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INSIDE look :: Digital Photo Organizing Project

Writer's picture: Shanna KoetsierShanna Koetsier

Updated: Jan 19



What does organizing digital photos entail...


Managing digital photos can be overwhelming, especially when you have thousands of images scattered across devices, cloud platforms, and old storage systems. I recently worked with a client who faced this exact challenge. Here’s how I helped her regain control of her memories.


We gathered 56,801 photos from all her devices/clouds.


Assessment and Goals: We start by discussing priorities...how to make her collection easily accessible for sharing and printing. We want a practical, secure system.


Gathering Photos: Once we have a plan, we start by gathering. I collect all her digital photos from various devices and storage locations. This includes downloading images from her cloud accounts and transferring files from older devices. Sometimes this step is tricky as old devices can be temperamental. All kinds of equipment and programs may be needed to rescue all the files.


We put all her photos on an external hard drive.


When gathering is complete, we make a full backup copy on two other external hard drives and tuck them away until the project is complete.


Camera [SD] Cards iCloud Download Discs


Deduplicating: Next is taking all the duplicates out of the collection. [Often people have the same photos on discs that are on the computer, that are also on an old hard drive, etc.] Removing exact dupes is only step one. Everyone has a different approach to step two. Most clients request similar photos also be removed, leaving only a handful from one event....but some clients prefer only EXACTS be removed. In this case, I was to really slim down the collection, leaving only one or two photos per event.

Duplicate Removal Program
Duplicate Removal Program

There are a couple different programs I use for this step and often run them 15-25 times [using different settings] to ensure accuracy. Exact duplicate files are deleted, but the similar files we remove are all added to a folder the client can access if needed, keeping the main library nicely cleaned up.


Year/Month Structure
Year/Month Structure


Sorting: After removing all the excess, it's time to sort everything chronologically. Our approach is Year/Month folders. There are often special folders the clients likes preserved, so although we have sorting programs that take the project a long way, there is always manual work during this step.


Dates on photos/videos are another challenging piece. Files don't always hold onto the proper/original date taken.

Sometimes...

> a date is set incorrectly on a camera

> photos take on a date transferred to a computer

> photos take on the date sent via a messaging app

There are many contributing factors that can lead to incorrect dates, which means this step usually involves quite a bit of detective work and manual sorting.


Creating a Backup System

To ensure memories are safe, I always implement a 3-2-1 backup strategy:

three copies of a collection
stored on two different types of media
one copy kept off site

In this case, copy one was on the external hard drive. Copy two was uploaded into iCloud. Copy three was uploaded to *Forever Cloud Storage. The cloud storage copies are considered offsite. [If you're not comfortable with cloud storage, you could take an external hard drive to a different location; work, family member's home, etc]


Share: When everything is in one place and easily accessible, printing, creating books, texting friends, sharing memories is easy to do! She was so thrilled with the results that she decided to create a family photo book for the holidays, showcasing her favourite moments.


The final photo count, after clean up....18,643....from 56,801!

The Results: By the end of the project, her photo library was reduced by 38,158!

An organized photo library not only saves time but also preserves your family’s story for future generations.


We can work together to preserve your family memories too!




 

 

 



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