Digital photography has made computers the most common place to store photos. In a world where there are thousands of photos, how can you find anything? How have we not solved this problem yet?
Since taking photos is essentially free, we don’t spend the time deleting them. With film photography, this was never a problem because it was so expensive. In the past, you had to buy the film, develop it, and then print it. There was a time when school graduation pictures were developed on the same roll of film as Christmas pictures. A year’s worth of 60 images didn’t seem like a big deal.
Nowadays, we shoot 60 shots at a single picnic or barbecue. Now, every photograph is kept, no matter how good or bad it is. Let’s see what can be done.
File System Management
Pros
Easy to understand
Easy to backup
Cons
Very manual
Time-consuming
Not searchable
This simply means downloading the files from your camera/memory card and storing them. This could mean tens of thousands of files with names like IMG_0589.jpg. This is not very helpful.
Furthermore, how many times can you name a file dog_playing, dog_playing2, dog_playing_657 before you lose track of them?
It is possible to store the files according to dates so that each year has a folder, and within each folder is a month, and within each month there is a day. That’s pretty straightforward, but it requires a lot of manual effort. As a matter of fact, it was the only option we had for a long time.
Photo Management Software
There are many products available that help you organize your photos like you do your music. It’s likely that you already have this software if you have a Mac. There’s an app called Photos (iPhoto on older Macs) which is likely at the bottom of your screen in the dock.
Windows Photo Gallery from Microsoft is available for Windows 10. Picasa from Google used to be a very popular option for both Mac and Windows users. Although Picasa is still available for download, it is no longer supported and will cease to be developed past version 3.9). If you have an Adobe subscription, Lightroom is an excellent option.
All of these programs allow you to organize your photos into virtual folders or albums. As a result, you have the main photo library (all your pictures) that you can divide up into multiple folders. It might be possible for you to have an album of Billy’s whole life and an album of Christmas pictures that also contain some of Billy’s life photos.
The software does not create a duplicate, however. When you want to display the photo in multiple places, it knows how to do so. Increasing the number of photos in the program, however, will make it slower to run.
Pros
Easy to understand
Very flexible
Cons
Can be slow
Difficult to back up
Online Photo Services
Google, Apple, Microsoft, and even Amazon have started taking all the photos you upload. The coolest part is that some of them are either free or almost free. There is no charge for Google’s service, and Amazon Photos and Microsoft OneDrive services are so affordable that you might as well consider them gratis.
Although Apple’s iCloud Photo Library costs more than its competitors (up to $120/year), it integrates so well with the iPhone, iPad, and Mac that it makes the service very appealing to Apple fans.
The majority of online photo services require you to install a local application on your device (phone, computer, etc.) to access your photos, but some let you log in to their system and view them directly. The great thing about these systems is that they make it possible for you to view every photo, regardless of whether your device can hold them all.
Pros
All photos are always available (theoretically)
Photos automatically backed up
Cons
High mobile data consumption
Can be slow
Can have associated costs
Someone else has your photos
Which is Best?
My recommendation:
| iPhone/Mac/iPad User: | Sign up for iCloud Photo Library and deal with the higher monthly payment; If money is tight, Google Photos is great |
| Android User: | Sign Up for Google Photos |
| Windows User: | Sign up for One Drive |