This is a photo I took of my daughter yesterday. Now that I have perfected my photo archiving system, I know I will be able to find this adorable photo in the years to come.
Since my daughter was born, my photo files have been a mess. I had pictures all over my hard drive in all kinds of haphazardly named folders. I had some photos uploaded to Facebook and Picasa. I had some uploaded to an online developing company, but the albums had random names. Some albums had duplicate photos. Like I said, it was a mess. So, I decided to get organized!
Yesterday, I spent a couple hours going through all my digital images and perfecting my photo archiving system. I decided I don’t want digital clutter. I want to save a few great shots from each month rather than a completely comprehensive collection of crappy photos. So, here is the system I came up with…
Set-up: I created a folder for each year in My Pictures. Then, for each year I created twelve folders (one for each month). The complete tracking string looks like this C:\Documents and Settings\Joy\My Documents\My Pictures\2009\03_09. Finally, I created one more folder called ‘Pending.’
Step 1: Collect photos. At the end of each month, I collect all my photos in the ‘Pending’ folder. Photos can come from my digital camera, my cell phone, my friends’ online albums, email attachments, or any other digital source.
Step 2: Purge. After I have all the photos in one place, I sort through and delete the ones that are ‘poor’ or ‘fair.’ The trick is to be ruthless. If someone has an odd expression or a tree is sprouting out of someone’s head, then the photo gets deleted. I narrow down the collection to only the photos that are ‘good’ or ‘great.’
Step 3: Edit and Crop. I love to crop my photos! I’m not sure if this is always a good idea (maybe it’s because I’ve always had less than perfect vision), but I love close-ups. This is the step where the ‘keepers’ are perfected. I use Picasa to edit my photos on my hard drive.
Step 4: Save and Upload. After all the photos have been edited, then I transfer them to the appropriate folder(s). If it has been more than a month since you archived your photos, use the List Details feature to sort your photos by date and then archive appropriately. Finally, I upload the entire folder or album to Picasa online. I name the album by the month and year (i.e. March 2009).
Step 5: Order. Once a month, I order 12-24 photos. I use Kodakgallery, but I know Snapfish and Shutterfly are also popular. I can order directly from my online Picasa site. I have a brag book that I like to keep updated that holds 24 photos. After I remove the photos from the brag book, I mail them to our friends and family members or keep a few for my daughter’s First Five Years scrapbook.
Back-up: At the end of each year, I burn a disc of all the photos in that year’s folder. I also have backup because I have uploaded them to Picasa online.
How do you archive your photos?
Smart archiving system! As for the photo — is that your daughter? She’s precious : ).
Wow, Joy! I am really impressed with your archiving system. I just wish it was as easy as it seems when reading. I think what I may do is start this system with my March 2009 photos and move forward. Over the summer, I may try to begin working on the past. Thanks for your great ideas. I love reading your blog!