Friday, January 29, 2016

Photo Organizing Tips by Tracy McLennon

Design Team member Tracy McLennon is sharing some terrific photo organizing tips today!

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As a scrapbooker, I take an abundance of photos to serve my hobby.
But like everyone, I will not use nearly half of the photos that I take. I
wanted to share some of my tips, as to how I keep my photos and
image files under control.

Before they go to print:

1. In the days of digital photography, we have things pretty easy.
We can take as many photos as our memory card allows. Back
in the day, with the cost of film and processing it....we thought
long and hard about every image.  So with that said, my first tip is
not to upload ALL of the photos that you take to your computer.
The useless, blurry blink shots will just take up space. You can
do this by either deleting the duds right on your camera, or
simply pick and choose when uploading.

2. Depending on what photo editing program you upload your photos
into, your folders are probably categorized differently. I label my
photos so that it will be easy to find specific photos at a later
date. So generally I name my photos per season, for example
"Winter 2014". If I have a specific event, where I take a great
deal of photos, then I will have a sub folder inside named
accordingly, separating those photos.

3. When it comes time to archive your photos to keep your photos safe
over time, here are a couple of things that I do. First is, I burn
those photos files to DVDs. Then as seen in the photo below, I
write exactly what folders/photos are on that DVD. Then I have
CD/DVD albums that I store them in. Another back-up that you
could look into as almost insurance for your memories, is to
invest in an external hard drive to store your photos. Then keep it
in a separate place than the DVDs that you have burned.


Then we come to organizing your photos after they are printed. As a
scrapbooker, I personally don't put photos directly into albums. They
wait to be scrapbooked. I keep the majority of my photos in a photo
case separated in envelopes that are labelled, much like the folders
on my computer.


Any leftover photos get put into acid free photo boxes and are stored
in a warm, dry place. I keep mine in the spare bedroom closet.
Moisture can do a number on photographs, so storing them in the
basement or the attic, is not a great idea for longevity.

Another step you could take before storing your extra photos would be
to label the back of them, with Who, What, Where and When. That
way future generations will be able to look at the back and have all the
information that they need.

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Please visit our Design Team Gallery to view Tracy’s beautiful work.

For full descriptions of our kits, subscription information, and more, visit our website at MyCreativeScrapbook.com

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