"Digital Storage Solutions"
Sun.Star Davao, Oct. 27, 2007

If you’re a sentimental mom like me, I bet you lug around your digital camera wherever you go. As a classic commercial jingle goes, “These are the moments. Don’t let them pass you by....” .

Sometimes, I’m just so into it that my eldest child will just laugh when she sees me ready to document that “Kodak moment”. “There goes mommy again with her camera”, my daughter quips as she grins and rolls her eyes.

Without any worries about running out of film, I take photos almost everyday. However, organizing them regularly is another matter.

One long weekend, I decided to finally put my digital images into some semblance of order with the assistance of my husband Gary who co-owns CD-R Plus in Victoria Plaza.

Downloading digital images

“It would be a wise idea to immediately delete any unwanted photos (e.g., overexposed, underexposed, blurry) from the camera. If you have several pictures of the same pose, choose one or two of the best and delete the others”, advises Gary.

If limited space in your memory card is a concern, you may temporarily download your images to your computer’s hard drive or other mobile media such as an external hard drive or a flash drive. To do this, you can use your digital camera’s USB cable connector or a card reader.

In saving the files, there are various formats to choose from. The more common ones are JPEG, GIF and the PNG.

Editing tools

When you have the time, you may want to edit the pictures utilizing different photo editing tools.

“Such tools may come with the package along with the camera or you can look for them on the internet. More popular tools include proprietary software such as Adobe Photoshop, Corel Draw, Microsoft Office Picture Manager or ACDC See”, shares Gary.

Got a picture that you want to enhance?

Using the basic functions of the said editing tools, you can crop; rotate; adjust the color, brightness and contrast; and do red-eye removal of your images.

There are also open applications such as Google’s free desktop software, Picasa. Aside from managing your files, Picasa offers special effects like converting your photos to black and white while highlighting a particular area in its original color or blurring your foreground or background so that the subject will be given focus.

On the other hand, with Microsoft Paint, you can playfully draw or add color to the background of your photos. This will come in handy in making memorable events such as birthdays, school programs and Halloween extra exciting.

Believe me, I’m not a “techie” or an artistic person but I occasionally apply MSOffice Picture Manager and Paint as well as Picasa with some favorite photos and even have fun in the process.

Creating folders

“An efficient folder system will definitely help you manage your digital images more easily”, stresses Gary.

But, what if you have a hundred or thousand images with file names like IMG_4567.jpg?

To simplify the sorting process, Gary recommends that you view your files in thumbnail sketches. Thumbnails are tiny previews of images in a specific folder.

You can then organize digital images chronologically (e.g., by month or year), by event (e.g., travel, birthdays, people) or by type (e.g., landscape, portrait, special projects).

For example, your child just had her 6th birthday and you would like to organize the digital images.

Start by creating a sub-folder named Anicka_6thbday_June07. It is very important that the date is included for instant identification.

Inside the sub-folder, name the images individually with a keyword and specific details (e.g., Anicka_6thbday_cake or Anicka_6thbday_teacher)

You may likewise label multiple photos of the same event by keyword and assigning a number (e.g., Anicka_6thbday_01, Anicka_6thbday_02).

Then, after doing the Anicka_6thbday_June07 folder, you can put this folder in the sub-folder, June_2007 under a master folder of Photos_2007.

Hopefully, with this method, should you need to look for a specific file in the future, you won’t have a long and difficult time finding your prized photos.

Backing up

After organizing, you should decide where to store them permanently. There are mainly two ways: store them online or store them locally.

“Yahoo’s Flickr is a well-known online photo management and sharing application that lets you upload photos from your desktop, e-mail or camera phone. Just like Picasa, it can help you organize your photos efficiently”, divulges Gary.

Moreover, Flickr allows photo sharing so you can share your digital images to your family and friends all over the world.

On the other hand, to store locally, you can use different storage media such as CDs, DVDs, memory cards, flash drives, or you can just store them in your hard drive. However, Gary warns that as much as possible, we should not keep all the digital photos in our hard drive.

“They quickly take a lot of space and can be lost forever if your computer crashes”, he cautions.

Gary also stresses that we should label CDs and DVDs right away after “burning” digital images (e.g., Photos_June2007).

Once you back up your photos, erase the images in your camera or memory card to free up space.

“Don’t forget to use a specialty album for your CDs making sure that you store them in a cool and dry place. Some people even keep their precious photo CDs in a fire-proof safe or safety deposit box”, says Gary.

In addition, if you wish to view your digital images in a cool way, a digital photo frame is a simple and quick way to display digital photos and videos from various memory cards or memory units via slide show. A card slot is included at the photo frame’s back which can accommodate SD, MS and MMC memory cards.

With a variety of digital storage solutions, creating order for your priceless visual memories need not be a formidable challenging project.

So, stop procrastinating and start organizing!

CD-R Plus is located near Door 2, Victoria Plaza, Bajada, Davao City. Telephone number: 3016497.

(For your comments and suggestions, you may e-mail me at mom.about.town.dvo@gmail.com. Visit http://www.mom-about-town.blogspot.com).