When you choose photo organizing software, you need to consider your comfort level with technology, your operating system, your time, and most importantly, your lifestyle.
We are ready to start talking about photo organizing software, and we have so much to cover we’re breaking this down into two parts.
Take a deep breath!
Are Your Ready For Photo Organizing Software Yet?
Before we discuss all of your options, let’s pause to consider your ‘readiness level.’ Some of you may be entirely satisfied at this stage of the organizing process. Your images are stored in your photo hub in your folder structure, and they have one automated backup in place. You can use the search bar in your operating system to find a picture by name (remember, you gave your photos some basic who, what, where details when renamed) or you can visually search your folders to find them.
Is this good enough for you? Then it’s time to move forward.
Adding photo organizing software at this point has several benefits:
- Your photo viewing experience is enhanced
- You can add a deeper layer of organization with keywords or tags, smart albums or collections
- You can edit photos and apply filters
- You can identify favorites with ratings
- You can caption and in some cases journal information
The downside is, you may have a learning curve and financial investment to consider. Or you may run into some tech challenges depending on the age of your operating system or the speed and connectivity of your internet.
Desktop or Cloud-Based?
If you’re ready to proceed, you’ll need to decide whether you want a desktop or a cloud-based photo organizer. There are pros and cons to either.
A desktop photo organizer is an app or software program that you download to your computer. The upside, of course, is your ability to access and organize your photos without an internet connection. On the downside, your photos are only accessible in one location, unless you find a software program that syncs across multiple devices.
An online photo organizer resides in the cloud, and you upload your photo collection. The upside is you can access images from any device, easily share images and albums with others and you have a secondary backup in place by having a copy of your images off site. On the downside, your accessibility and ease of use depend entirely on the quality and capacity of your internet connection.
Which one makes the most sense to you?
Next we’ll look at both options a little closer and we’ll provide some important features to look for.
Sign up today for more great photo organizing tips directly in your email box.
We also invite you to visit our sister blog The Photo Organizers for more tips and in-depth knowledge from some of the top photo organizing industry professionals. To find a photo organizer near you, visit the Association of Personal Photo Organizers.
Leave a Reply