Digital Pictures

Manipulating the Images
I was really excited bringing back those photos--right up until I had to start messing with them. Then I was overwhelmed. You know what I mean... sorting through 350 similarly named files, cropping some, rejecting others, and making them viewable for my friends. Here are a couple tips that made this part of the project a little easier.

* Triage your photos. View each one and delete out-and-out rejects. To do this I used IrfanView, a slick little viewer that's not only quick, it's free. Get your copy here here

* Stick them into categories.
While viewing your photos, categorize them by renaming the files and dumping them into folders. I kept in mind that I wanted to create two albums: one for me, with practically every photo; the other for friends with short attention spans, folks who might be bored by dozens of shots of the of the same thing. I renamed each file after viewing it, and then dumped it into one of two folders: "friends" and "me."

Take an Article Break
I'm not the only one talking about photos. In "How to Print Perfect Photographs," Dave Johnson, at PCWorld, gives 27 ways to make your photos look better. He's got some practical advice, folks, and I encourage you to read all of it. (I did and learned lots.) The article is a click away:
http://www.pcworld.com/features/article/0,aid,92896,tk,sbx,00.asp

Here are two other tricks to try once you've decided on the right categories.
* Making the move. Moving your photo files around is challenging enough; using Windows Explorer to do it is terrifying. You've got a couple of alternatives: PowerDesk Pro 5.0 and 2XExplorer. Try both of these freebies and see which one you like best.
Ontrack's PowerDesk Pro 5.0 lets you view two directories (okay, folders) at once, making it easier to rename and move files. Find it here:
http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,3491,tk,sbx,00.asp
Nipping at PowerDesk's heels is 2XExplorer, a souped-up version of the old Norton Commander for DOS. You can find it at:
http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,22040,tk,sbx,00.asp
* Renaming files. While you're viewing and moving files you also need to rename them. (What, you don't find epson001.jpg, epson002.jpg, and epson350.jpg meaningful?) When I find a stack of photos with a similar scene--say, "food vendors"--I add something unique to the file name while leaving the extension alone. For instance, "food vendors_001.jpg," "food vendors_002.jpg," "food vendors_003.jpg," and so on.
For this part of the project I'm using RJH Extensions, a powerful utility that lets me globally rename files and add sequential numbering (or even words) to the file names. I can also change the extension and preview my changes before honking up a hundred files.
Grab your own free copy of RJH Extensions here:
http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,21460,tk,sbx,00.asp