Photo Organization Archives - Page 3 of 9

Sep 22 2017

Calling All Photo Organizers: What Type of Genealogist Are You?

Every one of us who is organizing and saving our photos is, in some sense, a genealogist. Which type are you? This post is sponsored by Vivid-Pix™, a proud sponsor of 2017 Save Your Photos Month.

Genealogists make a career capturing a story so that future generations can learn about us. Even though there may be photos that we don’t want to be remembered, those are the ones with the best stories to be told! Unfortunately, not every family has a genealogist, but every family wants to share their memories with generations to come.

Each One of Us Is A Genealogist

I never thought of myself as a genealogist, but in the world of old family photos, memorabilia, connecting with our past, and ensuring treasured memories are shared with future generations, we have all become “genealogists.” We all have a different perspective on how we will fulfill this responsibility. As we used to print everything, these prints and documents (news clippings, etc) are fading.

We need to scan and revive our history so that it will remain available in the digital world – and not fade to oblivion.

But, I’m not a professional, just your everyday member of a family, so the idea of tackling this task seems overwhelming and costly.

Awesome or Awful?

Completing this task doesn’t have to be awful – it can actually be a lot of fun. I’ve had a great time learning about my past and reliving the moments with loved ones. AND, easy-to-use technology is making it, well, easy to accomplish the scanning, restoring, and sharing of your precious memories and legacy.

A picture says a thousand words and video speaks at 30 frames per second. Enjoy these videos on how 4 types of “genealogists” are solving their journeys – and having fun!

The Family Historian

Every life is a story worth telling and remembering. It isn’t just history – it’s family.

Calling All Photo Organizers: What Type of Genealogist Are You? | SaveYourPhotos.org — Photo Credit: Vivid-Pix

The Creative

Explore and be creative with your craft or hobby.

The Memory Keeper

Be Prepared – Not Sorry. Disasters large and small happen anytime.

The Connector

Collect Memories. Connect Lives.

Enjoy!

Rick Voight is a lifelong snapshooter, who has been in the imaging business for a few decades. “Rick, Randy, and a few excellent people” created Vivid-Pix™ to make it easy for customers to get and share better photos. Vivid-Pix patented and proprietary software’s follow the slogan created a century ago – “you press the button, we do the rest”.

At HP, Rick helped create the Retail Publishing Solutions division – connecting home, store and online – delivering photos and gifts in minutes, in an hour, and in a few days. At Kodak, he enjoyed working with just about every class-of-trade, developed relations and promotions with local, regional, national, and international sporting teams, theme parks, and organizations; creating new technologies and revenues.

Rick is a volunteer and board member working with multiple non-profit organizations.

Sep 20 2017

Save Your Photos: Sort Your Digital Photos

Once you “backup the mess,” the time has come to sort your digital photos.

Start With A Backup

One more step before you start collecting your images. Let’s get a backup in place. We’ll elaborate on a healthy, long-term backup strategy in a few days. For now, you want to have an external hard drive setup to backup your mess.

Yes, that right. Let’s backup the chaos!

We recommend an automatic backup to your external drive, and you want this in place before you start moving digital photos.

Now you can proceed by collecting images from all the devices and locations you indicated during your ‘hunt and gather’ inventory stage. You may find it helpful to work in stages, one device at a time. Check each device off your list so you don’t forget anything.

The ‘To Organize’ Folder

As you bring each set of digital photos into your ‘to organize’ folder, keep events or months together. For example, don’t just dump 1,475 images from your camera roll into your folder. Use your smartphone’s built-in app to identify groupings like months, events or collections.

Once you have a group of photos in your ‘to organize’ folder, you want to give the images a quick review and remove all photos that don’t need to be in your collection. Pictures of a receipt for business and the lunch photo you posted on Instagram are examples of the clutter you want to get rid of right away. Get rid of anything that you know for sure, isn’t a ‘keeper.’

Before you organize your digital photos, backup the mess! #saveyourphotos Click To Tweet

Next, create a folder and give the folder a name that represents the group of photos that will go into it. Your folder name should begin with a numeric sequence that represents the year first, followed by the month. An example might be 2016-01 for January 2016. Inside that folder; you can create themed or event folders to break it down further if you want, depending on your volume of photos. The name of that folder should begin with a numeric sequence that represents the year followed by the month, followed by the event or theme.

Here is an example of what this looks like.

Renaming Digital Photos

You can take this one step further by renaming each photo inside the folders. You can work in batches without the use of any additional software, and you’ll want to include ‘who, what, where’ in your filename. When you batch rename photos in your folder, your system assigns a numerical appendage to your image filename. Ultimately, each image ends up with a unique filename.

Here is an example of the filenames for one of the folders listed above.

2016-01-Grandpa Jim’s 80th Birthday
   >2016-01-25-Birthday-Jim Smith-Florida_001.jpg
   >2016-01-25-Birthday-Jim Smith-Florida_002.jpg
   >2016-01-25-Birthday-Jim Smith-Florida_003.jpg
   >2016-01-25-Birthday-Jim Smith-Florida_004.jpg
   >2016-01-25-Birthday-Jim Smith-Florida_005.jpg

Once you completed this step, it’s time to move your newly organized folder out of the ‘to organize’ folder and into its rightful place in the main folder structure of your central hub.

If you have to take a break, return to your ‘to organize’ photos and continue working. With this system, you can quickly identify where you have left off.

Repeat until all of your photos are in your hub. Next week we’ll discuss quick ways to eliminate duplicates.

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.

Sep 13 2017

A Green(er) Memory Footprint: Helping the Environment While Preserving Your Photos

I was having coffee with a friend who asked me what to do about her “memory footprint.” Memory footprint? Huh? That was new a term to me.

She went on to explain that she is the family historian. Collecting family photos, scrapbooking and watching old home movies are her favorite things to do in her spare time. (No wonder I like this lady! We have a lot in common!) But as her collection grows and technology changes, she is beginning to wonder about the impact it has on the environment and what she can do to reduce her, as she calls it, “memory footprint.”

Specifically, she asked about what to do with old VHS tapes, CDs and DVDs once they had been converted to digital format. What about old photos and slides, too? What’s the best practice for preserving printed and digital photos? Thankfully, as a personal photo organizer and keeper of my family’s…”memory footprint,” I had already traveled the path to a greener footprint for managing memories and could help my friend with answers to her questions and more.

Start Local

Recycling practices vary based on the local sanitation company. My friend and I live in the same city and our local service allows digitally printed photos to be put in the recycling bin because they recycle mixed and glossy papers. Unfortunately, the other stuff—this includes negatives, VHS, CDs, DVDs, films, slides, etc—cannot be recycled locally and must go in the traditional trash. If this is your only option, please consider shredding items before trashing to protect your privacy.

Tear Test

You’ll notice that I said “digitally printed photos” can be recycled. Chances are your more recent photos printed at a big-box store or a pharmacy are digital prints. Digital prints can be recycled because images captured by digital cameras do not require photographic chemicals to print. There is a quick test that you can do to determine if the photo can be recycled according to Earth911. Simply tear the photograph. If it rips cleanly, you have a digital print for the recycling bin. Or, if it rips in layers, you have an older photo which cannot be added to the recycling bin.

A Green(er) Memory Footprint: Helping the Environment While Preserving Your Photos | SaveYourPhotos.org — The tear test

Can you recycle your photos? Do the tear test to find out! #saveyourphotos Click To Tweet

Recycle Your Memory Footprint

I have found a responsible and secure resource for disposing of technotrash—including CDs, DVDs, VHS tapes, black-and-white film (e.g. photographic film negatives, instant film, 8mm, etc.). They even take floppy-disks! Simply box it up and ship it to GreenDisk.com where your obsolete materials will be safely and securely destroyed or recycled. There is a fee for recycling these items, but the benefit is that the chemicals and non-biodegradable items stay out of the landfills and makes our world a little greener.

My friend was so excited because this removed a big box of technotrash from the corner of her office, giving her room for a new comfy chair.

Reduce Your Memory Footprint

My friend admitted that she doesn’t plan to eliminate her photo collection entirely and that she wants options for reducing her use of traditional printed materials. We talked about how to store photos, share digital photos and find eco-friendly print materials.

Use Archival-Quality Materials

Once you have narrowed down your collection and properly disposed of unwanted materials, your collection should be stored in archival-quality boxes or albums to protect it for years to come. Additionally, the production of the archival-quality materials uses fewer chemicals making it more environmentally friendly and easier to recycle both the production by-products and the paper itself.

Share Digitally

The digital age has made it easier than ever to store and share your photo collection. Old photos and videos can be scanned and added to your digital collection. A few ideas for sharing digital images include:

Forever.com offers permanent, private and secure storage with convenient family sharing.

Digital frames with Wi-Fi, such as NixPlay, make it easy to share digital photos from your phone to anywhere in the world to a high-resolution display.

Electronic greetings can be personalized with your photos and sent using email. Smilebox has some great designs for greetings, invitations, collages and slideshows.

Eco-friendly Printing

For those favorite photos, look for products which include eco-friendly materials. For example, MPIX offers papers with post-consumer recycled content for greeting cards. Additionally, their photo books and bamboo prints are Forest Stewardship Council certified to ensure that you are purchasing environmentally appropriate materials.

Reuse

We also brainstormed some ideas to reuse her materials. After all, maybe those old materials still have some life in them. Consider sharing prints with the other people in the picture. Or, look around on Pinterest at all the fun DIY projects for repurposing old slides, slide carousels and movie reels. My friend isn’t quite the DIY crafter-type (I even think she rolled her eyes at me!), I suggested she consider posting her collection on Freecycle or Ebay to make it available to crafters and artists. Remember one man’s trash is another man’s treasure! For example, here are a couple of fun upcycled items I found on Etsy.

Movie Lover Clock, by Pixel This

Recycled Slide Carousel, by Mollydog Designs

Whether you want to recycle, reduce or reuse your photos, slides and videos, this list will help you shift to a green(er) way to save, share and enjoy your “memory footprint.”

If you have a resource that you love or know of a service within the evolving “green economy,” please share in the comments. If you have questions, need to find eco-friendly solutions or need help eliminating a pile of technotrash from the corner of your office, contact the Association of Personal Photo Organizers (APPO) to find a photo organizer near you.

Andrea Sims is a certified member of APPO and the owner of Your Story. Share It! She is passionate about celebrating memories with photos. After many years of scrapbooking as a hobby and volunteering with school yearbook staffs—first as a student and later as a parent—she decided to become a photo organizer. Being a photo organizer gives her the opportunity to help other people enjoy their photos and share their stories—all from a green(er) perspective.

Sep 06 2017

Save Your Photos: Digital Photo Folder Structure

Create a ‘holding tank’ for your messy digital photos in the folder structure of your digital photo hub. Your ‘to-be-organized’ folder is your ‘dumping ground’ for all the images you bring in from devices, camera cards, the scanner, etc.

Create Some Structure in Your Life

Now that you’ve chosen your digital photo hub, let’s create some structure. We recommend a folder structure that is scalable, and easy to understand.

For example, a dated folder structure is predictable and easy to maintain because today’s digital images have dates embedded. Themed folders with no ‘dated’ structure work better for old scanned photos that are hard to date. Use a numerical file name for your folders which allows your computer to sort your folders in date order. Here is an example of a scalable folder structure that incorporates both:

Create a Holding Tank: To-Be-Organized

Eventually, your sorted images will go into this folder structure, but first, we need to create a ‘holding tank’. This one folder in your hub will denote images that need sorting. Your ‘to-be-organized’ folder is your ‘dumping ground’ for all the images you bring in from devices, camera cards, the scanner, etc.

Start to Sort

Once you have your structure in place, you can start pulling in images from all your devices. Next week we’ll give you some specific tips to help streamline this work so don’t jump in just yet.

Stand Alone File Structure

One final thought about the importance of this structure. You will notice that we haven’t introduced any photo organizing software yet. We believe this structure is a ‘friendly’ option for everyone and ensures that your workflow is software independent. If you aren’t currently using a software program to organize your photos, the added learning curve may slow you down or paralyze you. We’ll teach you how to organize your photos without a specific software and we’ll leave the decision to introduce software up to you.

Aug 30 2017

Save Your Photos: Create Your Digital Photo Hub

Your digital photo hub is the one location where you will store all your original images. Designating a ‘hub’ is the key to keeping your photos organized and backed up.

Choosing your digital photo hub is the most important decision you will make when organizing your digital pictures, so let’s dig in.

Your Digital Photo Hub = Your Digital Home

You’re going to create a digital photo hub to store every photo (and video) you take including your soon-to-be-digitized prints and home movies. Your ‘hub’ will be the ‘home location’ for your entire memory collection and can be a master folder on your computer hard drive, an external hard drive or in some cases a cloud-based location. When you have a designated hub, you will find it easy to backup your memory collection and you will simplify your workflow significantly.

Create a single digital hub for all of your digital photos and videos. #saveyourphotos Click To Tweet

Things to Think About

Here are a few things to consider when choosing your ‘hub.’

1. Does your hub have the capacity to expand?

Chances are, you’ll continue to take photos and videos. If you locate your hub on an external hard drive or your computer, then you need to ensure you have ample storage space for your existing images and your future ones. High-resolution images and videos require a lot of space, so choose wisely.

2. Is your hub accessible and within your complete control at all times?

You should have access to your photos whenever you need to which means your hub needs to be stored locally, and not online. The only exception to that rule is if you are living an entirely mobile life where you aren’t tethered to a home computer.

Cloud Questions

Mobile devices don’t have the capacity to store your entire collection, making a cloud-based solution your only option. If you need to choose an online service, pick a reputable established provider and read the fine print. Ask about privacy (protecting your image info), photo ownership, data stripping (removing your metadata or compressing your images) data mining (sharing your personal info for advertising purposes) and how you retrieve your images if you decide to ‘break up’ with your provider. Some online services make you pay to download your own pictures. Buyer beware!

What’s In a Name?

Finally, give your hub a name that makes it easy to locate. Smith Family Memories is a good example. My Pictures or Pictures is a little too vague.