digital scrapbooking

Not much! Most of us have all that you'll need.
First, you'll need a computer. You'll also need a photo editing program such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Elements (very user friendly) or Corel PaintShop Pro or many others. These are all programs that let you load your photos, touch up imperfections and red eye and allow you a lot of creativity with your images. Check with the software programs manufacturer to make sure your computer meets the required specifications. You can find programs ranging from $30 to hundreds of dollars depending on how sophisticated you would like to get. Optional but not necessary is a printer and a scanner. Printers are great for printing your own finished photos, page layouts or papers. Scanners are great to use for scanning your photos that are not digital, so you can upload and use them in the software program. (If you do not choose to print your layouts, there are many great websites that allow you to create digital albums to share with family and friends.)

What if you don't have the time or you think you don't have the creativity to make great scrapbook layouts? There are a great many options for you. "Quick pages" are a great option. Quick pages are scrapbooking layouts that are all done for you. Each quick page is like a frame that you place on top of one or more pictures. All you do is download the quick page and add your photo. It's that easy!

The best place to start is to work on those pictures that are most recent. Maybe still in your camera. Just concentrate on those pictures. Just scrap those pictures and don't worry about all the others. It is easy to be overwhelmed by all those pictures you have. I know that old song goes, "just start at the very beginning, it's a very good place to start". But, I find that starting at the end, the most recent pictures is best, and then work backwards. You don't have to scrap every picture you have. Just the ones that mean the most to you. Scrapbooking should not be a chore, it is a way of recording memories for yourself and future generations.

Most people just plug the memory card into their computer and throw their photos into folders. It can be very confusing to find a particular photo.

There are some great photo organization software out there that can help keep everything nice and tidy.

ACDSee and iPhoto are two good ones. If you choose to scrapbook with Adobe Photoshop Elements (a good choice)it comes with a photo organizer feature. These organizers let you tag photos with as many descriptive labels that you like. Helping you find that great picture you took without any aggravation.

If you choose to plop them into your own folders you need a system to keep it all organized.

First, you have to develop a filing system. You have to determine how you would like to organize your photos, so they fit the way you work. You can sort by date, by person or by category. Then create folders. For instance, if you sort by date, then create a folder for the year, then break it down and create subfolders for each month, and then subfolders again in each month for specific events or dates. After you have all of your folders ready, you can start to move your pictures in to their proper place. As you upload new photos, take the time to place each picture in its proper folder.

It can be daunting when you have 100 pictures to upload. Don't be afraid to delete photos that are duplicates, blurry, or just plain unusable. It's ok to "throw" some away, and keep the good ones. It help keep your photo filing system much more organized.

So, remember, sort your photos, delete unwanted photos, and upload regularly before it becomes overwhelming. You can delete right from your camera before you transfer them to your computer.

As you keep up with new photos taken, go back to your "old" files and clean them up. Move them to their "new proper home". It doesn"t have to be done in one sitting. Find little chunks of time if you are overwhelmed with all those photos. Baby steps. You'll get their eventually if you keep your current photos organized, and slowly work on the old files.

Everyones computer crashes! It's is not a matter of if, but when. Prevent a tragic loss of your photos. Back them up to a hard drive-often. And to prevent loss of photos and memories from a natural disaster, fire, ect. burn your files to cd and store them outside of your home. In a bank safe deposit box, or maybe a relative can hold them for you. Do this with regular photos too. Save your negatives in another location. Ok? These are your memories, protect them.