Box or computer, you can organize your photos

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, September 13, 2006

If you are anything like I am, you have family photos stored in boxes and digital images in your camera, on memory cards, in cell phones and in some program or other on your computer.

The ever-growing popularity of digital cameras has led to an abundance of very good photo organizing and storing and sharing programs on the Internet. With these services, the age-old problem of how best to deal with important and meaningful photographic images has some easy, interesting and creative solutions.

For many years, I took pictures in the conventional way, on film, with a variety of cameras, from simple point-and-shoot types to more complicated, more professional equipment. I took thousands and thousands of pictures, of my family, my gardens, my homes and my pets, of pretty tables and flower arrangements, construction projects and every trip I ever went on.

I discovered a great little film store in New York City, where I had many rolls of film developed, almost weekly. I’d get a double set of five-by-sevens with narrow white borders around each picture. All negatives were carefully stored in a tissuelike envelope.

I would go through one set of the images, dividing them into piles to give away. Each pile was packaged and delivered to friends and family. I’d send my mother pictures that would be important to her, my nieces and nephews received the photos of trips we took together and my staff got those images that might influence a furniture design, the shape of a lamp base or a future story subject.

I got in the habit of keeping one full set of photos with the negatives (clearly marked with subject and date) in storage boxes on shelves in my house. I quickly filled dozens of boxes. I found larger boxes – known as flat files – and used them to hold larger photos, sorted by subject, labeling each box to identify the contents accurately.

Then I was given a digital camera, which I embraced immediately. I tried many cameras, gravitating to those offering a higher number of megapixels, always desiring the clearest and best pictures.

Because I wanted to be able to store more and more images, I explored many digital programs and services. Working with Kodak Easy-Share Gallery, Google Picasa and Apple iPhoto, I discovered the qualities and characteristics of each.

I learned to back up digital files on archival-quality CDs and DVDs, which I also stored in labeled boxes.

It took me some time before I ventured to print my own photos, but now printing is one of the more relaxing and fun things that I do. I am even putting together my own albums, cards and labels, and making memory books and presentations for business.

I have two computer setups at my Bedford farm, including one in my newly designated “photo office.” I am thrilled to have adequate and safe and long-term storage for my pictures, negatives and digital imagery.

I now have several very good printers that produce pictures of remarkable clarity in varying sizes. I use the best-quality papers – high gloss as well as matte finish – and keep plenty on hand for marathon printing sessions.

I also keep sufficient inks at the ready and follow directions exactly for cleaning printing heads and nozzles. I try to conserve paper and ink, so I crowd pictures on a page and cut them with white borders using an excellent paper cutter.

I had the shelving in my photo office designed and built after measuring the Russell and Hazel linen-covered photo-storage boxes I liked. Each shelf holds three boxes, and there is no wasted wall space. Flat file boxes can be stacked on top of the shelves, which are deep enough so that boxes don’t overhang.

On a small table is a light box for reviewing negatives and slides, and on a larger table is my professional paper cutter. My table desk is large enough for my computer and two large printers. I work with pictures in the craft room, too. There, I have two smaller printers, another computer and a table for trimming pictures.

Whatever your own personal setup, the real fun is in the doing: taking the digital images and enhancing, printing, e-mailing, saving, filing, storing and preserving them for the future. Self-adhesive labels can be printed for identification and gift giving. An easy-to-use software program for printing disc labels with your own imagery makes something common much more beautiful and personal. And homemade albums or printed photo albums created online are wonderful ways to keep memories – and to share memories, too.

Questions should be addressed to Ask Martha, care of Letters Department, Martha Stewart Living, 11 W. 42nd St., New York, NY 10036. E-mail to mslletters@marthastewart.com.

2006 Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc.