7 Tips on How to Organize Photos on Your PC's Hard Drive
It's easy to store and organize photos on your PC - just follow these steps!
It's easy and fun to organize photos. Most people enjoy having a digital camera and take quite a few photos to remember good times and events. Many people are able to get their photos downloaded to a computer and print off their favorites but most folks don't do a whole lot beyond the download and print step.
The key to organizing photos on your hard drive is to have a system of easy steps to catalog and store your memories.
Here are 7 tips that will help organize your digital photos.
1. Have a system. There are many good programs that you can use to organize photos. HP Photo Smart and Microsoft Office Picture Manager are two that come with many PCs (and iPhoto comes with the Mac). There are several applications you can download for free from the Internet (Picasa is one of the most popular) as well as programs such as Adobe Photoshop that do the job, although at $649 to start, Photoshop is not for the novice photographer.
2. Import all you photos into the system you are using. No matter which software you choose to use, make sure you move all your photos into the application. It will be confusing later to have photos stored all over your hard drive and in different applications.
3. Label all of your photos. It is important you label or "tag" each photo. Tagging your photos make them much easier to find specific photos later. Use a name that is short and to the point. For example, Uncle Bill Christmas 99 or Aunt Sue Summer Vacation 94. Try to pick words that will identify the picture easily from the comments on the tag.
4. Organize photos with folders. Folders are the key to organizing your photos. Name your folder according to event, holiday, or whatever makes sense to you and then group all the photos associated with that topic into the folder. Creating a folder for each event will make it easy for you to find specific photos quickly.
5. Edit your photos. Red eye removal and quick touch ups of lighting and coloring can be accomplished quickly and easily in the edit section of your software. Also make sure to size the photo appropriately before storing it into a folder.
6. Backup all of your photos. Make sure to back up your photos in 2 places in case one of your backup devices fails. Removable storage devices such as thumb drives are an inexpensive and reliable way to store photos. The devices are small and can easily be stored in a fireproof box or safe.
Additionally, take the time to buy a few high capacity CD/DVDs. Just pop in the disc and then drag and drop your folder with the photos to the CD-R or the CD-RW and wait a few minutes for it to transfer the images over.
7. Take your favorites and make albums or slideshows. Looking at photos is a fun way to remember an event or special time. Most software systems have a feature that will allow you to create a slide show or even a digital photo album. If not, there are also opportunities online to make digital photo albums and slideshows at sites like Flickr, Kodak Gallery, Shutterfly.com, or Snapfish.com.
There are many different methods you can use to organize photos. By setting up a system of organization you can find the exact picture you are looking for and be able to share it quickly and easily.
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