Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/03/19/spring-cleaning_n_2901949.html
Okay, don’t cringe. No one likes the idea of spring cleaning as it usually means clearing out the cobwebs and getting your hands dirty but this blog post is all about getting organized without having to crack out the mop and bucket.
As your photo library grows, it’s extremely important to stay organized with your files so that you can easily find an image months or even years down the line. Here are a few useful tips to make sure retrieving an image isn’t a terrible game of finding a needle in a haystack.
- Create a hierarchy of folders that makes sense to you. Start with general folders that cover broad topics or timelines and then funnel things into more specific folders. Example: 2014- Feb 2014- MomBday- Jpegs.
- Add info to your files whenever you can to make them searchable. Certain software will let you add keywords, colour tags or star ratings in order to find things later on. Our favourites are ADOBE LIGHTROOM and ADOBE BRIDGE. And don’t forget to actually NAME THE FILE ITSELF. Don’t settle for one of those _DSC234.NEF naming conventions that your camera assigns to your images. They tell you nothing.
- Back it up. You should ALWAYS be backing up the photos on your computer and it’s a good habit to do this after every season. Copy your images onto an external hard drive and back them up on some sort of online cloud. Our favourite FREE SERVICES are Symform and Bitcasa.
To make sure your spring cleaning lasts all year long, take our Lightroom 101 class to learn how this Adobe program not only keeps you organized but also lets you edit your images!
WHEN: Saturday, April 26 10am – 5pm