Sorting Photos

Whether your photos are on your computer or printed it is helpful to sort them in some manner. Sorting not only helps you find a particular photo when you want it but if you want some kind of system for scrapping old photos it helps you do it in an organized format. MOST OF ALL HAVE FUN...So how to sort?

Unfortunately, the reason you’ve not done it already is that it feels like a chore or has negative feelings attached to it. So to start with try to think of sorting your photos as a memory journey and think of how you might want to scrap your photos as you go. It’s going to take time but that’s ok because it doesn’t have to be done today. You don’t want to get too caught up in the scrapping process as you’re sorting because it can prevent you from getting any sorting done but on the other hand you may want to write a few notes as you go along. If you already have a system but haven’t been keeping up work on sorting on a daily or weekly basis till they’re all up-to-date.

Here's a screen shot of part of my folder containing photos (I actually keep mine on my external hard drive because they take up so much space) you will notice two tiny little files at the beginning starting with "aa.." that they sort at the top. These are photos I've downloaded but haven't yet sorted into their appropriate folders or created new ones for them. This is just a convenient way for me to know which ones haven't been sorted through yet. But I never allow this to go on and on or build up.  (now back to the text)

Then give yourself a reward when you’ve completed the task you set yourself.

If you’re like most of us you have printed photos and digital photos. You may even want to sort them in the same way or same categories.

1. Either digital or printed the first task is get all the photos in one spot.

2. Weed out any photos you don’t want. They might be discarded for any number of reasons, they might be out of focus, have heads cut off or be unacceptable for some other reason. A few things to keep in mind – don’t throw away photos just because they have red eye or color tones that are bad. These kinds of things can be fixed in Photoshop. I even had an old photo that I almost threw out because my nephew had his eyes closed but it was the only photo I had of him in his football uniform. I was really bummed because I wanted to use it in a particular layout. I was able to take another photo with his eyes open and put them over his closed eyes in his uniform with Photoshop so if there’s some minor thing wrong don’t throw away an otherwise good photo. It’s not necessary to scrap every single photo. Go through them, pick the best and those are the ones you will scrap.

3. Sort your photos into whatever predetermined sections/groups you want. Here are some suggestions.

      a. Decades – 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, etc. and then into months or seasons

      b. Each family member and maybe one for extended family (cousins, great-grands, etc.)


      c. Places or events (vacation, homes, work or church)


      d. General or things you like (for example I like architecture)


4. Start with the most recent and work backward in time. Your most recent photos will be the ones you’ll have the most memories of and will be the easier to scrapbook or at least to journal about.


It really doesn’t matter whether you’re sorting digital or printed. You create a folder labeled by the year and season or the family member name or event. Then you drag photos from the current location to the new folder.


Something else to consider, you can scan your old printed photos to have them for digital layouts.