Did you know that September is Save Your Photos Month? Join us for a month-long quest to protect and preserve your family’s lifetime of photos, film, and memorabilia. #SaveYourPhotos2020

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Day 13: Create a Timeline

Preparing a family timeline aids in the sorting process as you begin to tackle your photo and video collection. Begin by plotting significant milestones like marriage or birth dates. Then add school years, moves, vacations, and other details. #SaveYourPhotos2020

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Day 14: Start With Digital

Tackle your digital photo collection first. Your images may be at greater risk than your printed photo collection if you don’t have sufficient backups in place. You will also be creating a home for your soon-to-be scanned photos. #SaveYourPhotos2020

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Day 15: How to Organize

How should you organize your photos? There is no right or wrong way, just whatever makes sense to you. If you already have some chronology in place, look for ways to build on that structure. If your photos are unsorted, start organizing by theme: holidays, vacations, kids sports, etc.  #SaveYourPhotos2020

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Day 16: Eliminate Duplicates

Do you have too many duplicate images cluttering your photo collection? There’s an app for that! Use a duplicate finder to locate and eliminate duplicate and near-duplicate images. #SaveYourPhotos2020

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Day 17: Make Good Choices

When you choose photo organizing software, you need to consider your comfort level with technology, your operating system, your time, and most importantly, your lifestyle – how will you access and maintain your photos? #SaveYourPhotos2020

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Day 18: Beware the Chemical Sandwich

Old magnetic or “sticky” albums contain unsafe components that act as a chemical sandwich for your photos. The acids from the plastic and adhesive are very harmful to your photos and will cause them to deteriorate. Remove the photos as quickly as possible! #SaveYourPhotos2020

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Day 19: The Two-Second Rule

As you sort your photos, resist the urge to reminisce and linger; there will be plenty of time for that later. Hold a photo only as long as it takes to determine which pile it should be in – about two seconds. #SaveYourPhotos2020

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© The Photo Managers

Did you know that September is Save Your Photos Month? Join us for a month-long quest to protect and preserve your family’s lifetime of photos, film, and memorabilia. #SaveYourPhotos2020

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Day 6: Collect Your Supplies

Gather supplies for organizing such as cotton or nitrile gloves for safely handling photos, empty boxes for sorting, sticky notes or index cards for categorizing, and an external hard drive for collecting digital photos. #SaveYourPhotos2020

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Day 7: Convert Home Movies

Time is wreaking havoc on the audio and video quality of your old home movies. Take them to a trusted professional for conversion to digital files. #SaveYourPhotos2020

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Day 8: Dealing with Videos

Videos, both converted home movies and clips from your phone, are an important part of your memory collection and should be organized and stored in your digital photo hub with the rest of your photos. #SaveYourPhotos2020

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Day 9: Play Detective

Need help dating photos? Family documents and letters contain dates and information that may unlock some mysteries. Use context clues in photos such as signs, wall calendars, or birthday candles. Even the size, markings, or type of photos can be informative. #SaveYourPhotos2020

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Day 10: Saving Kids’ Artwork

Use a flatbed scanner for 2-D artwork and snap photos of oversize, 3-D, or glitter-covered masterpieces. Even better, record your child talking about a project while holding the artwork. #SaveYourPhotos2020

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Day 11: Take an Inventory

Once you have finished gathering your items and placed like items together, take an inventory. For example: 6 photo albums, 4 shoeboxes of photos and letters, 10 photo CDs, 3 slide carousels, etc. This is the first step in managing your project. #SaveYourPhotos2020

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Day 12: Make a Plan

What needs to be tackled first? Do you have photos to share for a milestone birthday? Are some in poor condition and need to be scanned before they deteriorate further? Use this information and your inventory to create a plan for organizing and digitizing. #SaveYourPhotos2020

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© The Photo Managers

Did you know that September is Save Your Photos Month? Join us for a month-long quest to protect and preserve your family’s lifetime of photos, film, and memorabilia. #SaveYourPhotos2020

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Day 1: We Are Overwhelmed

In 2019, there were over 1.4 trillion digital photos taken. There are also an estimated 1.7 trillion printed photos in boxes, albums, and drawers. No wonder we are overwhelmed! The Photo Managers can help. Check each day throughout September for tips! #SaveYourPhotos2020

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Day 2: Set a Realistic Goal

The first step of photo organization is to picture the end result. As with any goal, you must have a specific vision and a timeline for completion. How do you want to share and celebrate your photos? #SaveYourPhotos2020

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Day 3: Set Up for Success

Designate a temporary workspace in your home that allows you to spread out and that will be undisturbed. When your project is visible, you are more likely to remain focused and achieve your goal. #SaveYourPhotos2020

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Day 4: Include Keepsakes

Kids’ artwork and family documents, as well as tangible keepsakes such as souvenirs and family heirlooms should be considered as part of your photo organizing goal. These can be scanned or photographed and added to your collection. #SaveYourPhotos2020

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Day 5: Prepare for Emotions

Photographs allow us to reflect back on our lives, both the good and the bad. Many emotions may arise when you open long-stored boxes of photos. Allow yourself time with these feelings. #SaveYourPhotos2020

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© The Photo Managers

Only two days until September and #SaveYourPhotos2020 month!

Save Your Photos Month is a public service outreach campaign developed by The Photo Managers to teach you how to preserve life’s irreplaceable photos, videos, and documents, in case of an unforeseen accident or disaster. 

Every year in September, photo organizers, companies, and photo retailers come together to raise awareness and educate the masses on the benefits of safeguarding their photos.

Join us this year on social media, through online courses, and educational events: https://thephotomanagers.pages.ontraport.net/save-your-photos-month

Day 29: Create Video Slideshows

Video slideshows or montages are a fun way to bring photos and videos together to create a compelling and emotional story. When you add music or oral narratives or both, the result is a living album filled with movement and sound that triggers your senses.

Slideshows are a great option for family gatherings, special events, and celebrations. And they can be a fun option to enjoy on family movie night. Popcorn, PJs and precious family memories, can it get any better than that?

There are online solutions that make it easy for you to create slideshows by uploading photos and video clips. Some online services offer royalty free music and templates that make it simple for you to render a studio quality production in a few clicks. If you prefer a hands-on approach, iMovie (Mac) or MovieMaker (PC) may work for you, or you can invest in software solutions that come with more tools, effects, and support.

Tips for Video Slideshow Success

• The shorter, the better! Attention spans aren’t what they used to be, so keep your slideshow to less than 10 minutes or even shorter depending on the event.
• Use a combination of short videos clips (10-15 seconds long) and a variety of still photos to create movement.
• Keep the photos moving along at a quick pace. The difference between 10 seconds a photo and 5 seconds, is huge. Stick to 5 seconds per image or less depending on the music.
• Music can make or break your video! Music should match the tone and theme of your photos. Choose royalty free music especially if you plan to share your completed slideshow online.
• Add an oral narrative. Record Grandpa narrating the story of his mom and dad and layer this audio with the photos and background music. Please pass the tissues!
• Don’t go crazy with transitions. Keep it straightforward and consistent for the best viewing pleasure. The Ken Burns effect is still a classic and dramatic way to view slideshows.
• Add your completed slideshow to your digital photo hub and back it up.

Pass the popcorn!

Here’s a great article with lots more ideas: https://www.organizingphotos.net/video-slideshows-memories/

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Day 30: Schedule Regular Maintenance

Don’t skip this step! Now that you have your photos organized, or even if you are still in the process, create a plan to regularly maintain your collection. You will continue to take photos; life will get busy, and chances are you’ll forget about the important task of managing your collection if you don’t take steps to prevent that now.

Create a Routine

Routines help form healthy habits. Choose a time each week or after each event, to gather photos from your memory cards and smartphones, into your ‘to be organized’ folder in your photo hub. Don’t wait until your camera roll or memory card is full!

Schedule It

Choose a regular time each month to sort your ‘to be organized’ folder and then move those images into the folder structure in your hub. Flag or rate your favorite photos from that month to have printed or placed into an album. Check to make sure your backup systems are working or perform a manual backup. Add this important task to your calendar so you don’t forget!

Spring ahead, Fall forward

When it’s time to change your clocks, it’s time to run a diagnostic on your backup systems and external hard drives. Most EHDs come with a utility that allows you to run a performance scan.

Happy organizing!

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You made it to the end of #SaveYourPhotos Month!! We hope you learned lots of great tips and will have fun enjoying your photos!

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