Victoria County CAP Sites Association
presents:
The Easy Step Guide to Managing Digital Photos
Course contents • Overview: • Lesson 1: Creating a Simple and Easy Storage System
• Lesson 2: Downloading Pictures to a Computer • Lesson 3: Backing Up Photo Files
• Lesson 4: Deleting Unwanted Photos • Lesson 5: Renaming Photos
Each lesson includes a list of suggested practice tasks.
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Overview: Photographs are intended to bring us joy. Instead most people feel anything but joy when it comes to their photographs. Most people feel challenged, frustrated, and overwhelmed by their photographs. Whatever your preferences in terms of photo equipment and format, and whether you take hundreds of shots or simply dozens, organizing your pictures can help reduce photographic clutter. It makes it easier to find the shots you’re looking for, and ensures that your photos are safely and meaningfully stored.
This workshop is going to help you get rid of unwanted confusion among your digital photos and create a system right for you. It will also teach you how to rename your photos and save them to a CD. Managing Digital Photos
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Course goals • 1. Create a storage system for your pictures • 2. Download your pictures to a computer
• 3. Delete any unwanted shots • 4. Create a backup file storage onto a CD • 5. Rename your photos for fast and easy storage
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Lesson 1 Creating a Simple and Easy Storage System
Introduction
As the quality and power of digital technology improves, digital photography is becoming a more mainstream method of photography. One of the benefits of digital photography is the ability to take a nearly infinite number of photos. Organizing digital photos in a logical way is simple, and there are many options. The best thing about digital cameras is that it's easy to take thousands of pictures. That's also the worst thing about digital cameras. After you've owned your camera for a few months, you won’t be able to find that great picture you took a couple of months ago if your pictures aren't well organized or named logically.
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Example The first thing you will want to determine is your file folder structure. The way you set up your photo folders will help you find your photos easily when you need them. This lesson is based on only one of many storage structures.
To demonstrate one example of how to organize digital photos, Figure 1 shows the system that is used to organize digital and scanned photos.
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Example
Photos are divided into folders chronologically. Each year, starting in January, create a new photo folder for the year. Within each folder, each event that you photograph is given its own folder where the photos from that event are stored.
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Creating a Simple and Easy Storage System
There are many ways to set up a folder structure. Finding the one that is right for you will depend on variables such as how you take photos, whether you are archiving older photos or adding new ones, and how you will most often be searching for them. Considering all of these aspects will help you decide how to organize your photos.
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Getting Started Arranging pictures by year is also helpful if you're scanning older photos stored in shoe boxes or albums that you took before owning a digital camera. This is also a good way to start organizing the pictures that you currently have on your computer.
Folders are the best way to organize groups of pictures, and the My Pictures folder is a great place to start. Step 1. Click on Start, then click on My Pictures folder.
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Getting Started
Step 2. In your My Pictures folder, you will create subfolders for each year: 2004, 2005, 2006, and so on.
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Creating New Folders
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Creating a Simple and Easy Storage System
Step 3. a. Right click in the empty white space on your screen. b. See a list appear; select the word New. c. See another list appear. Select the word Folder and click on it.
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Naming Folders
Step 4. A new folder will appear. Name this folder. It’s easy because the textbox is already highlighted. Type in the new title. (ex. 2004, 2005, 2006, etc.)
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Creating Multiple Folders
Step 5. Repeat steps 1-4 in this lesson in order to complete your list of folders.
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Windows Explore
To view your folder structure follow these steps: Step 1. Click your right mouse button on Start. Step 2. Then click on Explore.
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Folder Structure
A window similar to this will appear.
Step 3. Select My Documents in the left panel.
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Folder Stucture
Step 4. Select My Pictures in the left panel. All your files that you just create will appear in the window at the right.
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Folder Stucture
When you see a plus sign beside a folder it means that the folder is closed but contains items within that folder. To open a folder click on the plus sign.
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Folder Structure
When you see a minus sign beside a folder it means that the folder is open and shows the contents within the folder. To close the folder click on the minus sign.
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Folder Structure
When there is no sign beside the folder it means that there are no contents inside that folder.
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Folder Structure
Each time you download pictures from your digital camera, store them in a unique subfolder of the current year. For example, if you've been taking pictures at Jim's birthday party, create a new folder named "Jim's Birthday Party." Five years from now, you'll be able to find pictures from Jim's 2006, 2007, or 2008 birthday party with just a few clicks.
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Suggestions for practice 1. Create a subfolder in My Pictures 2. Name your subfolder 2008 3. Create two more subfolders for 2007 and 2006
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Lesson 2 Downloading Pictures to a Computer
Downloading Photos to a Computer The pictures you take with your digital camera are often called RAW files, because they are unedited. You must backup these RAW files before continuing. After you backup the photos then you must copy the pictures from your digital camera again, so you can use them in different ways -- print them, and share them with others. Once your pictures are on your computer, you can erase them from your camera, freeing up memory so you can take more pictures. You can also view your pictures on a larger screen and decide which ones are worth keeping.
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Software Some digital cameras come with software that helps you copy pictures from your camera to your computer. You can use this software, but you don't have to. Using Windows XP allows you to copy, organize, renumber and rename pictures to your computer without additional software. Here's how to copy your pictures to your computer:
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Software If your camera has any internal memory: Using a USB Cord will allow you to remove the pictures from your camera’s internal memory as well as pictures on your flash memory card onto your computer. Using a Memory Card Reader only allows you to take the pictures off the camera’s card NOT the internal memory.
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Connections Step 1. First connect your digital camera to your computer. You can do this in two different ways:
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A). Use a USB cable. Most digital cameras come with a cable that connects the camera to a USB (Universal Serial Bus) port on your computer. 1 This end of the cord will connect to your computer 2 This end of the cord will connect to your digital camera
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Connections 1 This end of the cord will connect to your computer 2 This end of the cord will connect to your digital camera
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3 This is the USB Port in your computer where 1 is connected to
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Connections B). Use a memory card and memory card reader. A memory card reader is a piece of hardware that plugs right into your computer. You remove the memory card from your camera and insert it into your memory card reader, similar to the way you might transfer a file between two computers using a floppy disk.
Tip: Use only the USB cord to download your pictures from a camera that has an internal picture memory as well as a card memory to be sure you have copied all pictures.
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Camera Scanner Wizard What to do when the Windows “Camera & Scanner Wizard” doesn’t appear or another picture editing program appears in the Desktop…
If you connect the camera using a USB Cord: Step 1. Double click on My Computer icon on the Desktop
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Camera Scanner Wizard
Step 2. Right click on the Camera’s name under Scanners and Cameras Step 3. Select Get Pictures from the drop down menu.
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Camera Scanner Wizard
The Scanner and Camera Wizard will read the picture information
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Camera Scanner Wizard
The Scanner and Camera Wizard will appear so you are ready to continue with page 36
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Camera Scanner Wizard What to do when the Windows “Camera & Scanner Wizard” doesn’t appear or another picture editing program appears in the Desktop…
If you connect the camera using a Card Reader: Step 1. Double click on My Computer icon on the Desktop
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Camera Scanner Wizard
Step 2. Right click on Removable Disc under Devices with Removable Storage
Step 3. Select AutoPlay from the drop down menu. Continue on with page 37
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Downloading Photos Step 2. Once you've connected your camera to your computer or inserted your memory card into your memory card reader, Windows will detect the connection and ask you what you want to do with your pictures. If you connected your camera with a USB cable, click Microsoft Scanner and Camera Wizard, and then click OK.
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Downloading Photos
If you connected your camera using a memory card reader, click Copy pictures to a folder on my computer using Microsoft Scanner and Camera Wizard, and then click OK.
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Downloading Photos
Step 3. When the Scanner and Camera Wizard appears, click Next.
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Selecting Photos
Step 4. All of the pictures on your camera (or in your camera's memory card) are now displayed on the Choose Pictures to Copy page.
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Selecting Photos
Step 5. By default, Windows selects all of the pictures for downloading. If there are pictures you do not want to download, just clear the check box in the upper right corner of the picture of the ones that you don’t want to copy.
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Rotation Step 6. At this stage, you can also rotate pictures that you took while holding your camera vertically. To rotate a picture, select the picture, and then click either the Rotate clockwise or Rotate counterclockwise button on the lower-left side of the page. When you have reviewed the pictures for downloading and rotated your vertical pictures, click Next.
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Filing Digital Photos into Folders Step 7. On the Picture Name and Destination page, type a name for the group of pictures. (This name, plus a number to differentiate each picture, will be applied to each of the pictures you download; for example, if you name the group "Vacation," the pictures will be named "Vacation001," "Vacation002," and so on.) Click Browse, and select a folder in which to save your pictures.
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Filing Digital Photos into Folders
Step 8. In the Browse For Folder dialog box, click the current year's folder within My Pictures. Then, click the Make New Folder button. Type a name for the new folder, and then press ENTER on your keyboard. Click OK.
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Filing Digital Photos into Folders
Step 9. If you want to erase the images from your camera's memory card to make space for new ones, select the Delete pictures from my device after copying them check box, and then click Next.
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Downloading
The Scanner and Camera Wizard copies the pictures from your camera to the folder you specified and then removes the pictures from your camera's memory card. Wait while your computer completes the copy.
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Downloading
Step 9. On the Other Options page, you can choose to publish your pictures to a Web site or order prints. If you have finished working with your pictures, click Nothing, and then click Next.
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Finished
Step 10. On the final page of the wizard, click Finish.
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Organized Pictures in Folders The Scanner and Camera Wizard downloads your pictures to your new folder. Your pictures will have the name you typed at step 7 with a unique number, such as, “Vacation 001," “Vacation 002," and “Vacation 003."
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Storage
Your photos are now stored on your computer, ready for whatever you want to do with them, and your camera is ready to take more pictures. As with any important files, it's a good idea to make backup copies of your photos in case anything happens to your computer.
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Suggestions for practice 1. Connect your camera to the computer and download your pictures 2. Select the photos you want to put into your folders 3. Name your group of photos 4. Select a destination for your group of photos
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Lesson 3 Backing Up Photo Files
Archiving Digital Photos Capturing pictures with your digital camera is so easy that you're sure to collect hundreds—if not thousands— of photos in a very short time, all stored on your computer. That's why remembering to archive your digital photos to CD is so critical. After all, "memories lost" is not a phrase that you want to describe the state of your digital photos. If you take just a few minutes each month you can easily archive your photos. You'll rest easy knowing that you always have backup copies safely stored away.
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What is Needed
What you'll need: •A writable CD drive •Blank CDs
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Getting Started
The first step is to make sure that the pictures you want to archive will fit on a CD.
Step 1. Click Start, and then click My Pictures.
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Getting Started
Step 2. Double click a folder to open the digital photo files whose names you want to change.
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Checking File Size
Step 3. Select the entire contents of the folder. •On the Edit menu, click Select All.
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Checking File Size
Step 4. To check the size of your selection, click on the File menu, click Properties.
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Checking File Size
Step 5. In the Properties dialog box, click the General tab, and then look at the Size field. If the size shown is smaller than the capacity of your CD (usually 640 to 720 MB), the pictures will fit on the CD. If the size is larger than this, you have to select fewer pictures to save to the CD. Step 6. Click OK.
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Copying to a CD
Once you've checked the file size of your pictures, you're ready to preserve them on a CD.
Step 7. Under Picture Tasks, click Copy to CD.
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Copying to a CD
Step 8. When Microsoft Windows is ready to copy or write the files to the CD, a message balloon appears. Click the message balloon.
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Copying to a CD
You will see a window showing the files that you have selected to write to the CD.
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Copying to a CD
Step 9. Click Write these files to CD in the CD Writing Tasks area. The Windows CD Writing Wizard starts.
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Copying to a CD
Step 10. Type a name for your CD in the CD name box, and click Next.
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Copying to a CD
Step 11. Insert a blank CD into the drive, click Next
If the CD Writing Wizard asks "Do you want to create a HighMATcompatible CD?", leave the check box unselected, and click Next.
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Copying to a CD
Wait while your computer writes your files to the CD.
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Copying to a CD
When you have successfully written your files to the CD, the CD will eject from the drive automatically. Step 12. Click Finish.
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Checking the CD
To verify that the pictures were copied successfully to the CD or to look at the pictures you preserved on a CD at a later time:
Step 1. Insert the CD into the CD drive, and close the drive. When prompted, click Open folder to view files using Windows Explorer Step 2. Then click OK.
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Checking the CD
Step 3. Double-click the folder with the pictures
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Checking the CD
Step 4. Then doubleclick the picture you want to view.
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Checking the CD
At the bottom of the screen there are two arrows which allows you to go from one picture to the next within your folder. Step 5. When you are finished, close ( ) the window.
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Checking the CD
Step 6. Eject your CD from the drive and simply use a felt-tipped pen to write a title on the CD, describing its contents and adding the date.
Tip: If you really want to preserve these memories, make sure you store them somewhere secure, such as in your family's lockbox or a fireproof safe. (Many people do this with their film negatives, so why shouldn't you do it with your CDs?) The peace of mind you'll have knowing your photographic history is carefully preserved is more than worth the minimal effort. Copy these files to other CDs for other uses.
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Suggestions for practice 1. Select a folder to burn to a CD 2. Check to make sure all the photos will fit to a CD 3. Copy files to a CD 4. Name your CD
5. Review your CD to verify that the pictures were copied successfully
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Lesson 4 Deleting Unwanted Photos
Reviewing Photos
Once you’ve snapped your photos, downloaded them to your computer and have the chance to go through them, aim to look at them with a critical eye.
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Reviewing Photos Set aside the photos you truly love, the ones that are unique, and the ones you would be happy to look at time and again. Then sort through your files again, this time with the aim of selecting any shots that are blurry, severely under-exposed (too dark) or over-exposed (too light), painfully unflattering to their subjects, or inexplicable (that means any photo you can’t remember why you took it). These are the photos you might seriously consider deleting; doing so can help prevent photo clutter and can make the shots you do want to keep even more special.
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Discard and Delete Unwanted Photos
To delete a picture:
Step 1. Click Start at the bottom left side of your computer screen. Step 2. Select My Pictures file.
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Discard and Delete Unwanted Photos
Step 3. Double click the file that you wish to look through.
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Discard and Delete Unwanted Photos
Step 4. When you come across a photo that you want to discard, select the photo with one left click of the mouse - then press the DELETE key.
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Discard and Delete Unwanted Photos
When prompted with the Confirm File Delete dialog box, click Yes.
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Discard and Delete Unwanted Photos 1 When you delete a file, Microsoft Windows moves it to the Recycle Bin so you can recover it later.
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If you want to permanently remove a file from your computer: 1 Step 1. Double click the Recycle Bin icon on your desktop. 2 Select Empty your Recycle Bin.
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Discard and Delete Unwanted Photos
When you are prompted with the Confirm File Delete dialog box, click Yes.
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Suggestions for practice 1. Select a folder of pictures to review 2. Delete 3 photos 3. Empty Recycle Bin
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Lesson 5 Renaming Photos
Renaming your Photos To rename digital photos with a common name and sequential numbering:
Step 1. Click Start (bottom left hand side of the screen) and then click My Pictures.
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Renaming your Photos
Step 2. Open a folder of digital photo files whose names you want to change.
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Renaming your Photos
Step 3. Click Edit and then click Select All.
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Renaming your Photos
Step 4. Right click on the first photo file in the list and then click Rename.
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Renaming your Photos
Step 5. The name of the first digital photo file is highlighted and ready to be edited.
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Renaming your Photos Step 6. Type the name you want to use to identify all the digital photo files in the folder. Choose a name that allows you to identify a photo from this folder at a later date.
Be sure to type the file extension after the file name. (ex. .jpg, which is the format that most digital cameras use.)
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Renaming your Photos
Step 7. Press Enter on your keyboard to rename all the digital photo files in the folder and add sequential numbering to the file names.
If you take a little time and go through your My Pictures folder and apply this technique to all your photos, the next time you try to find a specific photo you'll be glad that you did. And if you get into the practice of applying this technique right after you download your images to your computer, your digital photos will be well-organized and up-to-date as you accumulate digital memories.
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Suggestions for practice 1. Open a folder of pictures 2. Rename the pictures
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