During the opening ceremonies the commentator talked about Julia Marino being the first Paraguayan Winter Olympian.  She was adopted as a baby and raised in a town next to us.  When asked about this Marino said, “The Olympics are about representing where you are from, and Paraguay is where I’m from.” (espn.go.com, 18 Dec 2013)  This was not lost on either of my sons.

Then there was the gold medalist in the snowboard halfpipe who was born in Russia but competed for Switzerland.  Now he wasn’t adopted, his family moved.  The idea that you could represent a country other than the one you were born in, or live in, was interesting.  It brought up questions and spurred conversation.  Might they get to the Olympics, not by being the best in the USA where there is greater competition, but by competing in the country of their birth where there are fewer people competing?  We did let my boys know you still have to qualify by winning on the world stage, but that you might get the chance to compete in a country with fewer athletes in your sport.  Is that fair or right?  Great discussions to have with young active boys!

It never ceases to amaze me how little things bring up adoption issues in our family.  Where you live may influence your language and culture, but genetics and history will always play a part in who you are.  I’m glad my boys are thinking about their options.  Will they be Olympic athletes?  I’ll be happy for them to enjoy actively participating in what ever sport they choose.

To rate your photos with one to five stars, starts with a more basic question: what do you want to do with your photos?  The most common reason to rate your photos is to quickly find your best, or favorite photo.  What if you used the ratings to indicate what you plan on doing with an image or one more way to narrow a search?

Here are three ways to use those Stars in rating your photos: Rate the image quality, what is the best photo; Use the ratings for your workflow, marking each image based on what you want to do with it; Finally, use the ratings as an additional sorting tool based on personal criteria for your collection of photos.

The real key is to decide on why you are rating the images!  How will it help you find, use, and enjoy your photos?  Once you’ve answered that question, stick to the system that works for you.  It is helpful to write it down and have your criterion visible when sorting.

I must admit that I didn’t really use the star ratings in my photo organizing software much until recently.  Most organizing software has them and people use them in a wide variety of ways.  Rating your photos is a way to help you find those special photos fast.  Let’s look at three ways to use the star ratings so you can choose what works for you.

1) IMAGE QUALITY

Using the start ratings to identify your best photos is fairly popular.  In order to do this you need to keep the highest number of stars for the truly outstanding photos!  How can you do this as your collection of images continues to increase?  Keep a pyramid with many one star photos, fewer two star photos, even fewer three start photos, still fewer four star photos, and only a handful of five start photos.  In fact I would suggest that you keep about a 10 to 1 ratio between each level.  You might not even have any five star images until your photo collection is over 10,000 or possibly 100,000 images.  You might think, ‘I have more great photos than that!’  You may, but if you don’t keep some ratio between the different levels, you will end up with many “special” photos and not be able to tell which are the truly prize winning images.  As Buddy says in The Incredibles, “when everyone is special then no one will be special.”  Keeping the ratio consistent between levels will help you keep a pyramid and not end up with a light bulb.

You may need to go through your collection of photos from time to time, say once or twice a year, to check and see if you need to move some images up or down in their star rating.  As your collection grows, you may find some images that were really great need to be dropped a level as you improve your photography skills.  This is ok and there are other ways to note a photo was your best at one point in time.  Don’t be afraid to change the star rating on an image if you are using it to get to your best photos quickly.  This method is popular among professional photographers and avid amateurs who take a ton of photos.  You can read more about it in The DAM Book: Digital Asset Management for Photographers by Peter Krogh.

2) WORKFLOW

I’ve used the stars to help me sort digital images using the ABC’s of photo organizing.  This is more about work flow than quality of the photo.  An image that I think should be in an album or book gets three stars.  An image that needs to be kept, but may not go in a book gets two stars.  If an image is going to be deleted, it gets one star.  (This way I can go through all the images before deleting the bad ones.  If I get interrupted, I still know what has and hasn’t been looked at.)  The images that have stories popping out get four stars.  Then I can look and see all the photos that have stories at a glance.  I usually look for themes or groupings and then start with the four star photos when making a book or slideshow, filling in with the three star photos as needed.  I get rid of the images that have only a one star rating so everything in my collection has at least two stars.  If I use a photo in a book, I change the rating to five stars.  This tells me what the images have been “Printed”.  Now I can tell what photos still need to get back into my life by looking at the three and four star photos.

3) PERSONAL CRITERIA

The great thing about the star ratings is that you can decide what you want to use the stars for and then go for it!  I’ve seen people use the stars to denote how many people are in the image, if it’s a face full front, full body, or close up.  Others use the stars to tell if an image needs or has been edited.  (I prefer to show if a photo has been edited in the file name.)

The trick is to decide on your criterion, write it down and stick to it!  Use the stars to mark your best images.  Use them to manage your workflow.  Use them to sort photos based on your own preferences.  Just make sure to rate, tag, categorize so you can find the photo you’re looking for easily.

Do you use the Star Ratings?  If you do, share how you rate your pictures in the comments below.  If you have questions, ask away.  If you’ve found this helpful, please share on your social networks.  Thanks.

Each year people make New Year’s resolutions.  Losing weight and getting organized are big ones that many people start the year with and then lose their way.  I’ve been hearing many motivational speakers talk about the need for resolve in making simple changes that will have more lasting results in our lives.  Looking back at the year just finished is one way of seeing what worked, what didn’t, and how you might make one change to help you achieve your goal.  I can’t help you with losing pounds, but I can help with getting one area organized – your photos.  Today we’ll focus on the digital images you take.

Let’s start with some questions about how you’re taking pictures:

What camera(s) or device(s) are you using to shoot pictures? 

Do you have one place you gather your digital images? 

If you do, how do you transfer them? 

Are you consistent in moving the photos off the various devices onto your computer?

Do you clear your camera card and other devices once you’ve moved the images to your central location?

With today’s technology people are taking photos with smart phones and tablets more than with cameras.  The problem is that we are not in the habit of moving the photos off our phone or tablet onto our computer as we are from our camera.  (I have known people who collect SD Cards for their camera as they fill them up with photos.  Not a good idea! )  This is why I start with what you are taking photos with!  Too many moms have forgotten to move the precious photos of their children when they changed phones or when a phone was fried by dropping it or putting it through the laundry. (Don’t laugh, my wife did this!)  Then they discover that all the pictures of baby’s first year are gone… with no way to retrieve them!

Here is your first small change: If you don’t already have one computer that you put all your photos on, pick one!  Make a folder or use the My Photos folder that’s there.  As you add images you will add subfolders.  We will talk about organizing programs later.

Second small change: After an event where you took photos move them from all the devices and cameras to one computer!  You want to get into the habit of moving those images over as soon as you can.  Make a folder with the date, place, and event in the name so you remember what’s inside and put all the photos in that folder.   Hint for computer sorting: use a Year-Month-Day format (yyyy-mm-dd) at the beginning of the folder name so they sort chronologically.

Set yourself a schedule if you have to.  Even if you do it once a week, or at least once a month, you can keep the images together that go together.  This will make it easier to deal with a small number of photos rather than trying to tackle hundreds or thousands of images at a time.

Third small change: Clearing your camera card, cell phone, or tablet will cut down on duplicates.  I know many people want to have their photos on their phone so they can share the pictures with people.  That’s what various sharing sites are for.  You use an app to save the best photos and have them available on all your devices, without having multiple copies that you then need to deal with.  We’ll review some of those sites later.  For now, just remember that once you have moved the pictures to your computer, delete those images off your devices and reformat the camera SD card.

If you can at least make these small changes now, it will help you tremendously in the coming year to find and enjoy your pictures when you want them.  Which of these small changes will help you?  What other issues to you face in organizing your photos?

On the last week till Christmas my PPO (Personal Photo Organizer) suggested to me: Give a gift certificate for a half-day of photo organizing.

With only one week till Christmas most of the work that organizing, scanning, restoring, designing, and printing take, is more time than is left. The good news is that a gift certificate can be personalized and given now for work to be done later.

One very popular gift is half a day of organizing photos. This lets us get to see what the recipient has. What they might want to do with those images long term. We can then develop a plan for what needs to be done. They can take it from there to do it themselves or continue to work with us on part, or all of the plan.  Giving a gift of a custom designed photo book, slideshow or other project makes a great gift as well.

January is a great time to get organized, so giving a gift certificate now lets the recipient chose when and how they want to  work on their photos.  Who do you know that would love to get their photos out of boxes or off their computer and back into their life to enjoy and share with friends and family?

On the 2nd week till Christmas my PPO (Personal Photo Organizer) suggested to me: The gift of securing your photos with Picture Keeper as part of a backup strategy.

We’re getting down to the wire here and one of the basics for good photo management is a backup system. Give a gift that will help your loved one secure their digital photos with Picture Keeper. I did a review of it earlier and there have been some great updates like finding duplicate photos. Take a look at that post and think about who you know that could use some help both finding all their digital images and getting them backed up.

You can get a Picture Keeper drive fairly quickly through my affiliate link or check with me to see if I have one in stock. One of my favorites is buying my own external hard drive and downloading the Picture Keeper software. I have thousands of photos so need a fairly large drive to back them all up.  Even if your photo collection outgrows your Picture Keeper drive, all you need to do is get another one and it will pick up where the first left off.

Don’t forget all those photos on your phone and tablet.  Picture Keeper has an app for that!  Get them safely over to your computer and backed up with the rest of your collection.  If you need help sorting out your backup system, let us know.  We’re here to help.

On the 3rd week till Christmas my PPO (Personal Photo Organizer) suggested to me: Make a slide show of your last year for the family holiday gathering.

Find photos of each person coming to your holiday gathering, some festive music and turn that into a short fun video montage to celebrate the people you will be with. Or take your favorite photos from the past year and do the same thing. There are many different themes or people you could do this for and it can be a great time to open up and talk with family. You might be surprised at the conversations that come up and lead to more memories of great family gatherings.  Here is our Christmas card video:

You don’t need that many photos for a slide show. Three to eight minutes is a great length and 10 to 15 images per minute (30 to 110 images) is all you need to make a wonderful reflection and celebration of your family.  Most of our clients find it harder to keep the number of photos down so the slideshow isn’t too long that people loose interest.

You can share this on You Tube or Vimeo with far flung family. Use your own voice to narrated and add a more personal touch. When using music you need to have a license for the song or songs you use, or use music from royalty free sites. Always check the terms of use to make sure synchronization is part of the terms.  See my post on what makes a good slideshow.

Would your friends and family enjoy a slideshow made with pictures of them?  What would you want to share as you gather this year?

On the 4^th week till Christmas my PPO (Personal Photo Organizer) suggested to me: Give an archival, photo safe Legacy Box to put all your printed photos and memorabilia in.  Better yet, give it filled with family photos already organized.

You can also take all the printed photos you just had scanned and divide them up between your grown children or your parent’s photos between your siblings and make a box for each person with their photos in it.  You can include the digital copies of all the photos, and just the printed photos of that particular person in them.  This can be a great gift after cleaning out grandparents or parents homes, or when downsizing.

What I like about the Legacy Box is that it holds 2,400 photos in 11-12 smaller boxes and has many cards to further divide the photos so you can find a specific photo easily.  There is also a large envelope for photos larger than 5×7.  The box looks nice so you can leave it out, but it’s sturdy enough to stack away in a closet.  There is a place for labeling what is in the box.  The Legacy Box is only available through an APPO Personal Photo Organizer.   Contact us if you would like one.

If you need help doing the sorting, we are here for you.

Digitizing your family movies, tapes, slides or photos is a great way to do one project and have multiple people on your list taken care of. You get the digital files of your family movies or video tapes, and everyone can have their own copy. It’s fairly easy to make DVDs from those files for viewing on your TV, with today’s technology you are able to go directly from your computer to your HD TV using a DLNA enabled device like a blueray player. What you can’t do with DVDs is edit the movie clips. With the digital files you can take all sorts of events and people you can take clips of and make into a montage.  Give a personal highlight reel to each family member.  The video below is a commercial, but shows what can be done by taking clips from one season of the year over time and splicing them together.  Notice they go from film to video, no sound to sound and have added some music.

Most people don’t have the old film projectors or even the slide projectors needed to view old movie film and slides to see what’s on them. At least with the slides you can hold them up to the light with a loop as see the image. With film it’s much harder to see what is really on that reel of film.  You can gain some clues about what’s on that reel of film from the box or cover if there is an address, postmark, or other writing.  Even if you get one reel of film done for Christmas this year, it may get the rest of the family excited about digitizing the rest of the reels. You may even find that there are more reels of film that other family members have in their possession. There can be a treasure trove of family history waiting for you to see.

We had a client digitize his family’s slide collection that hadn’t been seen in 20 years.  The slides had gone through a fire with only smoke damage. He then had the images printed and gave sets to his parents and siblings. There were so many stories that came out as the family looked at those photos and remembered their family history. The next step for them is to make a book with the best photos and all the stories these photos have brought back to life for them so they won’t be forgotten again.

All those printed photos being scanned and the jpegs given on a CD or flash drive is another great gift. You don’t lose the originals and everyone gets a copy. We’ve also scanned whole photo albums and made them into photo books so all the family members can have grandma’s scrapbook or photo album.

What out dated media do you have that can be digitized and shared for the holiday?  What conversations might they spark?

On the 6th week till Christmas my PPO (Personal Photo Organizer) suggested to me: Personalize your Christmas cards with photos.

Don’t you just love getting cards that are also photos showing off the family who sent the card? Today it’s easy to personalize cards with photos and messages. You have so many options with multiple sizes, flat or folded, even shapes of cards. Some of the do-it-yourself companies let you personalize most of the card. They may not let you do anything on the back where they put their branding, but others will let you totally design and personalize the card throughout.

We have always done a simple flat photo card, printed as a glossy photograph, then added a letter. With the folded cards you can print your letter in the card so no more collating! If you are doing a folded card you have more room to add multiple photos. Don’t forget mom and dad. So many of our friends only put the children’s photo and news in.

Some years we use a family photo with all of us in the same picture. Other years it’s individual photos of each family member. You can do it either way. Some people take the family card picture at a totally different time of year to avoid the rush and possible bad attitude problems with children not wanting to get their picture taken when you HAVE to get it DONE NOW! This is one of the reasons to go with individual photos.

It may seem early to start thinking about cards, but you will need some time to gather the photos and get the card made.  If you want to wait until Thanksgiving for that family photo, don’t wait to chose the vendor and design the card!  Have that all decided so you can get it done and ordered that weekend!  If you need help or have questions, leave a comment.  We’re here to help.

On the 7th week till Christmas my PPO (Personal Photo Organizer) suggested to me – Make a calendar, it’s two gifts in one, the calendar and then 12 photo prints.

You have seen many places to make your own calendar with your photos. The one I personally like best is when you can do a 12×12 image that detaches from the month so you can save it as a print. You get a two-for-one gift, a calendar and 12 large prints that can be single photos or collages. We’ve done this for our family over several years. Make one calendar with all the family birthdays, anniversaries, and other special dates on it. Add photos or artwork from the previous year and we have a gift for all our family. This is a gift people will look at all year and beyond.

Calendars offer a wide variety of options as you have 12 months to show off different people, events, places, artwork, crafts, or any number of other images. You can have one unifying theme for the whole calendar like an event (think wedding, baby, graduation), place (think your town, house, or vacation place), art/craft/hobby (we’ve done my mother in-law’s quilts for several years), or people (think immediate family, extended family, or even ancestors).

There are several sites that let you do this yourself, or you can have a Personal Photo Organizer help you or do it for you. We’ve done many of these. Sometimes we will take pages from a photo book and use them in a calendar or the other way around. It usually saves time and money when you make a page do double duty.

Have you done a photo calendar?  How was it received?  If you have questions orneed help, we’re here for you.