Organizing Photos - tips?

[Gingerella72]

My winter project is going to be tackling the boxes and boxes full of unorganized photos from the last 20 years! Daunting, yes. Whew. I will be scanning them to my computer for back up, then organizing them into albums.

Most of them are the standard 4x6 or 3x5 prints; but some are 5x7, 8x10, and wallet sized. I've noticed that most of the photo albums available in retail stores today are the ones that have plastic slots for 4x6, then a space along the side to write descriptions. So what do I do with the photos that won't fit in those slots? I dislike having a separate album for certain photos (because that would put them out of chronological order from the other photos, gasp!) but if that's the only alternative I'll do it. I'm not interested in scrapbooking either (sorry, scrapbookers).

I'm also getting hung up over the thought of everything not being in chronological order. I've read some tips online about forgetting dates and organizing by category, and while that seems the more practical way of doing it, something in me balks at not following timelines. And this brings up another problem: along with loose photos in boxes, I'm also going to take existing albums and replace them. These are the old, yucky, magnetic page ones that seemed like a good idea at the time, but are now have plastic page covers disintegrating and yellowing and prints that are becoming damaged. Does it make sense to keep all the photos in an old album together, or reorganize/categorize them into new groups? I know in the end I have to do what I feel more comfortable with, but I need some perspective from an outside source, I think.

Something else I'm getting hung up on is the thought of throwing away photos - ones that are dark, blurry, or I have no idea what/who it is. I think, "but, but but.....what if I accidentally throw something away that is important and irreplacable!?"

Any tips from anyone who has done massive photo organizing? How did you go about doing it, and are you happy with the results?

[SteveinMN]

Any tips from anyone who has done massive photo organizing? How did you go about doing it, and are you happy with the results?
My photo organizing has been almost entirely on my computer since that is where I need them for business and because I've really only taken digital pictures for the last several years. For what it's worth, the most effective method for organizing digital photos for me has been tagging them with open-source tagging software. It's much easier to find pictures which fit into more categories than I can place them in computer folders.

I do have what is pretty much the family's repository of prints and some slides. Frankly, except for ones I've had to fish out for events like funerals and theme dinners, they're still in boxes. It certainly can seem overwhelming. I have, however, enlisted my mother in working through these pictures (especially since she knows most of the people pictured). Our approach will be to cull. Relentlessly. The dark and blurry ones? Unless there's something else on the print that indicates a reason to try to restore it (which will be very expensive if it is at all possible), they won't get any better. Out they go.

In our case, none of us kids had children ourselves; there really is no one in the family who will be interested in most of the pictures we have. Even someone interested in the ancestral aspect of these pictures will not need pictures of our pets through the years (one well-chosen one will do nicely). Consider who eventually will get these organized photos; that will help you decide which are worth keeping.

I think organizing by topic is more interesting than organizing solely by time. Vacations, the Smith Family, the pictures of the Acmes as they married into the Smith family; all are great conversation starters, while a strict timeline diverges so often that it's hard to keep track. Organizing chronologically encourages a documentary approach -- a picture every year of each kid on Santa's lap. In truth, you probably have far more interesting pictures of similar vintage of each child, a topical organization by child would offer more interesting behaviors and backgrounds. This also frees you up re: album formats. If you're brave, you could consider cropping (cutting) prints to make them more interesting, or think about collages or other scrapbooking techniques.

Whatever you do, please annotate each picture with what you know -- dates taken (at least a year), who is in the picture, location. It's not a showstopper to not have exact info, but people looking at these pictures in future years won't always know why they're there.

[Float On]

Once scanned into your computer you could go to Blurb or one of the other photo sites that makes books. You enter the photos and that way your 8x10 can be reduced to fit a full page while 4 4x6 fit the next page. I'm getting ready to make a photo book of dad's cabin project. DH wants one of his glass. I thought I'd scan all the boys photos from when they were babies-7 years old (about when I went digital) and start organizing photos so I can include birth-high school graduation (thankfully have 2 years to finish that one).
One nice thing about the photo books through the sites is on-line storage that way if your book is lost in a fire or flood you can have it reprinted.

[fidgiegirl]

I personally find scanning to be one of the most punishing, tedious tasks known to man. Well, ok, that's exaggeration, but I'm not a big fan. That said, I can totally see the benefit. I've heard of services like this one (http://www.scancafe.com/services/photo-scanning), but have never used one. (BTW, I have no idea if this particular service is any good. I just found it by Googling "photo scanning services.")

Here's a nice video (http://www.commoncraft.com/video/online-photo-sharing) that explains the tagging concept Steve referenced. I like it because it can make a kind of flexible album - by trip, by topic, by date, or all of the above. If you are not into the social aspect, don't let that put you off. You can always leave photos on private. But the tagging is what's awesome. Flickr is paid after a certain number of photos. Picasa is another option, and I'm not sure which other sites are good. I'd be interested to know what people use.

[Rogar]

I take a large amount of nature photos for both fun and ( a little) profit. I have to confess that my personal photos of family and friends are mostly disorganized and it should be my winter project.

This is how I edit my nature photos. First I put the similar photos from the same scene or event together and delete or discard all but the best. With what is left, I assign them a rating system of one to five stars, from worse to best, and will discard or delete those below a certain rating. The best I will put into a category for special use. Maybe in this case a special album, book, or a computer file I might visit more often or use on my web site. Those between the best and the discards are saved in another place, where I might review occasionally.

I think the idea of a printed photo book is excellent and also on my project list. COSTCO and maybe Sam's have some excellent prices and good quality. I think you can add text for comments in some simple software they offer.

I'm a big fan of having digital files that are backed up with a copy kept in a separate location. Maybe on a disc in a safety deposit box or with a relative. These might be the five star photos you've scanned and have decided are something that is irreplaceable and especially valuable..

[pony mom]

Many years ago when I was depressed I spent a week organizing my printed photos. All of them were kept in the developers' envelopes with the date on them, so that part was easy. I used heavy shoeboxes and made a divider for the center so I could store two rows of photos. Then I made little index tabs (like bookmarkers) with a number, the year and main subject. I put them in order to match the negatives (that was fun) and then numbered the back of each photo (the number of the section and number of the photo). Then I started a sheet listing the section number and the subject. I also stored the negatives in envelopes (I think 5 rolls to each envelope) with a tab for the section number. This way, if I came across a photo that I wanted to copy, I just had to find the negative; or, easily find a photo by looking up the subject on the list.

This took quite a while to do. The sad thing is that only once have I gone back to copy a photo. I think I just needed something to keep myself busy at that time. But, I'm glad I did it because I would never have the patience to do that now.

[Spartana]

I've been scanning all my photos onto my computer, tagging them and then just making cd copies to store. I'm working backwards chronologically (now scanning bare-bottomed baby Spartana photos - the photos of pet dinosaurs from my babyhood will be next :-)!) so is taking forever! It IS tedious but I think in the long run it will be worth it. All the photos and the albums they came from will go to my sister so I don't have to keep and store them. She'll also get cd copies to keep somewhere safe. If I were to keep the original prints myself I would choose to take them out of the albums (albums my Mom organized) and put them in shoe boxes to reduce the space that all those albums take up. I'm also in the weird position that I have no other family except my sister so no one will get the photos after we die. So would actually like to get rid of all the printed photos and just have them on the computer with CD back ups. I'd really prefer to not have the printed photos of bare-bottomed-baby-Spartana end up at the Salvation Army or Goodwill for anyone to oogle after I kick off :-).

[flowerseverywhere]

Like Spartana, I scanned all of our photos. I took them out of the albums and emptied all the boxes and envelopes. I kind of grouped them, all the young kid photos, then the kids and adolescents then teens then married. etc. Then I took all the photos my parents left, put them in some kind of chronological order and scanned them. Then we did DH's family photos.

It took a very long time. What we did was have a box next to the scanner, and as we watched TV or made dinner we would take up where we left off. when it was empty we would put in the next group. It took many months but we got it done. For Christmas one year I presented everyone with gifts of three cd's, one of DH's family, one of mine and one of our family together. The best part is that we replaced boxes of photos and albums with a medium sized plastic box of photos. We all put the family photos as a screen saver, and the photos flash by. It is great because we actually all look at them now instead of having bulky boxes and books of photos that are deteriorating.

the bought a scanner at the beginning of this that allowed you to put multiple photos on the scanner bed and it would sort them out as individual photos. It also had some technology that helped hide the scratches and red eye. It did not cost that much considering we have had it for years and still use it to scan in things we want to save on the computer.

If you ever see people after a fire or disaster loss of their photos is often mentioned, I know that everyone has a copy so the memories will remain intact.

[Gingerella72]

Great ideas, thanks guys! I'm definitely interested in researching the online photo book idea, as some of the photos in the old albums are permanently stuck to the pages and aren't coming out for love or money. I've been scanning the entire album page, then crop each individual photo. It is tedious, but oddly enough I enjoy doing it.

I'm not going 100% digital though, only scanning to computer for back up. And then as a third back up, I upload the most important ones to my private account in Photobucket. But I'm keeping the originals. I guess I'm old school; I love having a tangible photo album that I can rest on my lap and flip through.

Thanks for mentioning thinking long term and who will be the recipients of the photos when I'm gone....I've sort of morphed into being the keeper of the family history and while I know the old photos of our ancestors will gladly be received by others, photos of my pets (tons) and our big wall paper removal project are only important to me. :) I definitely have to get over the phobia of tossing some photos. Here is a perfect example: I have a photo of my grandmother, sitting on the floor in front of a Christmas tree, helping her grandson to open presents, circa 1970's. It's a great shot. Right next to this photo is a second one, same scene, only the picture taker must have shifted or lost grip on the camera while the picture was being taken because it's crooked and blurry. When reorganizing this particular album, I culled the blurry one, because the other photo of the exact same scene was the better one.

But you know what? While the blurry one isn't in the new album, I still haven't thrown it away. It is in my desk drawer. I just can't bring myself to throw it out. How can you throw away ones grandmother? ;) Ah, sentimental emotions get the better of me even in the face of practicality.

[Float On]

http://lp.blurb.com/mbrand?ce=msn_brand&utm_source=msn&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Brand&utm_term=blurb

Here is blurb that I mentioned, they make beautiful books. Its easy to drop photos into it and add text and move things around. I know a lot of bloggers are using this to put their blogs in book form to keep on their coffee table or shelf.

[goldensmom]

After my parents died I did a massive organization of their old photos, some were in albums, some were in boxes and some were in suitcases. Many photos went back to the 1800’s and I have a good collection of glass negatives. I scrounged around at garage sales and found new, never used old photo albums (with black corners) and just started filling them. If I recognized someone in a picture and knew of a still living relative, I set it aside and gave it to the relative. I divided up more recent family pictures and gave them to my siblings. I keep the photo albums in an old book case with slide up glass doors.


I’ve kept up with my own paper photos both by date and subject. I also have one album of baby, school, graduation, military, family, wedding picture of each of my siblings in chronological order and will give that album to them or their children someday. I have no problem throwing away or giving away a photo. As a former photographer, I am a purist (RIP slide film) and like the old paper photos so no digitizing for me.

[Spartana]

Great ideas, thanks guys! I'm definitely interested in researching the online photo book idea, as some of the photos in the old albums are permanently stuck to the pages and aren't coming out for love or money. I've been scanning the entire album page, then crop each individual photo. It is tedious, but oddly enough I enjoy doing it.

I'm not going 100% digital though, only scanning to computer for back up. And then as a third back up, I upload the most important ones to my private account in Photobucket. But I'm keeping the originals. I guess I'm old school; I love having a tangible photo album that I can rest on my lap and flip through.

Thanks for mentioning thinking long term and who will be the recipients of the photos when I'm gone....I've sort of morphed into being the keeper of the family history and while I know the old photos of our ancestors will gladly be received by others, photos of my pets (tons) and our big wall paper removal project are only important to me. :) I definitely have to get over the phobia of tossing some photos. Here is a perfect example: I have a photo of my grandmother, sitting on the floor in front of a Christmas tree, helping her grandson to open presents, circa 1970's. It's a great shot. Right next to this photo is a second one, same scene, only the picture taker must have shifted or lost grip on the camera while the picture was being taken because it's crooked and blurry. When reorganizing this particular album, I culled the blurry one, because the other photo of the exact same scene was the better one.

But you know what? While the blurry one isn't in the new album, I still haven't thrown it away. It is in my desk drawer. I just can't bring myself to throw it out. How can you throw away ones grandmother? ;) Ah, sentimental emotions get the better of me even in the face of practicality.

Getting rid of photos is sometimes a process. I have tons of photos of my Mom's family who are from Germany. Opa and uncle in their Nazi uniforms and all :-)! But I have decided to just keep one or 2 of them and toss the rest - or sis may decide to keep them. I have pretty much gotten rid of old scenic and travel photos unless someone I know is in them. So unless it's in my computer or burned to a cd, it's gone or going. Took a while to get to that point though and, as a minimalist who doesn't like to be burdened with alot of stuff, I found it very freeing. Of course holding an old photo in hand has alot more memories attached to it then one seen on a computer screen IMHO.

[Gingerella72]

http://lp.blurb.com/mbrand?ce=msn_brand&utm_source=msn&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Brand&utm_term=blurb

Here is blurb that I mentioned, they make beautiful books. Its easy to drop photos into it and add text and move things around. I know a lot of bloggers are using this to put their blogs in book form to keep on their coffee table or shelf.

Wow, that is awesome! Definitely going to be doing this at some point. :)

[rodeosweetheart]

When I am working with old photos (about once every 5 years I pull out the box for a day or two and then put it back, so I am no expert, LOL) I put them into the old fashioned type of scrapbooks with black paper and photo corners, and then the size does not make any difference. I prefer those to a book with plastic over the photos.