Make the most of your digital photos
The beauty of digital photography is that you aren’t afraid to “waste” any film so you theoretically won’t ever miss a great moment. On the flip side, you probably have a lot more photos to catalog and print now thancameras. Instead of letting them stack up willy-nilly on your computer, get them together so you can do what you wanted to do in the first place: show them off!
Sarah on ‘Play to Your Strengths’
Both my husband and I love to play photographer. I have tons of fun organizing photos and making online albums, but don’t seem to have the patience to upload and touch up every single shot.
My tech-savvy husband enjoys the initial set up work so I just hand our full camera off to him. After he gets the ball rolling, I take over where he leaves off. Not only does this tradeoff reduce the amount of time each of us needs to commit, it also keeps digital photography fun for both of us!
Alicia on ‘Zap the Duds!’
A lot of us still hang on to our old-fashioned habits of saving every picture, regardless of how awful it is. Don’t be afraid to discard the duds! My husband and I try to delete bad ones on the spot, but if we can’t decide in the moment, or don’t have time, we do it as soon as the pictures are uploaded to the computer.
Our rule is that only after the bad ones are weeded out can we select the ones we’ll save for online albums and the ones that will make it to print.
Here are three ways to help you make the most out of your digital photos:
“1: Pick a Program
Test a few different photo-viewing programs until you find one that you really like. Then stick with it. It’s much easier to keep track of all of your photos if they are in one place. You’re also much more likely to keep them up to date and organized if you find the program to be intuitive and easy to use.
“2: Share the Fun
Sending photos via e-mail attachments can be a major time waster, and larger photo files are often stopped by e-mail filters anyway. So store them online instead. Most photo sites such as Flickr.com let you store and create online albums for free. When you’re ready to share them with friends and family, simply e-mail the link and they will have easy access without ever having to sit through a download.
“3: No Need to DIY
Let the pros handle your digital printing for you. Several online services let you upload your digital photos and print them for less money than it would initially cost for an old fashioned roll of film, not to mention the cost of developing that roll of film.
The best part: you don’t even need to travel to pick them up. Often within a few business days, your printed photos are sent right to your front door, completely hassle free.
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