Friday, September 4, 2009
What to do with Christmas Card Pictures?
So, speaking of pictures, what do you do with all of the pictures of family and friends that come in Christmas cards? I know many people use their fridge, but does anyone have creative uses for their Christmas Card Pictures?
I put my cards above the utility sink in my laundry room, so I get to glance at some of my favorite people quite frequently. What do you do?
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Printing Digital Pictures and Family Albums
The fact that I have a degree in computer science is shocking to many that know me, because in many ways I don't consider myself a typical computer scientist. I am not into computer games - I'd much rather sit around the kitchen table at a board game with friends. Though I have tried various versions of electronic calendars, I still prefer the small $4 spiral bound paper calendar I carry in my purse. I'm not into texting, my cell phone doesn't even have a texting plan. I'd rather make a quick phone call, or even better - sit and chat face to face. It is hard to imagine myself reading Pride and Prejudice on a computer screen instead of flipping through the same pages my hands have touched countless times. But still, I love technology and the innovations that promote efficiency and save precious time. There are just some real things I refuse to give up for the virtual imitation, and pictures are one of those things.
_
So, even though I do not use a film camera that requires film processing, I choose to print my digital pictures on a regular basis. I love family photo albums. I love sitting with my children on a Sunday afternoon and flipping through the pages, remembering fun times. As my children grow, I can only imagine the memories we are making now will grow dearer to me. Of course, I have set up a system so that the amount of digital pictures that need to be printed is not a crazy large amount each time. If you wait to print your digital pictures yearly, yikes ... that will be one large bill. I like to break it up into chunks, and for me it makes the most sense to do it once a month.
'
My process:
At the end of each month or the beginning of the following month (usually about the time I am downloading new pictures and realize I have to create a new month's picture folder), I upload all my "keeper pictures" (all the pictures I keep after I go through my reduction process) to an online photo printing service and have my pictures shipped to me. When I get my pictures in the mail, I put them into a photo album. I buy the photo album with the space beside each picture to jot notes and I simply identify the start of each month, major activity headings, and who is in the picture. [I have identical twins, so it is especially important that I write down who is in the picture, though for my family members I abbreviate our names to the first initial.] Because I organize and throw out the garbage pictures as I download pictures intermittently throughout the month, there is very little work involved in my monthly picture order. And when I put the pictures in the album, I usually sit down in the evening and do it while I watch TV. Easy, Schmeasy.
One of the great things about ordering these pictures monthly is that it is so easy to order an extra set of pictures for my Grandma, who lives far away and doesn't have the internet. These pictures of her great-grandkids make her month and are so easy for me to send.
Happy photo-albuming!
Digital Picture Printing Service
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
What a "Super-Mom" is to me
As a mother, I have learned that my family needs me to be at my best when they are at their worst. It is easy to feel like a great mom when everyone is smiling and things are easy. It is so much harder when the children have been cranky all afternoon, my husband is late home from work, I just cleaned up my millionth spill of the day, and not to mention I haven't had a chance to shower yet - well, those times leave me tempted to throw my grown-up version of a tantrum.
When I've given into the strong impulse to fall apart, all that chaos that was mounting just multiplies exponentially. It doesn't just make it worse for me, because when I finally pull myself together, there is more catch-up to do, but it affects the mood of the entire household and soon enough each of my children follows my lead into tantrum-land and I just made my husband's stressful day even more stressful. Then there are those days, when I reject the impulse to fall apart, and I put one foot in front of the other ... soothe cranky children, clean up that millionth mess, pull my messy hair into a pony-tail, and smile at my husband as he comes home late from work.
Sometimes we think being a super mom means doing it all, but sometimes doing "it all" just takes us further away from where we need to be. My idea of being a super mom is trying to be my best when my family is at their worst. That is the super mom I try to find within myself on a daily basis and each day is another chance to try again._
Organization isn't a means of finding a way to "do it all"; it is a means of taking the things that must be done and doing them in an efficient and effective way, so that you have time for the more important things. There is such a thing as doing too much. Life is give and take ... when you are taking, something is giving. Let us try to take from the things that are less important and give our all to that which matters most!
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Organizing and Storing Digital Pictures
Less is more! Though it sounds cliche, when it comes to storing our digital pictures, fewer pictures are easier to manage and enjoy. For an easier flow from real life to your digital life, your organization and storage on your hard drive should mirror how you like to live. You wouldn't leave stacks of garbage all over your house, limiting your view of everything that isn't garbage. (If you would, then, well, you have much bigger problems than storing your digital pictures - go clean your house and then come back to this challenge!)
First we'll start with a clean slate and not worry right away about all of the pictures that are already on your computer. Here is your step by step plan for the next time you download pictures from your camera, using September 2009 as an example:
1. Go to your Pictures folder on your computer and create a folder called "2009 Family Pictures". (You will do this step one time each year.)
2. Within the "2009 Family Pictures" folder, create a folder called "200909", representing the 9th month of the year if that isn't obvious. (You will only need to do this one time each month.)
3. Set your options when you import pictures to create a new subfolder per day for the newly imported pictures. [Email with questions and if necessary I will try to explain how to set this option in Windows.]
4. For the month of September, import pictures into the "200909" folder. A folder labeled by date (i.e. "2009-09-01") would then be within the "200909" folder.
5. Name your pictures by date, for example, "20090901 001". The "001" after the date represents the number of the picture in the series. If you want you can add a brief description after the date. (i.e. "20090901 Princess Dressup 001") When I am importing my pictures in Windows, I simply tag my photos with the filename and Windows automatically names all the files and puts the 001 after the tag. If that somehow gets messed up, I go into the folder, select all the files at one time and do a group rename. The series number is in parenthesis instead, i.e. (01), which works just as well.
So now your pictures are setup in an organized fashion immediately when you download them. If all of your pictures from 2009 were ever put in the same folder, like maybe you want to do a slide show of the year's events, they would all be in chronological order based on file name. Not to mention the filename is a historical bookmark - you'll never have to wonder "when was that picture taken?" These are the major reasons file name plays such an important role in digital photo organization.
Now, let's talk about throwing out the garbage:
1. Go through images and delete blurry/dark/obviously bad pictures.
2. Go through and delete duplicate/similar images (you know, pictures that practically look the same except some people have their eyes closed in some of the pictures). Remember you really don't need 2 of the same picture. Seriously!
3. Now look through the pictures and find your favorites - then get rid of the rest.
4. When doing large groups of pictures at one time (like a birthday or Christmas), it helps to mentally break the pictures into groups and go through the reduction process group by group instead of the whole day at one time. The way you import your pictures, you should never have to go through more than a day of pictures at a time, because each days worth of pictures should have been imported into its own sub-folder.
5. And just to add one more step: I cut/move all of the remaining pictures from the sub-folder and put them directly into "200909" after I finish the cleanout process.
Yikes, this sounds like a lot of work, but really, once you get into the groove and routine when downloading your pictures, this will save you a major picture headache!
First we'll start with a clean slate and not worry right away about all of the pictures that are already on your computer. Here is your step by step plan for the next time you download pictures from your camera, using September 2009 as an example:
1. Go to your Pictures folder on your computer and create a folder called "2009 Family Pictures". (You will do this step one time each year.)
2. Within the "2009 Family Pictures" folder, create a folder called "200909", representing the 9th month of the year if that isn't obvious. (You will only need to do this one time each month.)
3. Set your options when you import pictures to create a new subfolder per day for the newly imported pictures. [Email with questions and if necessary I will try to explain how to set this option in Windows.]
4. For the month of September, import pictures into the "200909" folder. A folder labeled by date (i.e. "2009-09-01") would then be within the "200909" folder.
5. Name your pictures by date, for example, "20090901 001". The "001" after the date represents the number of the picture in the series. If you want you can add a brief description after the date. (i.e. "20090901 Princess Dressup 001") When I am importing my pictures in Windows, I simply tag my photos with the filename and Windows automatically names all the files and puts the 001 after the tag. If that somehow gets messed up, I go into the folder, select all the files at one time and do a group rename. The series number is in parenthesis instead, i.e. (01), which works just as well.
So now your pictures are setup in an organized fashion immediately when you download them. If all of your pictures from 2009 were ever put in the same folder, like maybe you want to do a slide show of the year's events, they would all be in chronological order based on file name. Not to mention the filename is a historical bookmark - you'll never have to wonder "when was that picture taken?" These are the major reasons file name plays such an important role in digital photo organization.
Now, let's talk about throwing out the garbage:
1. Go through images and delete blurry/dark/obviously bad pictures.
2. Go through and delete duplicate/similar images (you know, pictures that practically look the same except some people have their eyes closed in some of the pictures). Remember you really don't need 2 of the same picture. Seriously!
3. Now look through the pictures and find your favorites - then get rid of the rest.
4. When doing large groups of pictures at one time (like a birthday or Christmas), it helps to mentally break the pictures into groups and go through the reduction process group by group instead of the whole day at one time. The way you import your pictures, you should never have to go through more than a day of pictures at a time, because each days worth of pictures should have been imported into its own sub-folder.
5. And just to add one more step: I cut/move all of the remaining pictures from the sub-folder and put them directly into "200909" after I finish the cleanout process.
Yikes, this sounds like a lot of work, but really, once you get into the groove and routine when downloading your pictures, this will save you a major picture headache!
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Prizes for Challenges?
Please contact me if you have any prizes you would like to donate for upcoming challenges. Thanks!
Friday, August 28, 2009
Picture This: Keeping up with family pictures
The digital age of pictures is a blessing and a curse. Camera cards with huge storage potentials allow us to go on family vacations and snap pictures to our hearts content without worrying about running out of film. The flip side of that is we are left with quantities of pictures that, left mismanaged over time, become difficult to organize and enjoy. During the Picture This series of articles, I will share my strategies for:- organizing and storing digital snapshots
- printing pictures and keeping family albums
- keeping digital backups safe from computer malfunctions
- remembering to take annual keepsake pictures
Along the way, be sure to ask questions or include tricks you find useful. And of course, you could just comment for the sake of commenting - no harm in that. Here we go!
Back to School ... Back to Routine
I'm back! Thanks for understanding the need for a break. I love the freedom of summer, but my love of routine is getting me so excited fall is on the way. So, I hope you enjoy my tips and tricks to keeping real life a little more organized.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
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