Digital Photo Project

[sraplayas]

Wow. Overwhelming photo project: send one year's worth of photos to my computer, edit them and burn them on CD's for storage, then figure out a way to keepsake all of my digital photos (six years worth) in an efficient, space-saving, economical way that I can view (and touch!). I really want to do this all by Christmas.

Does this topic fit in this forum?

I am interested in suggestions as to a good efficient way to pull this off.

My SIL made this beautiful memory book with snapfish and I want to make first year memory books for the kids before we start trying for #3.

This is definitely "mental clutter" for me and clutter on my camera and computer.

I grew up in a home where my dad was always taking pictures (to the chagrin of my mother, i.e. Christmas morning, you get the idea) and had the latest video projector of the era. I own a very simple Canon Power shot and at the very least I would like my photos and short videos organized, safe and accessible for the family to enjoy.

Help!
thanks! senora playas

[justmeandmybrood]

Hi! I used to scrapbook on an ongoing basis (pre-children) and ended up having 2 overstuffed 12x12inch books per year, which are now quite cumbersome to be moving so often, ugh! I did complete (well, just about) a baby scrapbook for my 2 children, and then all scrapping ended around here!

I have made a Shutterfly book for each of my children of their preschool art projects (then I chunk the actual art, which takes up so much space in bins!) and the books are just perfect! They are slim and hardback, so durable and space-saving...and when you sign up with Shutterfly and Snapfish, etc. you will receive email offers for free shipping or a % off of books, which makes them very reasonable.

I find that when I scrapbook as I go with current pictures, my books in the past are too full...but when I wait and do a year at a time, I am better able to edit the # of pictures I include, getting more into a book and using less space for fewer books, lol!

Another option is to get a digital photo frame in addition to the photo books so you can include more photos...might be a nice combination for your family enjoyment of pics

[sraplayas]

those are some great ideas!

this might be too technical a question, but, i wonder if my process of importing/editing/saving/burning photos is taking more time than necessary.

do you feel like it takes a long time to do this?

the digital frame is another good idea. any suggestions as to brand?

[sleepypeanutsmom]

Hi~
I have a similar situation, but 4 years worth to catch up on. Four years ago our twins were born and I've just taken pictures but have done nothing with them. I've used Snapfish for prints, but I've been looking into Picaboo for photo books. Their books seem to have more layout options, etc. Last month Picaboo offered a free photo book (up to 20ish pages) and you just would pay for the difference. I couldn't get my photos together in time, but I think I'll start working on one and cross my fingers that they offer this again so I can save some $.

I love the idea of doing this for the kids' artwork! I'll have to give that some thought. Did you have to scan each one and the upload it?

[sunnysandiegan]

We have over 19,000 digital pictures.

My techniques:

Import frequently! I upload the pictures from my camera to my computer after every "big" event and, at the very least, once a month.

I delete the icky pictures immediately and I turn the remaining pictures the correct way.

Then, once a month, I spend a few minutes correcting red eyes and doing other editing tasks.

I have a Mac and use iPhoto. I don't need to save or date anything. All pictures are automatically saved by date and I can rename the "event" to whatever I want or just leave it as the date. I don't have to do a lot on the organizing side of things because iPhoto does all that for me. Saving is done every time I leave the program, for example.

I back up my laptop to an external hard drive once a week. We also refresh our computers completely once a year and those copies are sent to my DH's parents' home in another state. I don't have to burn CDs to have our pictures protected.

As for what to do with pictures, I do a combination of several different things.

1. I am a scrapbooker. I scrapbook all of our physical photographs from before we went digital. I was an amateur photographer in high school with a fancy camera, so I have a LOT of photographs!!! I also scrapbook mini albums from digital pics whenever the mood strikes.

2. I make use of iPhoto features, such as events and albums. Then, I set those up to be my computer backgrounds (changing every time I open my laptop) and my screen saver. I also share pictures with friends and family via facebook and email and digital photo frames and other electronic means.

3. I am in the midst of making my first photo book FOR US of our DD's preschool year. I have made a few of these as gifts and the recipients LOVE them! I plan to do the photo books for each school year. I scan in the art work and any paperwork of value and recycle the originals. This cuts down on the clutter dramatically!

4. I love to scrapbook, so I plan to do a mix from our digital pictures. I just haven't decided the exact nature of that mix. I really want to get all the non-digital photographs finished first, so I am taking care to keep up with the digital pics now. That way it'll be easy once I decide. The non-digital stuff is already in chronological order and is organized by year (one year per envelope for memorabilia and all the photographs are in chronological order in two large photo boxes with notes).

[hopefulfaith]

I just want to offer you encouragement. Do it now before it gets too overwhelming.

I have five years worth of photos that need to be digitally organized.
I planned to do it every season over the last year. It's sort of the last thing in my life that isn't truly organized....but then I realize that I can't do it in bits and pieces throughout the day, caring for kids -- I need hours and hours! -- and it never gets done.

Do it now!

[sleepypeanutsmom]

One of the big things I keep getting stuck on is how many books to make? I plan to have one per year (if I can fit them all in one!). But, do I just make one book for our family, or do I order 3 books every year, one for each of my children??

Of course, ordering 3 is not something I can really afford, but I keep letting myself get stuck on that and not get started with this project. Down the road will I wish I had one for each child when they are adults???

Or, do I just make one album and we can figure it out in 20 years. Maybe they won't want to be saddled with a huge stack of albums when they have their own place!

Anyone else think about this??

[Tjej]

I used www.blurb.com to do our 1 1/2 year photo book. The book is beautiful and the software is great because you don't have to upload all your pics to their website - you do it on your computer and then send the finished project.

One big thing about doing so many is that you have to be willing to do is to cull. You get better at it as you go.

Tjej

ETA: I just make one book for the family. I do make short books for the grandparents, so there are a few things to go around, but I doubt that both of my children are going to be really into having a copy of every single family picture. The books are for me, not really for them.

[sraplayas]

These are fabulous ideas!

I definitely feel encouraged to get started and in fact I did one hour's worth this last Saturday and it gave me an idea of what I'm looking at.

Get this: I need to catch up from Nov. of 2008 as of today. Wow! I have to do like four month's worth of editing/burning, to have everything up to speed and then make the albums. We'll see how it goes!

I too love the idea of making digital copies of kid's artwork. My DD l-o-v-e-s to draw, paint, etc. and I am not even a packrat but have a really hard time throwing any of her artwork out.

Maybe I'll do the artwork once I'm actually up to speed with the photos.

Any more ideas? Keep 'em coming!