Capture and Connect Challenge
Task 5 - SORT & PRINT
You should sort, sort and then sort your pictures again!
Digital photography really played a bad joke on us: nowadays we can take more pictures then we will ever be able to look at.
And then there is just no sense – if you are not able to look at them, why bother taking them in the first place?
In order to avoid getting into this vicious circle, you should love your photos and take care of them.
The advantage of digital photography is not the number of pictures you can take, but the freedom to take photos just with minor preparation and to be able to practice without huge investment needed.
The number of digital photos is actually a curse.
Digital photography really played a bad joke on us: nowadays we can take more pictures then we will ever be able to look at.
And then there is just no sense – if you are not able to look at them, why bother taking them in the first place?
In order to avoid getting into this vicious circle, you should love your photos and take care of them.
The advantage of digital photography is not the number of pictures you can take, but the freedom to take photos just with minor preparation and to be able to practice without huge investment needed.
The number of digital photos is actually a curse.
Here are my TOP 5 TIPPS how to sort your photos!
(1) TAKE MANY, KEEP FEW
Do not afraid to take many pictures, especially when you are taking pictures of children who are moving all the time.
I do overshoot sometimes when I take pictures of my family.
And I overshoot almost every time when I am taking pictures for my clients.
But after the session I delete A LOT.
I never delete photos directly from my camera as the camera display usually make pictures look darker as they actually are.
I make the first sorting when I copy photos from camera to the computer.
If you take photos with your phone you can sort them directly on your phone, but by copying them to your computer, you are already making a back up step!
First to go are always:
If you just concentrate on these three categories – that would be great already!
This sorting will help you to store less and to have a better overview.
If you want to sort even more you can also try to sort out pictures, which are
(1) TAKE MANY, KEEP FEW
Do not afraid to take many pictures, especially when you are taking pictures of children who are moving all the time.
I do overshoot sometimes when I take pictures of my family.
And I overshoot almost every time when I am taking pictures for my clients.
But after the session I delete A LOT.
I never delete photos directly from my camera as the camera display usually make pictures look darker as they actually are.
I make the first sorting when I copy photos from camera to the computer.
If you take photos with your phone you can sort them directly on your phone, but by copying them to your computer, you are already making a back up step!
First to go are always:
- bad expressions (chewing mouth, half closed eyes, scary double chin... etc)
- duplicates (pictures which look almost the same; you can leave one that has the best focus or the best composition. If you see NO difference or cannot decide – keep the first one!)
- technical faults (all black or all white)
If you just concentrate on these three categories – that would be great already!
This sorting will help you to store less and to have a better overview.
If you want to sort even more you can also try to sort out pictures, which are
- out of focus (and not artistic)
- over-exposed (and not artistic)
- under-exposed (and not artistic)
Avoid Duplicates!
ATTENTION!!!
THERE ARE PHOTOS YOU SHOULD ALWAYS KEEP !!!
YOUR BABY FIRST YEAR
If you have just got a baby, please, concentrate on taking pictures of her and NOT on sorting!
During the first year your baby is changing every day (and for the first few days of her life – your baby is changing every hour!).
So, yes, you wake up every morning and there is a new baby! If you managed to get some sleep of course.
So for the first year of your baby's life there is NO such thing as „too many pictures“.
Yes you can get rid of
- technical faults (all black or all white)
and
- exact duplicates (which are actually not so usual because your baby's face is constantly moving and every expression is unique, however you can have 50 exactly the same baby feet's captures).
But you keep the rest!
When your child is older. For example four or five years old – you can make a revision. But you probably will not be able to sort out anything and this is not needed!
The baby first year is unbelievably amazing and you can see her growing in every photo – so these are just very very special! Treasure them!
THERE ARE PHOTOS YOU SHOULD ALWAYS KEEP !!!
YOUR BABY FIRST YEAR
If you have just got a baby, please, concentrate on taking pictures of her and NOT on sorting!
During the first year your baby is changing every day (and for the first few days of her life – your baby is changing every hour!).
So, yes, you wake up every morning and there is a new baby! If you managed to get some sleep of course.
So for the first year of your baby's life there is NO such thing as „too many pictures“.
Yes you can get rid of
- technical faults (all black or all white)
and
- exact duplicates (which are actually not so usual because your baby's face is constantly moving and every expression is unique, however you can have 50 exactly the same baby feet's captures).
But you keep the rest!
When your child is older. For example four or five years old – you can make a revision. But you probably will not be able to sort out anything and this is not needed!
The baby first year is unbelievably amazing and you can see her growing in every photo – so these are just very very special! Treasure them!
PICTURES OF YOU
Don't you dare to delete pictures of you!
There are probably 10-times more or even 100-times more pictures of your kids and of your partner.
That is why DO NOT DELETE pictures of you! This is a crime!
And YES. You probably do not like the way you look in the picture right now, but THIS WILL CHANGE.
Believe me! I know!
You should wait for at least FIVE YEARS to sort the photos of you or maybe even ten!
Photos get better with time and photos of you are extremely important
for your kids,
for your partner,
for your parents
– and for you too!
You know, that I am right, but I will show you an example.
-->
When my husband took this picture of me and my son – I hated it.
Really, I thought this cannot be true, that I look like this:
Don't you dare to delete pictures of you!
There are probably 10-times more or even 100-times more pictures of your kids and of your partner.
That is why DO NOT DELETE pictures of you! This is a crime!
And YES. You probably do not like the way you look in the picture right now, but THIS WILL CHANGE.
Believe me! I know!
You should wait for at least FIVE YEARS to sort the photos of you or maybe even ten!
Photos get better with time and photos of you are extremely important
for your kids,
for your partner,
for your parents
– and for you too!
You know, that I am right, but I will show you an example.
-->
When my husband took this picture of me and my son – I hated it.
Really, I thought this cannot be true, that I look like this:
me and my first baby (2011)
And actually it is not a surprise, because
- HORMONES,
- plus 10 kilogrammes
- and because before I got my first child I looked and felt like this:
- HORMONES,
- plus 10 kilogrammes
- and because before I got my first child I looked and felt like this:
me - young and wild (2009)
For me it was a hell of a difference.
But what do I think NOW (in 2020)?
I think - the both photos are GREAT!
And that my husband did so well by taking the portrait of me and my baby (despite not keeping the lines straight)!
So now you can go and look at your photographs from 2015 and discover how lovely you are!
I have maybe around 20 photographs from 2015 and I like them all... now!
But what do I think NOW (in 2020)?
I think - the both photos are GREAT!
And that my husband did so well by taking the portrait of me and my baby (despite not keeping the lines straight)!
So now you can go and look at your photographs from 2015 and discover how lovely you are!
I have maybe around 20 photographs from 2015 and I like them all... now!
(2) MAKE A HIT–PARADE
After sorting out everything, what is CLEARLY not worth keeping (bad expression, all blacks, all whites) – it is time to choose your ABSOLUTELY favourite pictures.
In stead of torturing yourself with doubts – what else you could delete - pick a couple, that make your heart sing!
When you look at your photographs for the first time you know IMMEDIATELY, which photos you LOVE.
If you have to think more than a second – it is not your favourite.
You should make a collection of your favourite photos regularly. If you take pictures often, please make your „top 3 of the week“ (or „top 5“ or „top 10“ - but do not go over 10!)
If you take pictures not so often, you can make „top 5“ or „top 10“ of the month.
You could also make it a family event and holding a monthly photo contest, when everyone get to vote for their favourite photo. You can print out the winners!
If you regularly select your favourite photographs it is really easy to choose photos for the album and for the wall gallery.
The more you practice sorting your photos – the quicker and easier it gets.
You do not have to get rid of the photographs, which did not make it to your favourites collection.
Your opinion can (and will!) change in the future and your kids and partner will have their own favourites for sure.
When you have a numerous collection of favourite photographs you can start with the next step.
After sorting out everything, what is CLEARLY not worth keeping (bad expression, all blacks, all whites) – it is time to choose your ABSOLUTELY favourite pictures.
In stead of torturing yourself with doubts – what else you could delete - pick a couple, that make your heart sing!
When you look at your photographs for the first time you know IMMEDIATELY, which photos you LOVE.
If you have to think more than a second – it is not your favourite.
You should make a collection of your favourite photos regularly. If you take pictures often, please make your „top 3 of the week“ (or „top 5“ or „top 10“ - but do not go over 10!)
If you take pictures not so often, you can make „top 5“ or „top 10“ of the month.
You could also make it a family event and holding a monthly photo contest, when everyone get to vote for their favourite photo. You can print out the winners!
If you regularly select your favourite photographs it is really easy to choose photos for the album and for the wall gallery.
The more you practice sorting your photos – the quicker and easier it gets.
You do not have to get rid of the photographs, which did not make it to your favourites collection.
Your opinion can (and will!) change in the future and your kids and partner will have their own favourites for sure.
When you have a numerous collection of favourite photographs you can start with the next step.
(3) MAKE A BOOK
You should absolutely print your pictures.
Once a year (or every three years or every five) you should make an old-styled photo album or a photo book!
I always do one around Christmas and give copies as a gift to my family.
This is a big project, but this is a really rewarding one.
Here are a couple of tips, how to make a great photo book.
(A) FORMAT and LAYOUT
- make it big (really, making a book is so much work – make it huge and really impressive!)
- landscape or square works best for family photo books
- at least 50% of your book should be – one picture per page
- the other 45 % should be – „no more than 4 pictures per page“ (otherwise your book will look like a collection of post stamps)
- with 5% - do whatever you want!
(B) ADD TEXT
Album is great but BOOK is better.
Do include TEXT into your photo books!
- funny stories
- travel notes
- journal entries about your kids
- quotes
- poems
- anything, what is important for you and your family.
(C) RESPECT THE TIME LINE
If you are not a professional book maker – stick with chronology.
(D) USE A CLEAN DESIGN
If you are not a skilled designer – keep your background white.
(E) LOOK FOR CONNECTIONS
If you feel the photos are connected – shapes, colours, story - do put them together!
Sometimes it is also OK to break the chronology if you can express something interesting.
(F) IT IS ABOUT THE SPREAD
Think not about the page, but about the spread. Always!
(G) KEEP VARIETY
Beautiful book needs variety!
Include, wide shots, portraits, details, action shots… the more variety you have, the more interesting your book will be.
(H) MIX
Do not afraid to mix colour and black and white photos.
You should absolutely print your pictures.
Once a year (or every three years or every five) you should make an old-styled photo album or a photo book!
I always do one around Christmas and give copies as a gift to my family.
This is a big project, but this is a really rewarding one.
Here are a couple of tips, how to make a great photo book.
(A) FORMAT and LAYOUT
- make it big (really, making a book is so much work – make it huge and really impressive!)
- landscape or square works best for family photo books
- at least 50% of your book should be – one picture per page
- the other 45 % should be – „no more than 4 pictures per page“ (otherwise your book will look like a collection of post stamps)
- with 5% - do whatever you want!
(B) ADD TEXT
Album is great but BOOK is better.
Do include TEXT into your photo books!
- funny stories
- travel notes
- journal entries about your kids
- quotes
- poems
- anything, what is important for you and your family.
(C) RESPECT THE TIME LINE
If you are not a professional book maker – stick with chronology.
(D) USE A CLEAN DESIGN
If you are not a skilled designer – keep your background white.
(E) LOOK FOR CONNECTIONS
If you feel the photos are connected – shapes, colours, story - do put them together!
Sometimes it is also OK to break the chronology if you can express something interesting.
(F) IT IS ABOUT THE SPREAD
Think not about the page, but about the spread. Always!
(G) KEEP VARIETY
Beautiful book needs variety!
Include, wide shots, portraits, details, action shots… the more variety you have, the more interesting your book will be.
(H) MIX
Do not afraid to mix colour and black and white photos.
(4) MAKE A WALL GALLERY
Incorporate your photography into your interior. Print it out on canvas, frame it, make a poster.
It will totally create a different attitude to your hobby not only in your friends and family, but in yourself.
When you start thinking about your photography as an art, you will become more effective while sorting out your pictures!
Many tips for a photo book also apply to a wall gallery:
- make it big
- look for connections
- include texts, your kids drawing, artworks
- do mix colours, sizes and textures
Incorporate your photography into your interior. Print it out on canvas, frame it, make a poster.
It will totally create a different attitude to your hobby not only in your friends and family, but in yourself.
When you start thinking about your photography as an art, you will become more effective while sorting out your pictures!
Many tips for a photo book also apply to a wall gallery:
- make it big
- look for connections
- include texts, your kids drawing, artworks
- do mix colours, sizes and textures
YOUR TASK Nr. FIVE
(TO DO EVERY WEEK FROM NOW ON)
1. Let's Sort!
Let us make a hit parade of your “top 5” from the challenge.
For those, who shared the photos in facebook group it will be easier – because they have already started to sort their photographs.
If you do not have a system to organize your photos, please read this post – it will be very useful:
http://www.ramanava.com/blog/how-to-start-organizing-your-family-pictures-and-conquer-the-chaos
2. What Will Work Together?
After you have chosen your top 5, let us think, which of them will work good together in an album or in a wall gallery.
If you think they will not work together well – what is possible – please, find them a couple.
When you are done with the tasks - you can send me your results and share them in a facebook group.
So I can give you the feedback.
This is the last task, but we will stay in touch!
Let us make a hit parade of your “top 5” from the challenge.
For those, who shared the photos in facebook group it will be easier – because they have already started to sort their photographs.
If you do not have a system to organize your photos, please read this post – it will be very useful:
http://www.ramanava.com/blog/how-to-start-organizing-your-family-pictures-and-conquer-the-chaos
2. What Will Work Together?
After you have chosen your top 5, let us think, which of them will work good together in an album or in a wall gallery.
If you think they will not work together well – what is possible – please, find them a couple.
When you are done with the tasks - you can send me your results and share them in a facebook group.
So I can give you the feedback.
This is the last task, but we will stay in touch!
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