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While I love the fresh start that each New Year offers, I shun any resolution that includes giving up chocolate, watching Psych or finding matches for all the stray socks, Army men and Barbie shoes that populate my casa.

Those things are here to stay.

So, for all you weary resolution list-makers—here’s my suggestion:

On your resolution list where it says “go to gym 8 days a week” and “give up dessert indefinitely”–go ahead and just scratch one of those off and replace it with “organize my digital pictures.”
This resolution is one that will be easier to keep than that exercise/diet thing, although it may seem like a daunting task at first. For those who still remain unconvinced, here is my cheat sheet for how to make sure you can find your favorite photos without losing your cool.

And it only requires 30 minutes per week.

Week One:

Start Searching: Get online and do a search for ‘image management software’ or ‘photo organization’ programs. Write down a few that look good. Maybe they had solid reviews from a computer magazine or other resource that you trust. Print out a few pages from your search and put them in your folder. All done.

Week Two:

Pick and Play: Spend 30 minutes reading about the top choices. Which ones have features you like (and are explained in a language that resembles English)? Do you want to mark your favorite photos, learn how to edit and enhance them, or find that picture of Uncle Lou on a moment’s notice? Take a few notes on the sheets you printed last week that will help you remember which products you liked and why.

Week Three:

Bite the Bullet and Buy (or Not!) Many image management programs offer free trials or even free copies. Choose the program you think will best suit your needs and download a trial version. Don’t play with it yet if you don’t have time. Just get it installed (making sure it comes from a reputable source) and make sure it opens properly.

Week Four:

Screw Around: Your goal here is not to become an expert. It’s simply to play with a few tools and see what each one does. Don’t save any of your changes if you’re editing a photograph. Just consider yourself an imaging explorer and get a lay of the land, so to speak.

Week Five:

Choose One Thing: Pick a technique or feature you’d like to learn. Only one. Monkey around, search the online help files or Google the topic to pick up some tips. You can even find photo software tutorials on YouTube. If you’d like to learn more, great. If not, go back to your chore list.
One warning here: once you get started, you might discover that you’d rather do this than the laundry, and that’s okay. In fact, it’s encouraged.

Week Six and Beyond:

Repeat Week Five.

If you’re like me, maybe this photo organizing resolution is one that will stick.
If not, well, do an extra 30 on the treadmill for me, ok?

–Laura Oles is a photo industry journalist and the author of Digital Photography for Busy Women: How to Manage, Protect and Preserve Your Favorite Photos (Compass Trade Press, ISBN 0-9774727-2-8). She offers free information, checklists and tips on her website at www.gotdigitalpictures.com.
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Francis Ford Coppola is a man at a loss.

In more ways than one.

When it comes to valuable data, few people would argue that fifteen years of Francis Ford Coppola’s work, scripts and personal photographs would qualify as having substantial financial and sentimental value.

Coppola recently told an Argentine newscaster that he had lost 15 years of valuable data, including precious family photos, scripts and other works. He pleaded for the return of his computers and back-up hard drive, all of which were stolen when his home in Argentina was burglarized last week.

This is yet another reason why, when it comes to backing up our favorite photos, we need to have two methods IN TWO LOCATIONS for the best possible protection.

We hope his valuable scripts and cherished photographs are recovered and returned to him soon.

Read the article here.

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I have to admit that I have mixed feeling about school starting again. The Type A part of my personality would love the scheduled blocks of time I need to meet deadlines and work obligations; the kid in me wants to do cannonballs in the pool and take each day as it comes without consulting my email first.

If you have kids, you’re probably gearing up for the ‘Back to School’ transition. Going from flexible summer schedules to the daily school grind can be daunting for most kids. We can help them get back into the school groove by letting them take a little bit of summer with them.

Consider choosing a couple of photos of your kids doing something they loved this summer. Print one picture as a wallet sized image and have it laminated as a luggage tag. Many copy shops offer this service. You can secure one to each child’s backpack as a surprise for the first day of school.

You can then print another picture and write a few sentences about how much you loved spending time with them this summer. Tuck it in their lunch kits as a midday surprise.

This picture of my daughter running towards what is known as Stonehenge II in Hunt, Texas, reminds me of the excitement and exploration that these months bring.

Summer may be fleeting, but the memories can carry us through until next June arrives.

It’ll be sooner than we think.

–Laura Oles is a photo industry journalist and the author of Digital Photography for Busy Women: How to Manage, Protect and Preserve Your Favorite Photos (Compass Trade Press, ISBN 0-9774727-2-8). She offers free information, checklists and tips on her website at www.gotdigitalpictures.com.

The Summer Circle

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If most of your pictures are similar in posing and orientation (horizontal, head on, faces all looking directly at the camera), consider turning your ideas upside down. This photo, taken of my daughter and her cousins at a photography convention last summer, is a sweet reminder of the wonderful days we spent together.

To spark your creativity, try the following:

• Have your children wear bright colored shirts and have them lie down in green grass. Avoid using blankets or any other items that will add clutter to the background. For winter shots, you can also shoot these pictures in the snow with your kids bundled up in bright-colored jackets.

• Stand over them until you have the shot framed as you’d like. Make sure your toes aren’t peeking out in the corner of the shot!

• Consider taking the shot in the morning or toward the end of the day so you don’t have to shoot with the sun overhead, forcing your kids to stare into the harsh light.

• Ask them to keep their eyes closed and then open them wide when you count to three. This technique is great in eliminating squinty eyes and half-closed lids, and it works especially well when you’re shooting in bright sunlight.

• Include your kids’ friends in some of the shots. It’s often easier to get your kids to pose for pictures if they can have a couple of buddies involved, too.

Celebrate the dog days of summer by taking a break in the grass and capturing the moment. September will be here sooner than any of us would like….

What Does This Button Do?

Have you ever pushed a button on the back on your digital camera and been greeted with an unfamiliar icon or menu of options that felt as though you were reading a foreign language? Then you had to get back to the regular shooting mode and hope that you didn’t accidentally reformat your media card in the process?

Don’t worry. It’s not just you. We’ve all been there.

Because each digital camera manufacturer has its own design flow, it would be almost impossible to clearly explain the entire menu option suite for each model. The good news is that many cameras use icons that look similar and use the same terms, so by better understanding the terms, you’ll increase your knowledge and how to better use your camera.

Auto vs. Manual Mode: Many of today’s most popular cameras, especially the compact and ultra-compact models, use Auto mode as a standard default. Auto mode leaves the settings up to the camera and is designed to deliver high quality results with minimal thought. Keeping your camera in auto mode is considered by many to be a safe bet if you’re new to your camera and aren’t yet ready to experiment with different features.
Manual mode, by contrast, lets you decide on the exposure settings. If you’re shooting in manual mode, you’ll be responsible for adjusting exposure in each instance. Just remember to check your settings each time to make sure that they’re appropriate for the particular event.

Landscape vs. Portrait Mode: Portrait and landscape modes refer to which items in your field of view appear in focus. The area that contains the sharp focus is referred to as depth of field and can be affected by where your subject is located as well as aperture and focal length.
Shooting in landscape mode means that the camera will give sharp results to close subjects and the background alike. If you choose to shoot in portrait mode, faces or close up subjects will be sharp and the background will appear a bit blurred. You can play with the depth of field (widening or narrowing the focus area) by playing with aperture settings (measured in f/stops) and focal length.
Compression: Compression doesn’t refer to your spine after carrying your toddler for an entire day through a theme park. When it comes to your digital pictures, compression refers to how large (or small) the image will be, which will directly affect your ability to print it later. Think of your picture as a bulky package; compression settings determine how condensed your pictures will be on your digital camera card. More compression means more pictures can fit on the card, but it also means less quality.

Lower settings, such as ‘normal,’ may lead you to believe that they will be fine for printing but these images are best suited for email or use on the web. If you want to leave the option for quality prints down the road, make sure you shoot on the highest setting (such as superfine compression). Remember: least compression equals highest quality. Bigger files mean bigger prints.
If you’re unsure about which setting is best, remember that camera menus often give you the highest quality option first and then step down.

Shooting Mode: Most people typically shoot in single shot mode, which simply means shooting one image at a time. If you’re going for action pictures such as a sporting event, switch over to ‘quick shot’ mode.

Battery Warning: If it’s blinking red and showing a low battery, it’s time to stop shooting and turn off your camera. If your camera battery dies in mid-shot or while you’re using it, it may corrupt your card and cause you to lose your pictures. Heed the warning and resist the urge to keep going. One great photo on the card is worth two potential shots in your mind.

–Laura Oles is a photo industry journalist and the author of Digital Photography for Busy Women: How to Manage, Protect and Preserve Your Favorite Photos (Compass Trade Press, ISBN 0-9774727-2-8). She offers free information, checklists and tips on her website at www.gotdigitalpictures.com.