Chances are you haven’t organized your photos for one of these common reasons:
You don’t know where all your photos are and thinking about it hurts your head.
You know their location, but you feel completely overwhelmed.
Photo organizing is a ‘to-do’ for someday—and we all know, someday is the day after never!
All the technology and choices around photo organizing confuse you.
No one told you that professional photo organizers exist—and can help!
I’ve recently read several interesting articles on photo organizing. Many of the people interviewed say the same thing as our clients. For example:
They feel overwhelmed by the state of their current digital collection. This holds true for inherited print photos as well.
They started, but got sidetracked or lost in the weeds.
They are tech-savvy enough but can’t find the time (and yes, it always takes longer than you think).
Does any of this sound familiar? If so, help is here. You can spare yourself photo frustration by taking a few simple steps. Remember, not doing it sooner will cost you in the long run, as images continue to accumulate in your camera roll.
A few photo organizing tips to help you get started:
Manage, organize, and preserve your print photos
If you have printed photos, use the ABC’s of organizing:
A = A-list of photos, your keepers: Put these in one pile.
B = B-list, also keepers that help tell a story but not the ones you’d consider your favorites (you may want to have these photos framed or put in an heirloom album): Put these in another pile.
C = Can, as in trash can (YES, you can throw out photos!). The types we recommend discarding are the blurry, overly redundant, or unrecognizable images. If there are people in them you don’t recognize, ask a family member or relative. They may want them and will be happy to know you have them. Put these in a third pile.
Basic steps to handling your print photo collection:
Some photos may be in old albums. If they are the “magnetic” kind with sticky pages, we recommend carefully removing them all, as the chemicals in the album will deteriorate the photos. You may need to use a heat source or dental floss to gently pry any stuck photos away from the pages. With stuck photos, a product such as Un-Du can work to dissolve stubborn adhesive. Be patient and use nitrile or cotton gloves for this process. For delicate, older albums (like those with vintage photos on black paper), it’s best to consult with a professional photo organizer.
Once you have your A and B piles, it’s time to organize. We find it’s best to organize chronologically, and choose a consistent naming convention such as Year-Month-Day wherever possible. Look at the backs of photos for any writing with important information such as names, dates, locations, and occasions. This is metadata, and will help immensely with your sorting process.
Once organized, have the A and B photos scanned and back them up on an external hard drive. Use an archival, acid-free, photo-safe storage system for your organized print photos. We like Archival Methods for their wide array of museum-quality storage options. You can choose from various sized photo boxes, which save space, or go with their binder albums with clear photo sleeves for a more traditional approach. The digital scans can be added to your digital collection (more on that below).
Manage, organize, and preserve your digital images
A digital photo collection requires some hunting and gathering from all your devices (camera cards, computers, hard drives, phones, etc.). Digital images are more fragile than prints, in the sense that they can be erased accidentally with one click, so proceed with care.
Basic steps to dealing with your digital photo collection:
You can use the same ABC process for digital photos. Rather than creating physical piles, select your favorites on your computer; if you are working in Apple Photos, for example, you can use the heart icon to indicate favorites.
If you have a lot of duplicates, run a program such as PhotoSweeper to identify and delete them.
With any recently scanned print photos, we find it’s best to change the file name. We use a consistent naming convention for these digital files, such as Year-Month-Day wherever possible (for ex: 1998-12-21). You can then add names, events, and locations to the files using keywords/tags in whatever photo organizing software you use (Apple Photos, Lightroom, Adobe Bridge, etc.).
Don’t forget video! Do you have old home movies? You can have them digitized and add them to your current collection. For our clients, we edit their videos into yearly timelines or highlight reels, complete with music, transitions, and title cards. If you like editing, try using iMovie, Video Editor, or more advanced software like Final Cut Pro or Premiere Pro. You can also add narration from older family members to recently digitized home movies for a sense of place and context.
And finally, storage: Both professional photographers and professional photo organizers use the 3-2-1 backup method. This requires maintaining three copies of your collection at all times. Two copies on external hard drives (stored in different locations) and one copy in the cloud. You will need to update your collection at regular intervals. We recommend backing up at least twice a year, especially if you take a lot of photos.
Your photos are organized—now share them!
Once your photos are in order, all those projects become so much easier because you can easily find the photos you want when you want them.
Need ideas? You can set up a family website, create photo books, or print albums. You can create slide shows, calendars, wall art, and milestone tributes for birthdays, anniversaries, and weddings, for instance. Legacy videos are richer with the inclusion of still photos. Speaking of legacy, consider a personal memoir or family history book, another way to add context and storytelling to your family photo archive.
Marci Brennan is a certified professional photo organizer who can restore cherished memories and create cohesive, thoughtfully curated media libraries. Her company Past Present Pix is based in Queens, NY.