Memory can be a tricky thing. Sometimes people who experience the same event together—such as, say, a birthday party or family vacation—can remember wildly different things about it in the aftermath. But thanks to digital photography and online storage, it’s become easier than ever to record significant events in your family’s development. Births. Weddings. Graduations. Promotions. All times you’ll want to be able to look back on with proper recall years down the road.
Chances are you’ve got at least one person in your family who is known as a shutterbug. Anytime anyone gets together for parties or just to hang out, they pull out the camera and start taking photos or recording videos (which can also be used to produce still frames). After a while, the amount of photos, files, and other digital media can become overwhelming to manage or sort through. Fortunately, there are now many tools available that can help you create photo albums your family will be able to enjoy for the long-term. Let’s look at a few:
- External hard drive – Yes, there are lots of cloud storage options these days, such as Dropbox or otherwise, but while they’re convenient, don’t forget that redundantly backing up your photo files is essential. Plus, storing your files off your regular hard drive can save you hundreds of gigabytes in space as well as processing power. These days, external hard drives are cheap, portable, and convenient!
- Digital albums – Now that you’ve got all your files secured, how best to display them? With many services now available, such as Shutterfly or Snapfish, you don’t have to lug your computer around with you everywhere in order to show off your growing photo collection. Just access your account from any device and let others enjoy the fruits of your photo labors. Not only that, but you can order prints or physical albums from these providers at any time.
- Photo software – You don’t need to be a photoshop wizard to benefit from digital photo enhancement. Many basic applications come included with most operating systems (Mac and PC) that give you the ability to touch up pictures in subtle ways. Red eye removal, color enhancement, and even lighting filters are all easily learned and applied with limited tech knowledge or skill.
Have you sat down recently and sorted through your digital photo collection? Maybe it’s time to put together an album from the last year so your family can recall the memories you’ve been creating together!
