With a camera never far from our hands, it’s no wonder that we all now take an average of five photos every single day.
Working with digital images might mean that we don’t have photo albums filling our homes anymore. But our photos still take up a lot of storage space on our devices, meaning that we’re more in need of a place to store our growing photo collection than ever.
So what’s the best way to store all these photos? And how can you ensure they’re easy to access when you want them? Keep reading for the best photo management tips around!
1. Organize Digital Images into Computer Files
Backing up more recent or relevant photos on your computer saves space on your phone or digital camera but still keeps them accessible. While a JPG to PNG file conversion might be necessary before printing or sharing the images, your main priority when you first import your photos should be to organize them in folders specific to events or themes, such as vacations or work projects.
2. Use External Hard Drives
SATA hard drives can be unstable while SSDs are expensive and only add to your desk clutter. For backing up older photos, USB flash drives are often the simplest solution. Not only are USBs small enough to store and transport with ease, but they also tend to be an affordable way to access a large amount of storage space.
3. Save Photos to the Cloud
Cloud storage offers a way to store and manage your photos on online servers rather than on a hard drive. What’s more, today’s cloud services offer comprehensive systems to organize digital images for future access. Dropbox, Google Drive, and Microsoft OneDrive are all popular cloud services. Although, Amazon Prime, Facebook, and Google Photos all offer free cloud storage capabilities.
4. Digitalize Printed Photos
While you’re organizing your digital images, it’s a good time to digitalize old photo albums for sharing purposes and to safeguard your vintage snaps should disaster strike. Scanning photos is the best way to preserve their quality, while Google’s free app PhotoScan is a good alternative. Or, you could always use a professional scanning service to preserve your memories and your prints.
5. Print Out Favorite Photos
You might not want to start amassing piles of photo albums, but hard copies of your favorite digital images can still come in useful. Photo collections, books, and products make great gifts for loved ones, while framed prints are perfect for giving your home a personal touch. Plus, you can always scan prints back into the computer should your files get wiped.
Tips for Managing Your Photo Collection
With these tips to inspire you, isn’t it about time you started organizing your photo collection?
We might not print out a forest’s worth of photos anymore, but many of us still amass tons of digital images without ever thinking to back them up or organize them. At best, these photos can start clogging up our devices, but at worst we could lose them all in a split second.
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