Choosing the right organizing software for your digital photos can be challenging, especially when there are so many options and each has different benefits and drawbacks. Since we don’t know what you’re looking for in a photo-organizer, we can’t tell you which one is best for you. Instead we asked real scrapbookers to share what works for them; then we’ll let you make the final decision.
Below two Simple scrapbookers share what they appreciate about the software they use to organize, store, and scrapbook their digital photos. For more software solutions, read “Organizing Digital Photos” in the March/April 2008 issue of Simple Scrapbooks (page 33).
Canon Utilities
Canon Utilities Zoom Browser EX, usa.canon.com, PC or Mac, free with camera purchase
Marnie organizes her photos using Zoom Browser EX, the software that came with her Canon 10D digital camera. As soon as Marnie uploads her photos, she rates them using Zoom Browser EX’s three-star rating system. She then types up a few details about the photos into a word-processing document and stores it in the same folder as her photos. When she is ready to scrapbook — today or six months down the road—she has photos and journaling ready to go.
Marnie Likes Zoom Browser EX Because…
- It automatically downloads her photos into year, month, and day folders.
- It allows her to download only selected photos (which is useful when she forgets to clear her memory card between uploads).
- It lets her create subfolders for specific events and for edited photos.
- It allows her to save her journaling notes in the same folder as the related photos, making it easy for her to plan future scrapbook layouts.
- Its three-star rating system helps her identify photos she wants to scrapbook (three stars), other photos (two stars), and photos she has already scrapbooked (one star).
Marnie Flores
Materials: patterned papers (My Mind’s Eye) + vinyl letter stickers (American Crafts) + ribbon (Offray) + Two Peas Don’t Forget font + 8 ½ x 11 page by Marnie Flores, New Albany, OH
Adobe Lightroom
Adobe Lightroom, Adobe.com, PC or Mac, $299.00
As an up-and-coming professional photographer, Elisha appreciates the flexibility of Lightroom’s organizing options. The program offers three rating systems, plus a simple system for adding keywords to photos. For this layout, Elisha ran a search on the keywords “Ryan” and “hat.” In seconds, Lightroom pulled up five photos of her hat-loving toddler. Elisha used the batch-processing option to convert the photos to sepia tone all at once.
Elisha Likes Lightroom Because…
- It lets her customize her viewing window, offering options on everything from thumbnail size to background color.
- It compares two or more photos side by side, including before and after versions of an edited photo.
- It includes three different rating systems—yes/no, five stars, and colors.
- It easily imports, organizes, and renames photos that were on her computer before installation.
- It uses batch-processing to quickly apply the same edit to multiple photos.
Elisha Snow
Materials: patterned paper (Scenic Route Paper Co.) + letter stickers (SEI) + letter rub-ons (American Crafts) + rhinestone brads (Making Memories) + 12 x 12 page by Elisha Snow, Farmington, UT
- Rachel Gainer
