Our recent article How to look after your most prized possessions identified photographs as one of the significant things that people value most of all. Whether it’s a photo of your family or partner, your own childhood or precious images of deceased relatives and friends, photos are so important in documenting our lives and keeping memories alive.
However, we don’t always treat photos with the respect they deserve. It’s ironic that seemingly every moment of everyday life in the Twenties is captured in photos and yet most of these photos never see the light of day. We have hundreds, if not thousands, of photos on our phones but most of them are long forgotten and not treated as the treasured memories they could one day become.
So as another New Year approaches, perhaps it’s time to get round to sorting out all your photos? Wouldn’t it be great to know exactly what photos you have, and where they all are? It can feel like a mammoth task, but is well worth doing.
In this article we share a five step process to help you sort out your photos once and for all.
This is probably the hardest step to take! A typical household is likely to have photos all over the place. You may have old family albums in the attic, including some inherited from your parents or grandparents. Then there may be photos from your own childhood, teenage years and early adult life.
There may also be early digital photos stored either on CDs or in folders either on a computer or in the Cloud. And then of course, there are all the photos on your phone as well!
So take time to identify where all these photos are. Gather all the physical photos together in one place, and make a list of where all the digital photos are.
You are now ready to start getting sorted . . .
Many people don’t like throwing away old photos. It just feels wrong somehow. If this is you, then that’s fine. We would just suggest that you organise them and make a list of them so that you know exactly what is where. It’s also a very good idea to digitise them, and we will look at this in the next step.
If you want to be a bit more ruthless, you will need to take time to go through old albums and boxes/packs of individual photos and decide on the photos you want to keep. The best way to do this might be to remove them from the albums they are currently in, and start a new album of the photos you are keeping. Then throw the unwanted photos and albums away.
Sorting out digital photos can be easier as you can just scroll through your phone or other device(s) and delete the ones you don’t want. You will end up with a collection of photos that is more about quality than quantity, and will be able to enjoy them more as you will be able to quickly access photos that are special to you.
Old photos in albums and boxes are liable to fade and lose quality over time, so it’s definitely worth making the effort to digitise the one you want to keep. This means that you will have a version on your computer, phone or other digital device as well as the original printed copy.
There are various ways that you can digitise printed photos. Three of these are:
This is probably the simplest way to digitise photos. All you need to do is use either your phone or a digital camera to take another photo of each physical photo, and you will then have a digital copy.
But do be careful how you do it as the quality may not be that good if you try to rush it and get a bit sloppy in the process. Position the original photo carefully to ensure that every part is included in the new photo, and take time to check that you have good – ideally natural – lighting so there is no glare or reflection on the image.
Scanning a photo usually achieves a good quality result. Many printers have the facility to scan, or you could buy a separate photo scanner to scan print images at a higher quality.
There are also a number of phone apps available that enable you to use your phone to scan photos and edit them, for example Google PhotoScan, Microsoft Lens, and Photomyne Picture Scan.
If you can’t face photographing or scanning old photos yourself, you can pay someone else to do it. There are many professional scanning services out there, including specialist providers such as Vintage Photo Lab or High Street names including Asda and Snappy Snaps.
When you have finished digitising your photos it’s a great feeling! Even better is to then organise them in a way that makes sense to you. You can set up digital folders on a computer or phone, and organise the relevant photos into these folders.
A few popular ways of doing this are:
It really doesn’t matter how you organise them, as long as you know where everything is and can easily find any particular photo you are looking for. And as you begin to take more photos over the coming weeks, months and years, get into the habit of sorting them as you go along, and storing them in the same way as all your existing photos.
By now you should have a completely digitised set of photos and know where everything is. But it’s also essential to have backup copies of all your photos just in case anything goes wrong with the device they are stored on.
One of the best ways to do this is to use some form of Cloud storage. You may already have access to the Cloud if you use a well-known software supplier such as Google, iCloud, MicrosoftOneDrive or DropBox. If so, check your settings to make sure that all your photos are backed up correctly, and also that they will be automatically backed up in future.
You may also want to check out some other specialised photo storage solutions such as Flickr, Amazon Photos, Smug Mug, or Photobucket which may also offer more photo editing and sharing options.
But whatever you choose, never put all your eggs in one basket when it comes to storing photos. Make sure that you have at least one other source of storage so that nothing gets lost.
We hope that this article has helped you to start sorting out all your photos, and hopefully keep them well-organised from this point forward.
If during the process you need any extra funds – for example for professional digitisation services – remember that Munzee offers personal loans online that may be able to help.
Check back here soon for more lifestyle and financial tips from Munzee Loans.
How to get married in 2025 without spending a fortune