Practical Ways to Preserve Your Digital Photos
Many of our fondest memories are stored in the photos we took and preserved. Those of us who are older remember the admonition to keep the negatives so other pictures could be printed. Most youth today don’t even know what a negative is! So what is the best way to preserve those digital memories?
First, don’t be shy about taking plenty of pictures. With the ability to take large numbers of pictures at no cost today, you can get several shots of every scene, just to be sure. I purchased a large memory card for my digital camera in preparation for a special trip last summer. When I got home, I still had room to take more than 10,000 shots!
Once you have collected a good number of pictures, don’t be afraid to delete the ones that aren’t up to standard, or that are duplicates of others. You don’t have to keep every one. However, you may want to keep some that contain special people, poses, or memories, even if they aren’t the best. After all, it doesn’t cost anything to keep it except memory.
Computer programs are available to set up photo albums so that pictures are cataloged by event, date, subject, whatever you like. Take the time to write captions for even the most familiar scenes. I have boxes of slides my parents took in Europe but I don’t have any idea where they were taken. If they had labeled them clearly, they would be much more useful.
You may think you are done now. Yet, consider how fragile your preserved memories are. One crash of your hard drive and you may lose everything! Or if you have them on floppies, you could find it impossible to view them! Further, the presence of a random magnetic field could likewise destroy them.
Formerly we thought CDs were more secure. Nothing touched the surface so nothing needed to wear out. However, scratches, breaks, heat damage could all destroy your memories.
Start with this suggestion: store all your pictures additionally in another place and on copies in other parts of your home. If you store them on a CD, for example, make extra copies and store them in a safety deposit box, in another home, or, at least, in another place at your home. Back up hard drives and, if possible, do so on a network that guarantees they are in several locations around the country or world. As media changes, backup your memories on the new media. If all your pictures were on 5 ¼ floppy disks, you might not ever be able to see them!
Today we can take and distribute, without printing, more pictures than people care to see. Just don’t allow those memories to be lost by not labeling them or by neglecting their preservation.
Following these tips should benefit you. But if you’re more interested in a professional handling your photography, consider the services of Expressions Photography, an experienced Virginia Beach wedding photography. See their website portfolio for results.



