With more than half of the world’s population walking around with a camera in their pocket, thanks to smartphones, we can’t even imagine the number of photos being taken every single day. When compared to the analog period, the quantity of photographs that can now be taken is staggering.
Nevertheless, it is of little value to have so many photos if you subsequently forget where you have them. On the other hand, if you have your pictures in order, you may quickly find what you’re looking for, use less space, and prevent data loss.
1. Decide Where You Will Store Your Photos
Long gone is the time when we stored our photos in photo albums, on the bookshelf, or somewhere in a drawer. With digital photos, most people store them on their smartphones or computers, and this is a sure way to create a mess and be unable to find what you are looking for. This is why you must find a better way to store, and, most importantly back up your photos.
A common way to back up your photos is using an external hard drive, which you can lock away safely. You can copy all of your photos on one or several hard drives, which will allow you to restore the pictures in case your computer crashes. You can also store your photos in the cloud. Some services provide free data storage for up to a specific amount. However, for additional security and other benefits, it’s a better idea to look for the best cloud storage for photos. As your photo collection grows, you will be able to add more storage space, and the services may even provide tools to assist you with photo management.
However, you don’t have to pick one alternative over another. If you back up your photo files in both physical storage devices and online cloud storage services your photos will be even safer. Depending on your needs—whether you are a professional photographer, a blogger, or you snap pictures for fun—you can use a service offering both types of storage, or you can use a hard drive and a simple cloud storage service.
2. Name Your Photos
Give your photos meaningful names while storing and managing your collection for better organization. Of course, you can name each photo regularly, but when you have thousands of images to catalog, it’s much more efficient to give each set of photos a generic name and then number them sequentially. For instance, to keep track of your vacation snaps, you can label each set with the destination’s name and use software that can automatically sequence them.
3. Use Folders and Subfolders
Depending on your needs, separating files into various folders and subfolders may or may not be beneficial. For instance, if you use photos frequently for business, it can be helpful to organize your files into subfolders so that you can quickly find the specific images you need. Or, if you’re a travel blogger, organizing your digital images into folders based on the locations you’ve visited can be helpful.
You can separate landscape photos from people’s photos by using subfolders within the location folder. These methods will allow you to organize your photos flexible and specific manner. If you only need your photos for personal use, you will benefit from a simpler solution, like creating folders according to the year, the location, or the occasion.
4. Use Tags
To make it even easier to find all of the files in your collection that have a particular characteristic, you can use tags. Most photo management programs make it simple to look through your collection based on criteria like color or subject matter. In addition, geolocation data embedded in digital images make the process of locating certain snapshots even simpler.
5. Delete Duplicates and Blurry Photos
When it comes to digital photographs, many people skip over the crucial organizing step of editing the images. It’s not necessary to save every photo you take, even if you have the option to do so because of the convenience of having them readily accessible on your device.
However, photos that are blurry, badly taken, or a repetition, only create clutter. When trying to narrow down a large photo collection to its greatest shots, editing is essential. By finishing this job, you’ll have a simpler time categorizing your photos and locating the ones you’re looking for.
In Short
These five tips are meant to help you form a routine and arrange your images in the most functional way possible. Once you have a system in place, all you have to do is repeat it whenever you start a new series, and your images will always be neatly filed and easy to find.
