Photo Organization Tips

So, you love taking photos, but when it comes time to organize them, you lack the time, skills, patience or whatever reason you can come up with to not organize them. Photo organization does not need to be difficult, and once you start a process of organization, it only gets easier. There are some things that you need to remember for photo organization though. You want to be able to preserve your memories and not ruin them. Here are some photo organization tips to get you started on your way to having a organized and clutter-free space where you can enjoy your memories.

The first thing that you have to do is to gather all your photos together. This means that you develop any rolls of film or disposable cameras that you have laying around. This also means that you develop the pictures that have been sitting in your digital camera forever.

Sort the photos into piles by event, person or time period. While sorting through your pictures, make another pile of any pictures that you do not want or photos that you want to give to other people. You may be surprised at how many photos you have that aren’t worth keeping.

Store your photos and negatives (or CDs) separately. They should be stored in acid-proof boxes or albums that are out of the direct sunlight and not exposed to extreme heat or cold. Don’t store your photos in the attic or basement of your home.

Don’t place your photos into magnetic pages in photo albums, as the glue will end up ruining the photos over time.

Don’t write on the back of photos with a ballpoint pen as the ink can bleed through the picture and ruin it. Instead, purchase a pen that is safe for photos.

If you have tons of photos that need to be organized, don’t expect to get them done all in one day. Take a few minutes here and there to organize them and put them away. If you take one long day for your photo organization you will get frustrated with the project very easily.

If you have a digital camera, a good idea is to save your photos onto a CD and then only print out the pictures that you really want. If you want to protect these memories, place the CDs with the pictures on them in a fire-proof safe. Remember to up-date the CDs every couple of years though, as they need to be changed out as CDs only last so long. Also, if you have the photos saved on your computer, you may want to delete them off after they are saved onto the CD and printed out. You don’t want to load down your computer with thousands of pictures.

If you don’t want to use a photo album or scrapbook for your photo organization, then use a photo box. Just make sure to label the boxes with the descriptions of the photos so that you know what each box contains.

Once you have all your existing photos organized, make sure to keep up with the organization. Whenever you develop your photos, make sure to work on them put them away as soon as possible and don’t let them stack up again.