Managing Your Digital Photo Explosion
by Susan Ayers Walker
Remember your first Brownie camera? Mine could only take eight pictures! How times have changed. Back then I was so careful to select the right moment and light to capture that precious image.Today, my small mega-pixel digital camera can take 1,000 pictures on its flash card and slips in my pocket to be ready at a moment’s notice. However, managing all those extra photos can be a real headache. Here are some tips on managing today’s image library more efficiently.
To Save or not to Save
One of the first ways to simplify the process of managing your digital photos is to delete the shots you do not need. The easiest way to do this is to download all the images in your camera and review them on your computer, then delete the ones you consider unusable. These may be shots that are over- or under-exposed, duplicates of the same shot, blurry pictures or those un-flattering ones that add too many pounds or catch people with their eyes closed, or cannot be fixed with some simple cropping or photo editing. Although your digital camera probably has a delete button, wait and delete photos on your computer. This way you will avoid deleting the wrong picture, or hitting the "delete all" button by accident. Besides, it is really hard to judge the quality of a shot by looking at that tiny screen on your camera.
Naming Your Photos
Try to name your photos as part of your downloading routine. Typically digital cameras label photos with a long dull numeric like CIMG057760. This label makes that picture almost impossible to find quickly when you want to email that cute picture of your new puppy to a friend. So try giving individual pictures descriptive names that are easy to recognize quickly. If you use a naming method that is pretty consistent then photos are easy to file, copy, re-group and share later; for example, using the "name_place_action" convention like "Jenny_Maui_beach.jpg" or "Jenny_Kauai_surfing.jpg", filed in a "My Pictures" folder called "2007_June_ Hawaii," has meaning.
Easy Photo Editing
Basic photo editing software is free and usually comes packaged with your camera. However my favorite continues to be the easy to use, free software available from Google called Picasa™. For the Mac user there is iPhoto, the image manager that Apple supplies free for all Mac users. Both Picasa and iPhoto have basic cropping, scaling, rotating, brightness, red-eye removal, importing, and exporting and photo management. For the digital photographer who is into creative editing beyond-the-basics but wants a friendly software interface, and support, Adobe® Photoshop® Elements 6.0 is available for a reasonable price.
Archive and Backup
After you download, name, edit and file your digital images to your hard drive, it is time to burn (copy) them to a DVD or CD. However, make two copies; this is inexpensive and a handy backup if you scratch your primary archive disk you will not lose your special photos. If you cherish special images, store that second copy at a different location.Another method of archival is on a separate disc drive that you use for regular data backups. I do not recommend USB or "thumb drives" for this because they are small and get lost easily. Some people use photo-sharing websites as backup, but this is not recommended because you are not guaranteed protection for your images if the photo-sharing website decides to change their business direction. Finally, remove the archived images from your hard drive that you do not plan to use often to reclaim the space for more photos.
Digital cameras are now so small and handy I carry one with me where ever I go. It is fun to capture the moment having coffee with a friend or a pretty flower or sunset during a late afternoon walk. Have fun and enjoy the freedom without having to worry about being overwhelmed by your digital library.
