How to Maintain Your Photo Library
The best way to ensure your photos are kept safe and organized is to set up time for Monthly Photo Library Maintenance.
I know - sounds a bit mundane! But with this list, you can knock this out in less than hour a month.
Here are the 6 Steps to Keeping Your Photos Safe and Organized
Clean up your Phone Photos
Download, Download, Download
Organize into Folders & Rename Files
Make Sure Your Backups are Working
Enjoy and Share Your Memories
Pick a Photo Project
Step 1 - Clean Up Your Phone Photos
Throughout the month while I'm watching TV at night, I typically clean up my phone's camera roll. This includes deleting the duplicates, duds, and screenshots. It is so easy to take a photo on our phones that we tend to take multiples making sure we get just the right shot. I go back a delete 4 of the 5 pictures of my cat sleeping. Delete the blurry shots or accidental shots. I tend to have photos of my lock screen - not sure why I keep doing that? Delete no longer needed screenshots. I tend to have pictures of books I want to add to my reading list. I move those over to GoodReads and delete the photo. To make this task easier, I use an app called, Slidebox. Great app for your phone that lets you quickly slide a photo into an album or the trashcan.
Step 2 - Download, Download, Download
After you've cleaned up your phone's camera roll, it is time to get those photos into your Photo Hub (computer). Either plug your phone directly into your computer, or download from iCloud or Google Photos. Make sure you have ways to get photos from your family members devices or cameras. Also, make sure you have downloaded photos that were sent to you that you want to keep - like texts or emails.
Step 3 - Organize into Folders & Rename Files
Once all of the photos are on your computer, organize by year-month folders or year-event/topic. Software like Lightroom Classic will do this automatically during imports. Once the photos are organized, rename files to YYYYMMDD Event. This smart naming system will help you find or organize further in the future. If you have time, take the extra step to rate, tag, and keyword your photos.
Step 4 - Make sure your backups are working
Keep your photos safe! Backup your photos on your computer using software like BackBlaze. Check when the last backup was completed to ensure it is working properly. Remember, many phone cloud services (like iCloud) are a sync, not a backup. With a sync, if a photo is deleted off of your device, then it is deleted in iCloud as well.
Step 5 - Enjoy and Share Your Memories
Once they are organized you can share on a Digital Frame (Nixplay) or family website (SmugMug). I've used SmugMug for over 10 years, and it is my favorite way to view and store my photos. It also acts as a second backup option. If you've taken a special vacation or family event, create framed prints or picture mugs.
Step 6 - Pick a Project and Schedule Time to do it
I always think I am going to get to my photo projects, but if I am not intentional about scheduling one per month, they will not get done. So each month pick a project to complete with your photos. It could be prints, photos albums, or personalized items like coffee mugs or coasters.
If you have been putting off getting your photos organized because it seems overwhelming, you don’t know where to start, or you just do not have the free time to get it done…I can help. You can contact me directly with any questions you have or you can schedule a free 30 minute consultation.
