Labeling Photographs

A really important step in organizing photographs is labeling them and the categories you put them in. This is important whether you are organizing digital or traditional photographs.

Why is labeling so important? It allows you to remember what is going on the photograph years later, lets you find photographs quickly and easily, and helps other identify the photograph.

When labeling individual photographs you should include the following information: who is in the photograph, date the photograph was taken (at least the year), and where the photograph was taken (e.g. Christmas at Grandma Cooper’s house).

The best place to do this on traditional photographs is on the back of the photo with a special pencil made for writing on photographs. You can find these at any craft store. Using a regular pen or pencil can bleed through or leave marks on the photo, ruining it.

For digital photographs, you can include labeling information in the file name. This way the information will transfer if you move or copy the photo.

It is also important to label the categories you sort your photos into. Doing this will eliminate putting a photo in the wrong category and help you find photographs you are looking for.

Be specific with your labels. This makes it easier for you to find and identify photos and for others to do so as well! So happy labeling!

Holiday Gift Ideas

You have taken some great photos through the past year – not only of your immediate family, but extended family and friends. With all these memories, you want to give a meaningful and unique gift to your family and friends.

Here are five holiday gift ideas that are sure to bring a smile, laugh and even a tear to your family and friends:

1. Christmas Cards – you send cards out every year that you just pick up at the store. Well do something different this year and share your favorite family memories by creating a card using the photos you have taken of your family.
2. Family Calendar – The New Year is fast approaching. Why not give a calendar as a gift – especially if that calendar has photos of all the special people in that person’s life. You can even customize the calendar with people’s birthdays and anniversaries and other important dates. It is truly a gift they will appreciate all year.
3. Family Photo Book – A book full of photos and written memories will be something the receiver will cherish for a lifetime.
4. DVD – create a slide show with photos and music. This is a great idea to share photos of a joint vacation with family or friends. They can watch the DVD whenever they wish and share it with others.
5. Memories Poster – Don’t just give someone an 8×10 photo in a frame to put on their wall. Instead create a special poster sized photo collogue for them to enjoy.

Afraid that you do not have time to create these on your own? Contact a personal photo organizer near you to help with any of these projects.

Organize Photos By Theme

So you have decided to organize your photos; yet, you do not know how to start sorting. You’ve tried to keep everything in chronological order but you cannot seem to remember if you took that vacation before or after your daughter’s fifth birthday?

How about trying a different way to organize your photos – BY THEME!

What does organizing by theme mean? It means that instead of keeping photos in chronological order, you group them by what is happening in the photo. For example, keeping all your Christmas photos together, photos of your dog together, family portraits together, vacation photos together, etc.

Doing this will give you an easier framework to think about when organizing your photos. Instead of trying to figure out when something happened, you can organize your photos by what is going on in the photo which is often easier. Plus, it is easier to find the photos you are looking for. Want that photo from the vacation you took to Hawaii but cannot remember if you took the vacation in 2001 or 2002. No problem, just look in the Hawaii vacation folder.

Now some of your theme might be a little large (for example your Christmas folder). You will want to organize these theme themselves and chronological order might make sense. Basically the most important thing to remember is to have a logical system that allows you to quickly organize new photos and find the photos you are looking for easily.

Here are a few common themes with which to organize your photos:
•    By holiday
•    By child
•    By sporting activity
•    By season
•    By vacation

What are some themes you use to organize your photos?

How many photos did I take?

It’s your daughter’s fifth birthday and you want to capture every moment – happy moments, fun times with friends and special memories. After the party, you start to upload your photos to your computer and…wait…500 pictures. There is no way you took 500 pictures in two hours; except you did.

So why do we take so many pictures? With digital photography, it is easier than ever to take more pictures. Now, this is not necessarily a bad thing. We are capturing and saving more memories for future generations to enjoy. We are capturing better memories by being able to ensure that we capture the shot we want.

However, if our photos, which hold these precious memories, are left forgotten on our computer, unorganized, unlabeled, and not enjoyed – then what is the point of having all these memories?

So go ahead and take all those photos. But once the photo is taken (or all the photos) here are three tips for reducing them to a manageable number:

• Delete any photos immediately that have bad lighting, blurry background, etc.
• Delete any photos where the photo subjects are not looking their best – In fact do this as you are taking photos. You look at the photos on your camera and decide if you need to take another photo or not. Instead of leaving it, take two seconds and delete the photo immediately
• As you are loading your photos to your computer, look for photos that are similar. Have the same people in a photo with a similar setting? Decide which one is the better photo and delete the other

Don’t be afraid to delete photos. It’s an okay thing to do – especially if it allows you to enjoy the photos you have instead of worrying about how you are going to manage all your photos.

Still having issues letting go and organizing all these photos you have taken? Call a personal photo organizer. They will work with you to organize all the photographs you have taken.