As I poke around the Internet, I see plenty of advice on how to organize older photo prints. Clearly, this is a personal decision and any step that helps you locate a picture and improves storage/organization is useful. Common suggestions are to place the prints in archival quality storage containers by date or to organize the prints in albums or scrapbooks. Fine suggestions and viable alternatives.However, if you want to supercharge your ability to preserve, locate, and share images, digitizing the prints by scanning before properly storing them will increase your near and long term flexibility tremendously. You do not necessarily need to scan the prints yourself as there are professional scanning services that can do the job for you at a reasaonable price.
With older prints available as digital images, you can consolidate your image collection with your more recent photos, which you likely already have in digital format.
Now the fun begins. As online image services continue to expand and become easier to use, you can accomplish many satisfying and creative projects easily and inexpensively.
- Upload some of the digital images to a free online album so that extended family members can order prints or gift items of the images.
- Create a free family share site for family members to share images, schedules, ideas, favorite links, genealogical updates, recipes, etc.
- Upload some themed images and add captions and text to create a photo book of a family trip or a portion of family history to mark a significant birthday.
- Take those digital images and organize them using software like Photoshop Elements. With such software, you can create your own album categories and searchable keywords or "tags". Now you have a searchable digital image library and you are able to find all photos of uncle Pete simply by typing Pete into the search field. You can also find all photos in a given category such as "ancestors", simply by clicking on the category name.
For detailed guides on how to scan, organize, and share family photo and document images, pay a visit to LocalArchiver.com.
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2 comments:
I don't know how I stumbled on your site but thankfully I did! You are a God send! I am currently viewing, cataloging and storing my parent's photos (60+ years worth) and became stuck wondering how to store all of these 'odd' shaped photos. Do I use boxes, do I put them in albums for viewing, should I scrapbook a heritage album for their upcoming anniversary and just store the remaining photos? My den is covered with photos while I make my decision. After reading your blog and all your other helpful tips, I get it, finally! I'm going to scan (or have them scanned) into digital format. I'm going to store all the photos properly in boxes (mostly) and use albums where necessary for all those 5x7 and 8x10 school, wedding, baby pictures of themselves and all the grandkids that have accumulated over the generations. Then, instead of making a heritage scrapbook using original photos, I am going to use Picaboo to create a storybook. I still have a long way to go but I have a much clearer vision now and feel the weight has lifted from my shoulders. A HUGE thank you! Your site, resources and links are wonderful. We are kindred spirits. I worked in a field (laid off at the time) whereby I provided resources to folks regarding child and elder care issues. My specialty was providing excellent, detailed information, resources and tips and I researched incessently to provide the best information available. The goal to save others time. This is what you have done--provided excellent, detailed info and unselfishly shared your knowledge with others. That is a blessing to others!
Glad you found info and suggestions useful. If you have other questions, let me know. I am always open to suggestions for additional articles.
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