Over at the Scrapbooking blog, I post a lot about photo organization. After all, there’s no way you can create a cohesive memory book layout if you can’t find pictures to match your theme.
With the advent of digital photography, snapping images has never been easier. Unfortunately, having the ability to take 183 pictures of your daughter eating her first slice of birthday cake isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be if it requires an hour of searching through computer files to locate the perfect shot. What’s more, there’s really no sense in transferring images from your camera to your computer if your files are void of labels, dates and other vital information. All it will get you is a bad headache and a bunch of wasted time and energy searching through random archives of uploaded digital images.
With 2012 just kicking off, now is the time to get a fresh start organizing all of those unprinted photos that may be residing in your camera or on your computer. Don’t let the job overwhelm you. Rather, set aside some time, take a deep breath and get ready to purge and print.
However, before you get your organizing underway, it’s a good idea to select a photo program that will help you de-clutter your camera. Picasa is one of the most user-friendly programs out there, though if you use your phone to snap most of your photos, then you might want to experiment with iPhoto. Both options are excellent choices which enable you to upload, organize and edit all of your digital images.
Once you’ve purged unwanted photos and edited the ones you want to save, you can get started organizing files. While it may be tempting to sort your images by event, you will find that it is much more efficient to organize them by date. By doing so, you will have folders which you can then place in chronological order on your computer. Later, you can add to each monthly folder noting the events that took place on individual dates. Finally, don’t forget to back up all your hard work by saving your photo files to DVD, or better yet, placing them on an external hard drive.
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