Archiving and digital files

The world of digital photography adds a new dimension to organizing and retrieving pictures. A consistent, simple file management system can simplify printing and sharing.

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The easiest way to archive digital pictures

After you have filled your digital media and deleted the pictures you don’t want, simply bring the media in to the lab. Order the prints and order a CD of the media. The CD then becomes your negatives for your pictures. Create a filing system at your home or office for the CD’s for easy retrieval and printing. Store your CD’s on a shelf or area away from direct sunlight, high temperature and treat them as you would a negative or slide. This system saves time by completely bypassing any additional steps of downloading to your computer, and organizing the digital files.

Your Hard Drive is a temporary storage device

A hard drive is a mechanical device. The life of a hard drive is measured in MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure) the average MTBF of all hard drives is 3-10 years. However, a much more useful reference point is the length of the manufacturer’s warranty. Some will last longer; some will fail long before this time period. In addition the average PC user will upgrade, or purchase a new PC about every two years. Planning to archive all of your data to CD or DVD on a monthly basis is highly recommended. Use your hard drive as temporary storage to organize your images before archiving.

Simple Concise File Management

Use only simple short names for folders and files. The key behind good file management is the use of folders named by time period and event. Create a folder for the year. Inside that folder create folders for each month. Inside the monthly folders create a folder for each event. Inside the event folder create folders for each subcategory of that event. Then let the file names be whatever the camera assigns the picture within each final folder. When you have to name a picture file other than what the camera assigns, try to keep the number of the total characters under 12. Example: Camera names a picture, IMG057.jpg Rename the file 001Py010503.jpg this is a code for: first image of the Party that was held on January 5th 2003. Whatever system you come up with will work, but make sure you can explain your system to the lab that is printing your picture files. By using the numbering system of three digits starting with 001, 002, 003, 004 the files will stay in the order that you designated. Followed by your coded description.

Editiing your photos for printing

The easiest way to edit bad photos is to delete them on your camera before you upload to the computer. If in doubt about the worth of any image, do not delete it. It can always be deleted after upload. By saving your images as outlined above, any file or folder can be found easily by using the search provided by windows explorer.

Creating a organized order for the lab

Once you have created an organized system on your computer, there are three ways to send the order to your lab. Here are the steps to make the order easy for you and insure the accuracy of your order.

Create a CD that you take to the lab for printing

• Using CD writing software, copy only the files you want printed to the CD.
• Create folders on the CD that designate size and then folders that designate quantity. When the same image needs more than one size, copy the image file to each folder that designates the size ordered. For example: image file named img003.jpg needs 8wallets, 5-4x5’s, 1-5x7 and 1-8x10. Write that file to each of the folders that corresponds with the size and sub folders that have the quantity required.
• Make sure to explain to the lab that there are several images in different folders that are the same, and the color should match.
• Make a screen copy of your CD.
• After you have organized and before you write the CD, press the Print Screen/SysRQ key on your keyboard. This creates a copy of the screen and saves it to the clipboard. Open the MS Paint program that comes with your operating system. Go to Edit>Paste. This will load the clipboard into the paint program. Got to File>Save As and save the file in a folder that is called “Orders” name the file using the date sent to the lab. This is an easy way to recall exactly what you sent to the lab should have questions about your order. 
• Know exactly how many images you ordered. Ask the lab to package the order by size folder, and to keep them in order to provide an easy way to double check for accuracy.

Send image files through an online finishing service.

• When using software available online or from the lab, follow the instructions on your screen. Send the images over the internet and wait for your photos to be mailed or pick them up when notified.
• This is a very easy way to send a few images for reprinting. If you have a large order, Send a CD or use the lab’s FTP site.

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