Photography 101

Lesson 1: Lesson 1: Organizing Your Photographs

Section 3: Preparing Photographs for a Scrapbooking Project

Organizing your photographs by gathering them into a central location and storing them in safe containers is half the battle. Now you’re ready to begin readying your pictures for scrapbooking.

There are a variety of methods to organize your photographs into albums. There is no one right way; this is a personal choice and you will have to decide what works best for you. Some scrappers do “theme” albums, such as holidays, baby, vacation, or sports. Some people prefer to have an album for each member of the family. Others work strictly chronologically. Still, others—myself included—do a combination. For your first album, I would recommend a theme album. They are easier to organize and complete.

My first album was a baby album and although I had two children, I began with the child was still a baby. There was no method to my madness; I was not a scrapbooking genius from day one. The book was a gift for that baby, so it seemed reasonable to begin there. In retrospect, that is the best way to attack this project. If you begin at the “beginning” it is easy to be overwhelmed. The nice thing about beginning with current photographs is that when you go to pick up your processed prints, you feel encouraged and motivated, rather than overwhelmed.

A word on album organization: I have seen many different methods for organizing albums. Ultimately, you must decide what works for you. Each album is an opportunity to begin again, so don’t stress too much on which album to begin with. Once this album is completed, you can begin a new album and use a different method. I have baby albums for each child, travel albums, an album for each child documenting their professional photographs, and chronological albums with family pictures. Many of the projects I have planned are completely different from the albums I have completed in the past.

Decide what your first project will be and begin gathering the photographs related to that. If you decide you do, in fact, want to begin with a chronological album, then gather the pictures from the beginning of that time period. Begin sifting through the photographs making two piles. You won’t include every shot in your album. No matter how talented the photographer and how photogenic the subject, there are always less than perfect shots. You don’t have to include every frame in an album, and you shouldn’t.

Decide which shots you will include and slip those into an envelope. Some people use plain white envelopes or clear sandwich bags, other purchase special containers to keep them sorted. I re-use the outer envelope my photo processing center hands me my photos in. They’re free and I know they won’t damage my pictures. Whatever method you chose attach a post-it or write on the envelope itself to indicate what pictures are inside. [Incidentally, sandwich bags are not appropriate for long-term photo storage. Neither are plain envelopes, which aren’t acid-free.]

Once you have determined which photos you want to include in the album, make sure you have duplicate copy of that photo. You never, never want to scrapbook the only copy of a photograph—a lesson I have personally learned the hard way. Make a copy of any picture you cannot find a duplicate for.

Once you have finished, take a deep breath and pat yourself on the back for a job well done!

Bibliography: Photo Albums - Care and Preservation: http://genealogy.about.com/library/autho...

Before U Begin Scrapbooking: http://www.udesignimageworks.com/Scrapbo...

JUMPSTART YOUR SCRAPBOOKING: http://www.memorymakersmagazine.com/jump...

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