Quick Tip #3:
Organize your photos
with a simple system
You'll be able to create pages quickly and easily with your
photos organized and accessible. I'll first review Photoshop
Elements' organization features, but for many of us,
event folders still work great. You may want to use
Elements' features for new downloads, but handle your
backlog with event folders.
The system I recommend here dovetails perfectly with my
tips for creating Fusion Albums, which you'll find in
Quick Tip #4.
PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS PHOTO ORGANIZATION includes several features that can become part of your downloading
process. On a PC, the photos download automatically using the "Organizer," and on a Mac, they use "Bridge."
Photos are downloaded into files based on download date. You can give each photo "keyword tags" that will make
finding them later a snap. You can even rate your favorite photos.
That being said, you may not want to take the time to index every photo in your digital backlog this way. So here's a
quick, tried-and-true method with virtually no learning curve.
START ANYWHERE. There's no rule that says you must start organizing images starting with your oldest ones. Begin
with any year you like. But organize a whole year from January to December for a sense of accomplishment. You are
then free to begin to plan the modern digital scrapbook pages for that year, or to tackle another year.
1. Create a folder titled "My Photos" and drag every photo into it.
2. Within "My Photos," create a folder for every year. Title them, for example, "2007 Photos." They will appear in
numerical order within your "My Photos" folder.
3. Within each year's folders, create folders for every month. For example "01 January 2007," "02 February 2007,"
etc. Noting the month number first will keep the months in order.
4. Within each month's folder, create folders for specific events, such as "Olivia BDay 2007." Don't try to keep
events in order within each month.
5. With each month's folder, create an "Everydays" folder for photos not related to events.
6. Within each event folder, create a "Scrap" folder for the best photos and a "Sleeve" folder for the rest.
You'll understand why when you read about Fusion Albums (Quick Tip #4). Trash the images that are truly unusable
(underexposed, blurry, etc.) or that are nearly identical to other photos.
7. When you have sorted a year's worth of photos, burn two CDs for each year. Store one at home and one offsite.
MORE ABOUT STORAGE. External hard drives can store a lifetime of photos. You should periodically copy your
photos to an external hard drive, but remember to also store one copy offsite (hopefully, you won't need it). There are
also many "online storage" websites to which you can upload your photos. Some of these are free when you use their
services to print (such as Costco.com) and some are fee-based. If I used online storage, I
would also have my own storage media physically accessible.
NOTE: Some retail photo printers store your photos online only as long as you are an active customer;
they may delete them if you don't order a print in a certain period of time (a year, for example).
Be sure to check this out before relying on a retailer for online storage.
THE SHOEBOX SOLUTION: CONVERTING PAPER PHOTOS TO DIGITAL IMAGES
1. GATHER AND BOX all photos in an acid-free "Banker's Box." A good source for acid-free supplies is
archivalmethods.com. You'll probably also find it helpful to have several sizes of envelopes handy. If you have a large
number of 4 X 6 photo prints, acid-free shoebox-sized boxes are readily available at retailers like
Target and
Michaels.
2. SORT PHOTOS BY YEAR. If you don't know the exact year for every print. just take an educated guess. The more
photos you sort, the easier it will be to figure out the chronology.
3. SORT EACH YEAR BY EVENTS AND PEOPLE and place in envelopes.
4. DIGITIZE THE IMAGES by scanning them yourself or using a scanning service. If you choose a commercial scanning
service, be sure you specify what resolution you want the files saved at (I recommend 300 dpi), and how the
images will be organized on CDs. Some even offer a printed thumbnail index. Check out digmypix.com for an overview
of scanning issues.
5. SAVE ORIGINALS IN AN ACID-FREE ENVIRONMENT.
6. ORGANIZE DIGITAL FILES INTO FOLDERS using the same system described above..
... Just make sure you enjoy them ... now!
Fusion Albums incorporate photo sleeve pages as well as modern digital scrapbook pages. If you can't digitize your old
prints at the moment, just put them into clear, archival photo sleeves in your new Fusion Albums. There are even fun
ways to add simple journaling to your sleeve pages — check out Snap Sheets in the Studio Boutique. The most important
thing is to bring them into your life ... one way or another.
