3 Steps to organising your photos

Posted by Dec 1, 2016 All Posts, Photography Leave a Comment
3 Steps to organising your photos

We have all be taking pictures on digital devices now for the past 10 years or more. What have you done with them? In the old days you might have made albums or just have them all chucked in a box jumbled up like your hard drives are! What about in another 10 years, will you ever be able to find those holiday pics from the Maldives? Will you even still have them? How many have you lost over the years…. By being organized and backing up now and your photographic history will be much, much safer.

Here we will look at the basics and see how to start with the organization of your images, there are many ways of doing this you just need to find what works for you. I am just going to try and show you the way that has been working for me for many years now.

 

1 Relocate all your images to one location

Firstly you need to get all of your photos into one place, unload all of those hard drives, cds, dvds, memory cards, sticks, and then search your computer hard drive for .jpgs and other photo formats to see where you have them hiding. Make a file on your computer called Photos and move them all in to there. When transferring all your photos to the one place make new folders for them and label them with something that reminds you what they are or where they were taken.

You will need to make sure you have enough space on your computer to hold all of your photos if not then invest in an external drive. The easiest way really is to have all of your pics in one place. Also bear in mind that you will need the equivalent space on another hard drive to use as a back up there is no point in doing this work then losing it soon after.

 

2 Sort your images in to annual folders

Now you need to sort your photos, you can sort by subject if you want but I find date is far easier and manageable for the future. Start by making folders for the Years and drag any files for that year in to them. Check inside the folders you are relocating that it is also organised and only contains that years photos.

You can sort your photos by the date they were taken easily by configuring your window to show the date the photo was created. This is as long as you have the date set correctly in your camera, if not you are in trouble and good luck.

Then divide the year up. I have many folders for events through out the year. A reasonable amount of photos for a folder is 50-250 this separates them out to manageable size chunks. The folders I label in the same as my photos always starting with the year then month then day, this means everything is automatically sorted chronologically. Like this “20160727 Day at the pool” make sure you have a sensible title for locating images later on. You can separate the date or use – but you must remain the same from the beginning so it will sort properly in the future.

 

3 Stick with it and BACK UP regularly

Then after this you need to stick with it. When importing your photos to your computer add them to the correct year and make a new file, just call it 20160731_ToBeSorted if you have not the time to sort them to smaller event file. But make sure you do it next time so you keep up to date.

The big and very important thing to do now and regularly is to make a backup of all your hard work now that it’s all together in a nice and orderly fashion. Use your computers back up program and make sure you do it regularly. Also it’s a good idea to check out a cloud option so you have an offsite backup in case the worst happens.

 

Good luck 🙂

Jon’s top three tips on how to be a better photographer

Posted by Jun 14, 2016 All Posts, Photography , , Leave a Comment
Jon’s top three tips on how to be a better photographer

In these days of digital cameras, where everyone is  constantly capturing the adventures and experiences of their lives, a good photograph really does say a thousand words.

People often ask me how they can improve the quality of their photographs, lamenting  the fact that the expensive new camera they just bought doesn’t take the photos they were hoping it would, so today I’m sharing three things everyone that will make a huge difference to their pictures.

Expecting your camera to do all the creative work for you is a bit like buying a kitchen blow torch and assuming you can now cook a creme brulee. Photography is a bit like cooking: yes, you need quality equipment, but if you don’t know the basics and how to use your gear, you’re not going to produce anything really amazing.

So what does it take to move from “happy snaps”, which will suffice to remind you of a fun occasion but aren’t something you could serve to the in-laws for tea, to something a little more polished? Practice and a little leaning, that’s all.

Tip 1: Read your camera’s manual

I was given this piece of advice years ago and have been doing it ever since. Take the time to learn what all the buttons do and what other functions your camera has. In other words, learn about your camera. A lot of what you read might not make sense at first but will become clear as you play with your camera more. I have PDF versions of my manuals on my iPad and iPhone for reference. Also there are many independently written camera guides that can give a more hands-on idea of how to use your camera (just search “how to use” and the make and model). These guides can be really helpful, but still read the manual first.

My second tip may seem obvious but I’m always amazed at how few people do this…

Tip 2: Use your camera

Yep, that’s right, use your camera. Go for a walk and play with the various functions and buttons before that holiday or family function so, when the time comes, you know exactly how to capture that shot. Even if you intend to use your camera on automatic most of the time, knowing how to get the flash to do what you want or how to flip between auto settings can mean the difference between a priceless memory and a blurry photo where everyone has possum-in-headlights eyes.

Tip 3: Take lots but only if you’re learning from them

Taking millions of photos – because its digital and you can – is great but not if you don’t learn from the experience. Look at your photos on the camera’s display as you out taking them and then afterwards at home and see what worked and what did not.

Every time you use your camera, play around with the settings to see the effects they can have on the photograph you are taking, remembering to check the display in between shots.

When taking photos move around. Look for different angles to change how the image looks, get low to the ground, stand on a chair, get up close or move back a few paces. All this can make a massive difference to your photo and style. Again review these pictures when you get home and see what worked and what was not so good.

This is just the beginning of what you can do to make your photos a bit better. Stay tuned for more tips and please let us know if this post was helpful to you.

What do you struggle with when taking photos? Got any tips to share?