There was a time when I enjoyed designing our family’s annual Christmas photo card. Back then all I had to do was find a single stunner, place it on the card and BAM!–done. These days, though, some card designs allow you to feature six or more different pictures. So many choices, so little time.
This time of year I typically kick myself for not being as organized. I have a semi-method behind my madness, but it’s nothing to brag about. Whether you’re trying to get vacation, birthday, or wedding shots in order, it’s important to have a system that makes sense to you. After all, having multiple folders full of random photos is not an efficient way to file images, which you may need to access in a hurry. For example, adding your daughter’s kindergarten graduation pictures to the same folder that contains shots of your husband’s hunting vacation is probably not a good idea unless both events took place in the same month.
Some photographers swear by the folder-a-month system. They create a folder for every month and place their existing photos into the appropriate folder. I prefer to organize images according to events, such as “vacations,” “family reunions,” and “seasonal memories.”
You can also make folders for future months, seasons, or events to encourage future organizing. You might also consider employing common tools, such as the “My Pictures” folder (for PC users) and iPhoto (for Mac users).
If you have an iPhone and use it as your primary camera, you could consider installing an app, which allows you to upload your iPhone photos to an existing online photo account. The same service is available for Facebook photos. By having your photos in one place, you can make full use of your organizing skills, and you’ll be able to locate a specific image without having to sift through thousands of photos in the process.
How do you organize your photos?
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