We're taking more photos than ever before, so it's worth taking the time to set up a photo management system that works for you. Doing this ensures the photos you take of your family and friends won't disappear should your phone die or get stolen.
Before we go any further, I will concede that the term 'photo-management system' is incredibly dorky. It's important to note, however, that the more you do as you go along, the easier it will be in the long run.
Here are three steps to ensure your photos are sorted, stored and secure.
Step 1: Sort Immediately
If you take a bunch of photos over a weekend or across the summer, make sure you sort your images straight away. This means deleting blurred images or duplicates. Doing this after each event will take the strain out of it.
Step 2: Backup
It has never been more affordable to own cloud storage space. There are many options out there, but the I have found that suits my needs best is Dropbox. I pay €99 a year for 1TB of storage. It is also possible to pay €9.99 a month if the annual subscription is not something that interests you.
Visit Dropbox.com and create an account. From there, download the Dropbox app and enable the following settings.
This will ensure every photo you take is backed up into the Cloud. These images and videos will be accessible to you from any connected device, once you log in with your username and password.
Other options include iCloud, Google Drive and OneDrive.
If you are not interested in venturing into the world of the Cloud, you can backup your images to an external hard drive or onto your computer.
Step 3: Print often
This is the hurdle at which most people fall.
Some people still think it’s difficult or inconvenient to print, but it could not be easier. I’ve tried numerous different printing options and my two top recommendations are for Social Print Studio: Customers can order prints from their social media channels, or upload from a device. A set of 24 images, plus delivery to Ireland, costs €26. This may sound pricey, but the high-quality products are, in my opinion, worth it.
The second one is PhotoBox.ie. PhotoBox offers image prints from €0.16 but you can also do so much with your images. Everything from photo books to phone covers can be printed. It’s very affordable and only takes a matter of days to arrive.
