There are plenty of things you can do with all your photos, and it’s not all album related.

You can organize your photos online, using an online service like Smilebox. With this service you can make scrapbook pages and send them to family and friends.

You can make some easy and cool photo projects. Some are even suitable for gift giving.

Of course framing is a popular choice. I have a lot of photos I like to see daily; too many for frames. What I do is keep a frame picture box. I frame some photos, and every once in a while switch them out with the pictures in the frame box. It keeps things fresh.

Use an album alternative: Sort only the best of the absolute best pictures into photo albums. Then use an alternative storage method for those other photos you like, but not enough to place in an album. Other storage methods include:

• Storing photos on your computer. If you have a digital camera, this is a given. If you have a regular film camera, a very good scanner will download photos to your computer easily. Make back-up disks.
• Go a step further and store photos online, so your family and friends can view them.
• A photo safe storage box is another good solution. There are really nice photo storage boxes that come with tabbed dividers and photo safe sleeves. Below is the Snap ‘N Store Photo Box – 4 x 6 File Box from Organize.com.

Bonus tip: If a picture is too bad to keep, its negative isn’t worth much either. When you sort your photos also sort negatives. Put the ones worth keeping into negative sleeves and a folder, and store the folder away from sunlight and moisture.

How are your photo organizing projects going? Hopefully you’re more ahead of the game than I am.

Post from: Blisstree

Tips for organizing your photo collection

What you can do at Smilebox:

• Upload photos and turn them into design projects.
• You can make any design you choose, and there are hundreds to choose from.
• After designing a project you can email it to someone, add it to your blog, or print it out for your scrapbook.

Everything seems laid out and explained nicely. The only issue I had with their site was the constant music playing, but you can turn it off (thankfully). You can create some projects for free, while other projects you pay for, but the cost is minimal; $4.99/month or $39.99/year.

In any case, if you’re looking to do something with all those photos you’ve got cluttering your bookshelf, give Smilebox a whirl – it’s free to try, and paid services come with a free trial as well.

For more on photo organizing see: 

• Be your own photo editor
• Get Rid of Those Extra Pics
• What to do with all those extra photos – four quick ideas
• Gather memories not clutter

[image via smilebox]

Post from: Blisstree

Fast and inexpensive way to organize photos