They say a picture is worth a thousand words. If that is the case, then a photo album can be a whole storybook.
Yet, it may be a good idea to streamline the way your home photo albums are put together so you can highlight the best moments of a certain occasion. It could be a family get-together or an unforgettable vacation that will be one to remember.
1. Determine the Goal of Your Photo Album
It’s important to determine what the goal of the photo album is. What exactly are you documenting?
Is it celebrating a special milestone or something that surrounds a special event? Whatever the case might be, you’ll want to put together a photo album that will build around the theme you’re looking to put together.
If you want to put together a photo album, you may be considering making some edits to certain photos. Especially if it features a background that might dampen the actual theme of the photo itself.
As such, using a tool such as Canva’s Background Remover tool that will be used to erase image backgrounds. This will allow you to use the tool to your advantage as a way to maintain a certain theme that you want to go for in the album itself.
2. Sort Your Photos Into Categories
One of the best ways to make your photo album more organized is by grouping them into specific categories. They include but are not limited to the following:
- Chronological order: These can be arranged by year, month, decade, etc.
- Themes: Consider using categories commemorating certain themes like holidays, family events, or vacations.
- Specific people and places: Organize your photos by name or location where the picture was taken. Whether it’s exploring the outdoors with your kids or your favourite beach, know where the picture is taken so you can easily tag the location whenever you upload new photos.
These categories will ensure that you can prioritize the images that are the best fit for the photo album’s theme. At the same time, it will help you identify any patterns that are tied to that theme in particular.
3. Digitize Your Existing Physical Photos
If you already have physical photographs, there’s good news. You can digitize every single one of them and put it in a photo album. The way it works is by scanning each photo and storing them in a digital storage space. While it may seem tedious, the task of digitizing physical photos might save you the trouble that may be caused by physical damage.
You can use flatbed scanners or mobile apps as a way to digitize and transfer your photos. You can also organize them according to the steps we’ve put together in the previous tip above.
4. Use Digital Tools for Streamlining
There are plenty of digital photo organization software and apps to choose from. These include Apple Photos, Google Photos, and others. It’s also a good idea to take a look at some of the prominent features that are included like facial recognition, tagging, auto sorting, and others. Such tools can also allow you to help find the photos you’re looking for quickly while keeping your album well organized.
Some tools may also provide cloud storage. It will allow you not only a secure space to store your photos, but it can also be backed up automatically to ensure you keep your photos regardless of any events such as system failure, natural disasters, and other incidents.
5. Include Caption and Dates
You can add captions and dates that will provide your photos with additional context. Tell the story behind every photo so people know about it. It will also be something that future generations will learn about you and your family. While the picture itself can speak those thousand words, you can transcribe them into a caption that you believe the photo might be “saying”.
6. Perform Regular Updates
Be sure to schedule regular updates so you will be able to review and update the album. This will allow you the chance to add more photos, remove any duplicates you may have, and reorganize accordingly.
The goal here is to make sure that the photo album is fresh and relevant. Once again, this can apply to photo albums of a specific theme such as the holidays or even an album based on a member of your family such as a child growing up through the years.
7. Backup Your Photos
As mentioned, backing up your photos will be important. Especially if you are protecting it against situations such as hard drive failure, accidental deletion, or other issues where a file may be rendered unretrievable. Consider using external hard drives, a cloud service or even photo prints – which still is an excellent backup feature and retains the reliability it had before cloud backups were ever a thing.
Backing up photos will give you peace of mind knowing you won’t worry about losing them. Physical damage to photos means they could be gone forever. But that won’t be the case with backups.
Final Thoughts
Your photo albums can be preserved for a long time using these seven tips we’ve just listed. It’s important to make sure you streamline them accordingly. We live in an age where you can take photos from ages past and digitize them so they can live on forever. Make sure you take the time to digitize photos, back them up, and update the album on a regular basis.