||||||
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