Photo Organization

I am in a scrapping slump today. I don't feel like doing layouts so I just messed around a little with a few tags. This one I made with Ranger Distress Inks. I have no idea what I'll do with it, but I'm sure it will be useful one day.

So this week, I'll be focusing on how I scrapbook. I know when I first started scrapbooking I was clueless about where to begin and how to do it. Today, I'll talk about how I organize my photos.

I have a digital camera. It is the best investment I have ever made. It takes great pictures, and since they are digital I store them on my computer. This means I don't have hundreds of pictures lying around all over the place. I organize my photos in the "My Pictures" folder of my PC. There are tons of software programs out there that can help you to organize your photos like Adobe Photoshop, Shutterfly, etc. I have used several and I like the way I do it better. It works for me. Which you should do whatever works for you.

I periodically download the photos to my computer. They are usually in folders from my camera like "156 Canon" or "157 Canon". I copy and paste them into "My Pictures." Then I make a "New Folder" and rename it with the dates of the first picture in the folder and the last picture in the folder. For example, May 8, 09 to June 8, 2009. Next, I drag the files "156 Canon" and "157 Canon" into the folder.

"My Pictures" folder on my computer has three main folders in it. "Backed Up Photos" for the ones I have already copied onto a disk. "2008" for all of the pictures I took in 2008. "2009" for all of the photos I will take this year. I like it this way because I don't like to see a bunch of folders in "My Pictures" file. I scrapbook chronologically so it works for me. I can see where I left off in my scrapbooks and go to the next folder saved in "My Pictures." I like it, too, because I can view the photos in full size and see which ones I want to print. This way, I'm not printing random photos that I won't use.

Well, I hope this was somewhat helpful. I hope it made sense. If you have any questions just let me know and I will be happy to answer them. Tomorrow, I'll talk about how I choose photos for printing and put them in layouts.