Organizing Digital Pictures | Family Economics

By Trisha

We have them on our phones, in our camera’s memory card, on tablets, laptops and desktops - yes, I’m talking about digital pictures.

With the advancement of technology I have discovered that I no longer have a pile of 35mm rolls of film waiting to be developed but rather digital pictures in a variety of locations in need of an organized system for easy retrieval as well as a system that is simple to manage. Here is what I came up with:

Choose a storage system – There are two options to choose from. The first is an online photo processor who offers storage options for your digital images such as Shutterfly.com, Snapfish.com, photobucket.com or flickr.com. One advantage to using online photo storage is the ease to share your photos with friends and family. Be sure to read their rules and fine print.

Your second option is to use digital photo software that allows you to store, organize and edit your photos on your computer, such as iPhoto for Macs or Adobe Photoshop. If you choose this option, be sure you have a back-up method so you do not lose your pictures if your system crashes.

Delete – Digital picture taking has reduced the expense of printing each and every picture that we take, only to discover that we now take more pictures of the same thing over and over to be sure that we captured the memory. This means we need to use our delete button and begin deleting all of the unwanted pictures that we have taken. You can do this before or after downloading the photos into your storage option.

Sort – Choose how you want to sort your photo files. You can either choose to sort by event, date (year or month) or even both such as “Summer 2012.”

Label photos – Name your photos when you download them into your storage system/files.  Use descriptive words that help you easily retrieve your pictures. If you use only the word “Birthday” yet have a birthday each year, how will you know which birthday it is? Be more specific by using dates and description such as “YYYYMMDD - Sally 5th Birthday.”

Save – If you have chosen to store your pictures on your computer, then it is important to back up your pictures onto a CD or to an external hard drive so that they are not lost if the unthinkable should happen: a computer crash or virus.

Start now – Before your computers and other picture taking gadgets are overloaded with pictures, schedule time on your calendar to begin the process of organizing your digital pictures.

How do you organize your digital pictures?