Digital Photo Organization

July, 2012

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Hello Everyone!

Taking photos is a wonderful way to capture memories.  Back in the day we had to have a camera if we wanted to take a picture.  Today we can take pictures with a smart phone, an IPAD, and a digital camera. Therefore, pictures can be sitting on many different devices! The memories you so wanted to capture can only be enjoyed if you remember to download the photos from the device, organize and file the photos so you can find them when needed and save the photos in a "safe" place. 

This month we are going to talk about organizing and saving photos digitally.  Next month we are going to talk about organizing all those photos you have all over the house! 

 Once you have downloaded the pictures on your computer, it is important to organize them so that you can find them easily when you need to. 

When you are downloading the pictures, you should have an option to save them in a file.  Download a group of related pictures and save them in an appropriate file name.  If you are going to have several files that are similar, be specific as possible when you are naming the file.

For example: if you are saving pictures from a birthday, be sure and specify whose birthday it is and what year.  

Suzy's 10th Bday 2012 is a much better file name than Suzy 10 or

Bday 2012. 

Another way to attack the filing is by creating folders with the year and creating sub-folders with more specific names. 

For example your main folder is 2012 and under 2012 you have file names of Suzy's 10th Birthday, Christmas, Beach Vacation, etc.

If there are miscellaneous pictures of family members, set up a file for that person so you can quickly download a random picture, unrelated to any occasion.  However, just like any Miscellaneous file, you need to be very picky about what goes in that file.

Misc. Suzy Pictures

Many times when I am downloading pictures, I go ahead and edit them.  This comes in handy when you need to quickly share a picture with someone. If you edit, while you are downloading, you don't have to spend a lot of time editing prior to sending the picture out....it is ready to go.

One of the best tips I can give you about organizing photos is don't organize them all! 

DELETE SOME PHOTOS!

Yep, it is not a sin to delete a photo of someone you love.  If you have 30 shots that look similar, pick your favorite 5 and delete the rest.  In the future, you are going to enjoy looking at 5 pictures that make you smile as opposed to wading through so many pictures.  

 There are a lot of places to SAVE digital photos.

One place is an external hard drive similar to the one pictured below. This hard drive is physically attached to your computer. This method requires you to remember to manually copy the photos to the hard drive or set up regular intervals for the hard drive to automatically back up your photos.  Hard drives may be purchased at any computer store or office supply store.

Another place to SAVE digital photos is onto DVD discs.  Again this requires you to manually load the pictures onto a disc and most importantly label the disc correctly identifying specifically what photos are downloaded onto that particular disc.

SAVING your photos in "the cloud" is made possible with a couple of programs that will "house" the photos for you.  Consider it an off site storage unit for your photos. 

This is a good option because you can look at the photos from any computer and you can retrieve the photos should something happen to your computer.  Many of these programs have automatic back up to save you from having to manually back them up!

Some of these programs charge for unlimited space and other programs allow you to have limited space for free and then you pay for an upgrade to have unlimited space.

With these programs you can store your photos as well as share them easily with family and friends.

(Click on any of the program names and you will be taken to their website for more information)

CARBONITE 

DROPBOX

GOOGLE PICASA

IPHOTO

(this program is for MACs exclusively)

The following programs allow you to make cards, books or other creative items with your photos along with being able to share them easily with family and friends.

SHUTTERFLY

SNAPFISH

I am sure there are other programs but this will get you started.  The key for all of this is taking the time to do it which means you need to schedule the time!

You will regret not scheduling the time if something happens to your computer or devices where photos are stored.  You will not regret taking the time to download, organize and store photos when you are able to look back and share precious memories for years to come.

I hope this information has proven to be helpful.  If you need any additional information, help organizing your digital photos or help with any of your organizational needs, give me a call.

Happy De-Cluttering!

Peggy

 Clever Container has some fantastic organizing products for all areas of your home.

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BLACK FLORAL COLLAPSIBLE CUBES

Check out all our products on my website:

www.clevercontainer.com/peggybarnes

Representative ID: 307

 Within 20 minutes of sending out my June newsletter, I read an article about a new program that I thought would be a great add-on to my information about e-mail clutter.

The program is called FOLLOWUPTHEN.  If you have an e-mail that you need to follow up on but maybe not right that second but need to be reminded about it 1 day, 1 week or even two weeks from now, you forward it to your account at FOLLOWUPTHEN and you will be sent an

e-mail to remind you to follow up on the e-mail! 

For example:  I will have an e-mail that I should follow up on within 3 days.  I forward the e-mail to 3days@followupthen.com.  In 3 days, I receive an e-mail reminder to take action on that e-mail!

Great way to stay organized and not have to dig back through e-mails to remember to follow up on them in a timely fashion.

PEGGY BARNES

 phone: 252.670.2951