This month found me trying to organize the thousands of pictures on the computer. I use Picasa to upload my pictures and they are organized by dates. I've created folders for each year and the sub-folders for the months. This works fine if you know approximately when you took a picture, but, for instance, if I'm looking for pictures of benches I have to go looking through lots of folders. I wanted a better way to find things than searching by dates.
That has been the problem, here's how I'm working to solve it. I am now using Creative Memories Memory Manager 4 software to organize my photos. I've taken a class through Big Picture Classes called Finding Photo Freedom that has helped me tremendously. My photos are organized by year, quarter, date and also by subjects; people, places, things, activities, and individuals. It's been a long process. I've only sorted and tagged one year of photos (I only have three years of pictures on my computer). I work on it for 15 minutes a day and someday, I'll be through! I'm not giving up or quitting.
Stick with me, I'm getting to the challenge!
Stick with me, I'm getting to the challenge!
This organizing is all new, but while I was roaming around this new software, I played with some of it's editing features. They are not as high tech as Photoshop or Lightroom, but there's enough to satisfy me. I randomly picked an image, a historical home, and then played.
The Original
straight of the camera
Rough Painting Effect
This is the only way I'll ever paint a picture!
Old Glass Effect
This one made me laugh;
"and they all lived together in a crooked little house."
Embossed Effect
This might be pretty for a postcard.
Black and White with a red filter
This almost looks spooky to me or maybe mysterious.
I get the feeling that something's about to happen here.
I get the feeling that something's about to happen here.
Top - Sphereize Effect
Bottom - Swirl
These are fun, but I cannot imagine what you'd use them for!
And finally...
Color Temperature Adjustment
This is my favorite.
I really like this.
I really, really like this!
I love the warmth it gives and the feeling of nostalgia.
This feature I can see myself using many times.
So, that's it for this month. You may of noticed after the last month's traumatic challenge of photographing people, I went easy on myself this month.
Now you will be singing this all day long!
So Sorry!
oh cathy...i'm just nodding my head...i feel your pain. i love digital photography, but oh the mess of trying to keep up with everything. :) this software sounds pretty cool. i recently purchased lightroom and i think it has some of the same functions. just need to spend some time tagging and such. i really like your idea of spending just a few minutes a day doing it.
ReplyDeleteand i love the treatment on that last photo as well...a great vintagey feel perfect for the shot. which was beautiful to start with. :)
Hat's off to you for sorting through your photos. Mine are a mess. I had a big plan to catalogue with lightroom but the job is already so immense I'm doing a great job of putting it off as all the while it snowballs further! Love the old house image and all your different treatments. Swirl reminds me of the house in the Wizard of Oz in the tornado. :) Love the tones in the last image too.
ReplyDeleteAwesome Cathy. Being able to put your fingers right on the image/s you want-that can be huge. I don't have such a deep system, but my tagging in Flickr helps and I'm such an anal-retentive I have my photos folder-ized by year, month, 1/2 month day. My blue jeans are all separate from my black jeans too....and of course away from the shirts that are divided into solids and stripes.
ReplyDeleteThis was a great challenge to do and I bet you will keep playing with that software. I think it's a nice creative activity when one becomes (and I say this from personal experience) bored with the same ol'.
I love that you set aside time each day. When I'm able to visit other blogs I set the kitchen timer for the amount of time I can spare and stop when it buzzes.
Have a great day. I'm hoping to share my 3rd Thurs soon.
I like your last shot: Colour Temperature Adjustment processing the best too. It's so warm looking. Your new way of organizing your photos sounds wonderful!
ReplyDeleteOh, Cathy - what a fantastic challenge! Welcome to the world of post-processing - isn't it fun? :) You ended up with some great results from your experiments - I love the painted and embossed effects. I agree that the BW filter completely changed the mood and atmosphere - and there are times when that it what you want to accomplish - post-processing gives you that freedom to re-interpret your images. But yes, I agree that the warming is quite stunning - isn't is amazing how much a shift in color temperature can change the feel of the photograph? How a single image can take on so many different looks?
ReplyDeleteAnd congrats as well on taking on the photo organization project - sometimes it can just feel TOO big and overwhelming so you never start. Making a commitment to just a short time every day seems to be the way to approach a huge endeavor without getting discouraged.
Thanks so much for joining in with this month's Third Thursday Challenge!
lol! I'm chuckling at your comments about the different effects!
ReplyDeleteIt does take a little effort to tag your pictures but it saves so much time in the end when you are looking for something! I had my photos organised like you did and have just started tagging them. I wish I had done that from the beginning!
You definitely have a spooky photo in the mix and the twisty ones are just fun! I like the last one the best too!
I am in total awe, Cathy! How you have the patience to do all that organizing and cataloging -- you must feel very proud. I had all my photos organized with tags on my old computer, but lost all the tags and folders when I migrated to apple. Needless to say, I was very upset and discouraged. I love your experiments with the software, and seeing your house image in so many guises. I agree with everyone that the last is the best.
ReplyDeleteFun, fun, FUN, Cathy!
ReplyDeleteGood for you to be organizing and sorting! I like your idea of working on it for 15 minutes a day. I think I will try to adapt that idea. I use Lightroom, so they are organized by date and in folders, but I really do need to go through and keyword everything. Thanks for the great idea.
ReplyDeleteCathy, I would have thought the organizing and cataloging of all your photos would be challenge enough! I like that you've set aside a certain amount of time to work on it every day til it's done. That would probably be a good idea for me to try.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed seeing your processing experiments. Your crooked little house made me laugh, too - it looks like something out of a cartoon. I think that swirl effect might be interesting to play with on a nature subject like a patch of flowers. And I do love that last one. The vintage look you got is perfect for that old house.
What a fun multi-tych you have here, and what a great way to encourage yourself to complete such a big task (I know because I'm ignoring my own many years' worth of unorganized photos). Good luck with this project--hopefully you will find other images along that way that provide an opportunity for play and experimentation.
ReplyDeleteI wish I'd known about this software. I know just what you mean about the difficulty of finding photos. I bought Lightroom for its organizing feature, and am slowly cataloging my photos. I especially like the last image--lovely processing.
ReplyDelete