Digital Photos
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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, that means you probably have a lot more photos to catalog and print now than you did with ‘old fashioned’ cameras. We bet that between Halloween, Thanksgiving, and the Holidays, your digital camera and photo files are bursting at the seams. 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! Unlike old-fashioned film, doing so is easy, fast and often free.
Sarah on ‘Play to Your Strengths’
‘Both my husband and I love to play photographer. But once the shots have been snapped, that’s where our differences come in. 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. Since my tech savvy husband enjoys the initial set up work, once our camera is full, I just hand it 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 will need to commit, it also keeps digital photography fun for both of us — as it should be!’
Alicia on ‘Zap the Duds!’
‘Digital photography takes the cake as a hassle-free technology, but sometimes the sheer volume of pictures that accumulate can be overwhelming. A lot of us still hang on to our old-fashioned habits of saving every picture, regardless of how awful it is. But there’s no need to keep an unflattering image, an out of focus blur, or that shot of your shoe that little Johnny snapped by accident. 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 which will make it to print.’
Here are three ways to help you make the most out of your digital photos:
#1: Pick a Program
Whether it’s iPhoto or Kodak Picture Viewer, 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 email attachments can be can be a major time waster, and larger photo files are often stopped by email filters anyway. So store them online instead. Most photo sites such as Flickr.com, KodakGallery.com and Sony.com let you store and create online albums for free. When you’re ready to share them with friends and family, simply email the link and they will have easy access to without ever having to sit through a never ending download.
#3: No Need to DIY
Let the pros handle your digital printing for you. Online services such as Kodak, Sony, and even CVS 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.
While I have yet to do this, I plan to take my favorite photos from the entire previous year and create a “coffee table book” with them. You can make them on snapfish and other user-friendly photo sites now. You simply drop your photos into place, choose background page colors, add text, etc and you’re done! You can even design your own cover using your photos! So hassle-free and then you receive a printed book to display proudly in your home. No worries about photos getting dingy or sliding from the protectors after years of viewing…just a nice hard-bound book that you’ll have forever! I can’t wait to make my first one with my 2008 family photos!
Hi Molly,
I love those little photobooks! It’s like a scrapbook but faster and cheaper (which is always nice)!
I also love to make them as gifts. For example, when I was in a girlfriend’s wedding, I made a compilation of all photos from a bachelorette party and gave it to the bride on the wedding day while we were all getting our hair done. It was a blast looking through them with all of the bridesmaids and bride!
Best,
Ashleigh, The Wrangler
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