Printing all the Photos

Lately, I have had a lot questions about how I print my photos and get them into albums. I thought I would take a blog post and share my thoughts. This will be filled with a lot of links. 

I also get the question how I do it all?!? There are a couple answers to that. First, I don't do it all. If I am knee deep in a project something is getting neglected like laundry, dishes, dusting, etc. Although that is getting a lot better as the kids get older. They do more of the housework so I have more time. I also don't do all these projects at one time. The winter is when I do most. It snows so much and well it is cold so I don't spend as much time out doing things like I do in the summer. I become a hermit. Also, usually when the weather is nice I have a lot of sessions so I don't get to many projects. A couple of other things that help are a wonderful husband who is happy to help with things around the house or even kids so I can have quiet time. I also usually get Saturdays to myself or with Anthony as the kid's Grandma takes them for the day. They love going and she loves taking them. I love that they get to go since I use to do the same with my Grandma. This gives me some time to enjoy hobbies. 

It has taken me 5 years to come up with a good system that works for me. I hope that you can gain some help from this and come up with a good system for yourself. I have a lot of photos. Probably too many. I never thought I would say, but it is true. Some are useless. With the addition of 3 children and a photography business you can guess the amount of photos filling my hard drive. This leads me to my first thoughts.

1.BACK UP BACK UP BACK UP!!!!! I can not stress this enough!!! I have several external hard drives and many things are backed up online. I even have CDs but those are becoming outdated so that is not where I store them anymore. 

2. ORGANIZATION is key. There are many programs that can help with this. I have a couple I like. Lightroom is wonderful for its catalog. It is not the only thing I use though. The best thing I have found that helps me is just a folder on my hard drive labeled month and year. Every picture I take that month gets exported from Lightroom to that folder. It makes it very easy. 

This particular folder is December 2013 

If you have no need for an editing program or a light editing program, I highly recommend historian from Panstoria. It use to be called Memory Manager. I do use this. After my photos have been edited and printed and send them to this. It is amazing for having all photos together. It also has a great back up system. 

3. MODERATION/PURGING This has been a VERY hard lesson to learn. With the advent of digital cameras, and smart photos the amount of photos an individual can take is numerous. I mean my camera in burst mode can take 6 frames in a second. The iphone I think can even do better. This has been wonderful for some great action shots, never missing a moment, etc. Unfortunately it has also created a lot of unnecessary photos. I use to not delete anything even if it was out of focus. What a waste of space and time in the end from trying to find the good photos. So instead focus on just a few photos of one thing. I know when I was first learning photography and manual mode I took way too many photos. Thankfully I have learned a good balance now. This still resulted in a mass amount of photos of the same thing. This is overwhelming and makes the task of going through photos daunting. I know because I have one year I still have not printed or done anything with. I am SLOWLY doing it. It is overwhelming though. I learned this simple task by shooting film for a month. It was fun and I would keep it up, but my film camera died. I did find another one and keep thinking of doing the same for the end of the year. Either way buy a film camera and think hard before using it. Think before you take a picture. This might get you to slow down and have moderation.

4. PRINT/PUT in ALBUMS This I think is where many people fail. They have taken all the photos and uploaded to their computer, but have done nothing with them. Nobody will enjoy those on the computer. I did so good the first two years of Eli's life printing photos. I actually had them all digital scrapbooked using Creative Memories Storybook Creator Plus Software. It is now Artisan. I actually highly recommend this program still. The kids all have birth books form this and Lilliana has one other book from it. I think it works wonderful for many people. For me with the addition of a photography business it no longer worked the way it did before. I just could not spend that much time editing, emailing, etc. at the computer on top of scrapbooking there. I do still use it for Christmas presents and collages for clients and eventually I may go back to it. For now this is the system I have......

Welcome to the world of Project Life. The combination of prints, journaling, and scrapbooking. First we start with albums. They have so many colors, a couple sizes, and even designs. 

Then we have page protectors. This is where you slip in your pictures. There are several different styles. I only use 4 different styles. I like to keep my prints at 4X6s.

Then from their you add the Core Kit of your choosing. This is filled with journaling cards and so simple. It is a simple slide in. This core kit will last you a while too. I have used one for two years. Also, to purchase this use coupons for Hobby Lobby and Joanns. They have 40% off all the time. 

Each month I add in my photos. They even have great little dividers. Each year gets an album and each month gets a section. I can add writing to the pictures if I choose or not. It is done. I sat and did one month this morning before 7:00 a.m while drinking my coffee. 

Where do I print my pictures. You will get so many answers for this. I am a print snob. I like good color and good quality paper. Unfortunately I could never afford to print from my pro lab for all the photos I take. I average up to 100 photos a month. I have cut it down this year (remember moderation). Either way I could never afford it. So, I went with what I felt worked for the best color for me for price. Snapfish is what I use for my "snapshots." I wait until penny print sales and order 300 at a time. So several months worth. Now, the photos I have taken the time and done an actual session for I do order through my pro lab usually when I order client prints. Mpix has a 19 cent program too. I love Mpix. They also have sales a couple times of year so they are a great place to print from.

When I get my prints I put them in this container.




Then when I have time I sort through the envelopes and put them in order for the month. This usually it what takes the most time because for some reason Snapfish never puts them in order for the way I uploaded them. It is weird.






I also like to cute the corner of my pictures. This would save me some time, but I like the look. Project Life has corner cutter. I personally use my old Creative Memories one as I prefer it.

These are then put into the page protectors and then album.

Now, the biggest hang up for me has my my phone photos. I have tried several ideas. One was printing my Instagram photos. That got expensive. The second was trying to upload and do a book. That never worked. The programs for the print companies could never do as I liked. Then I did the Snapfish app and received 100 free prints each month. I liked that. What I didn't like is they could only be printed in glossy not matte. I don't like glossy print. I only like matte so I quit that. This has left some favorite phone pictures still not printed. The past two months though I have found my solution. It is so great I am considering doing this with even my DSLR photos as I have the capabilities to do so with Dropbox and my phone.

Project Life has developed an App that you can do everything I do above with a simple app!! It is amazing. The best thing is it should be $20 and it is a mere $2.99.
Here is a great link for the app . So now I do all my cell photos there and then put in a 12X12 pocket and into the album. Right now Persnickety Prints has been the best place I have found to print photos. They are very fast too! Sams and Costco will print 12X12 pages, but they are not as nice.

My challenge to you is print and get your photos in albums. Date them, you will forget! Pass on your heritage and memories. My children LOVE looking at their photos. Here is the shelf with our photo albums. No, not all of those are filled. Some are empty and I am slowly adding photos I have from my childhood and Anthony's to them. 

If you have questions please ask. I would be happy to help you get started on the overwhelming project.