Organizing Your Digital Photos

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Is your computer full of digital images and scattered in kinds of different folders?

Similar to the previous post Back Up Your Digital Photos Before Its Too Late, this post will focus on organization. Not the most exciting subject, but there is nothing exciting about stressing over images you cannot find because they are saved in different locations.

Here are some suggested practices Apollo recommends following.

1. Delete your blurry images in your camera. They will not miraculously become focused just because they are on your computer. If you have enough juice in your camera battery, scroll through your images during some down time in a shoot and clean up your memory card.

Also, if your uploading program allows you to manually select which images you want to upload to your computer, delete any unwanted images. This will also help the time it takes to upload from your camera to your computer.

2. Take the time to upload your images after every shoot. Then erase the images from your card. By doing this continually not only will you be ready for your next shoot, you will get in the habit of properly organizing your images.

3. Select a folder that you will be saving your images to and always upload them to the same spot. If you have a Photos folder on your computer use it. Or create a different folder and place it on your desktop so you will always know where your images are.

Don’t forget to backup your images as soon as they are on your computer. That way if there is an error, you will still have the original image.

4. Come up with a filing system that you will stick with. Different people have different preferences on how they like to file their photos. Many people create subfolders and title them the year the photos were taken, then break it down further into months within the year.

If you are scanning photos and are unsure of the year the images were taken, we suggest creating a separate folder and title it “Scanned Photos.” Then break it down into subjects such as vacations, family, pets, etc.

5. Be as descriptive as possible when naming your photos. Instead of naming photos of your pet as Rover_1, Rover_2, etc. Be very descriptive such as Rover Sleeping, Rover Eating, etc. This will help you search through your images with ease.

6. Create a folder for edited photos. If you convert your images to black and white, create a folder and title it accordingly.

The most important thing is to stay on top of organizing your images. It takes a long time, but it can take just as long to search for an image if you do not organize properly. There are many photo organizing products available for free. Things to look for when searching for photo organizing software is editing functions such as rotation and cropping, ability to view thumbnails, batch naming, and search key words. Some may even add the dates and what camera settings you had.

Backup Digital Photos Before Its Too Late

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Much has changed from the days of film photography to digital photography. One of the most important transitions from film to digital photography is how to backup your digital photos. Negatives could easily be protected in an archival sleeve inside a binder or notebook. You can date them and store them in a safe, dry place and access them any time you need to make a print. Many people can still find their negatives from years ago within a few minutes.

When digital photography first appeared, many people were skeptical on how they should backup their images. When people started to backup their images on their computers they quickly found out how much space they took up which resulted in their computer running much slower. Also, with the potential of a computer crash or virus attack many people were looking for other alternatives to backup their photos.

A few solutions can easily ensure that your hard work will be safely secure and backed up.

1.     Make sure to save the original files. Many times people will edit images and accidentally click “save” instead of “save as” and they will overwrite the original image.

2.     Backup every image on a CD. Make however many copies you need and store one someplace accessible and the other somewhere safe off-site.

3.     With space limited on a CD, backup images on a DVD. As the latter, make two copies and store someplace safe. DVDs have far more memory than CDs but they are also pricier especially if you need to invest in a DVD burner.

4.     Make prints of your images. It’s NOT an ideal way to backup images because scanning an image can result in quality loss, but it still provides you with some protection.

5.     Numerous websites allow you to backup photos to their server and share them with your network. Size limits do apply and if you need a larger account you may have to provide a monthly or yearly fee. Flickr allows its members to upload 100MB of photos each calendar month. If you upgrade to a Pro account for $24.95 a year, members get unlimited photo storage among other perks. 

6.     External hard drives come in many shapes and sizes. USB flash drives are a handy option and easy to carry with you and you can find inexpensive drives pretty much anywhere. Larger drives hold more memory and cost a little bit more but are more reliable. Sites such as Crucial.com are excellent places to find any type of external hard drive you desire.

When you are choosing a backup method, keep in mind that technology is always changing and advancing. Just as floppy disks and pretty much zip drives are obsolete, CDs and DVDs may as well in a few years. Having multiple backup methods is a good idea. External hard drives can get viruses, broken, crash, or lost. CDs and DVDs can get scratched. Make sure to backup multiple times.