Pros & cons of digital photos

[OakLeaf]

DH is a semi-pro photographer, I just take occasional snapshots. So my needs are very different from his, but I've been able to learn a few things:

(1) Backup, backup, backup. Just like your other important digital records, make more than one copy, make at least one of them an optical copy (DVD), and store them in different places. It's not a bad idea to use a bank safe deposit box - they're climate controlled, fireproof and pretty inexpensive. Check your archives periodically to ensure their integrity, and if one becomes damaged or corrupted, make a new one from your magnetic storage. Remember that film prints and negatives don't last all that long, either, when they're just left in their envelopes in a box in a closet.

(2) Sorting through hundreds of envelopes of thousands of prints isn't quick, either. A basic indexing application like iPhoto is a huge help, but the easiest thing to do for snapshots is to tag your favorite pictures the first time you look at them. Then it hardly takes any extra time at all. Make separate folders (pets, family, 2008 vacation, whatever) and either use an indexing program or make actual copies of your favorite images. You can re-name each image with more specifics.

(3) Make sure you keep an unedited copy of your images. Each time you crop, re-size or otherwise edit, the software will run a compression algorithm and slightly degrade the quality of your image.

[mimitabby]

(2) Sorting through hundreds of envelopes of thousands of prints isn't quick, either. A basic indexing application like iPhoto is a huge help, but the easiest thing to do for snapshots is to tag your favorite pictures the first time you look at them. Then it hardly takes any extra time at all. Make separate folders (pets, family, 2008 vacation, whatever) and either use an indexing program or make actual copies of your favorite images. You can re-name each image with more specifics.
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yes. I have some photos that have been "lost" for 20 years. They're in some envelope some where in one of my boxes of photos. The ones that are in Albums do better.

I was going to suggest Shutterfly.com or something like them to print your photos. They are really fast and inexpensive.

[lph]

We used to take slides only, and would spend aaaaaages getting them printed, mounted, sorted, re-sorted and so on. Ever since we went digital we've never looked back. I'm a bit of a dragon when it comes to deleting stuff, I hate wading through a gazillion mediocre shots to find the one I want, so I'm in charge of thinning the crop immediately after downloading to the computer, and I'll often go back and thin some more later. Dh would rather just save everything. We don't print anything. Almost. Once in a blue moon I'll have a shot I want a paper copy of, otherwise I love the ease of distributing pics digitally. We never even look at slides anymore. If I were a better photographer I might mourn the loss of quality, but I'm not so I'm very happy just being able to show everybody my photos immediately after the event.

We sort them in folders like this: Pictures/year/month and event/consecutive numbering, as in Pictures/2008/02 Ride to work/5. That way they sort themselves neatly the way I remember them.

[Jen-Jen]

I take tons of pictures and sometimes I go back into them and I see how many of them are similiar and I get rid of them. Only problem is that I don't always back them up on disc and I tend to have fatal errors on my computer once and a while...I lose everything.

So...after losing the last great crop of pics I now back them up and label it all. Birthdays and Holidays on one disc together. Friend parties and rides (which in my opinion is a great big party) on another.

I do the same thing as other and they get labeled as Christmas Quinlan 2008 and I know that those pics are my side of the family this year.

I hate it when I lose pictures!

[Zen]

We used to take slides only, and would spend aaaaaages getting them printed, mounted, sorted, re-sorted and so on. Ever since we went digital we've never looked back.

I miss not being able to shoot Kodachrome.
I gotta bet my film camera fixed.

What about backing up photo files on a flash drive?
i don't think cd's last forever either, though they'll probably outlast me.

[shootingstar]

(3) Make sure you keep an unedited copy of your images. Each time you crop, re-size or otherwise edit, the software will run a compression algorithm and slightly degrade the quality of your image.

Yes, very important. I learned this the hard way on some photos taken 15 yrs. ago which were digitally scanned..some resolution degraded.

On Zcentury's remark...: I also miss the degree of control for depth, etc. on single reflex lens cameras vs. the digital. I had a Nikon for years which served me well which I added on a bounce flash then a zoom-wide angle lens.

While the "cheapie" digital light small cameras are so convenient ..for recording things that you see..to take serious quality shots....well, NOT looking through the aperture (because of the structural design of cheaper digital cameras) and holding the camera 3 ft. away from your face...does not guarantee proper focus on the right things..