Learn to download & organise your Digital Memories
Digital pictures, photos, digital, memories, transfer, upload, download, sharing, photograph
Article Category: Media & Entertainment
Life is no longer spent sorting out all those boxes of photos that take up space in your home. Digital cameras take photography to another level, becasue you can share photos with your family and friends easily, sort all the photos at the same time and delete what you don't want! However to get the best out of them you need to learn how to transfer, download, organise and share all your digital memories with loved ones.
In this article you will get an introduction on how to transfer digital photos to your computer, organise and transfer them to family and friends.
Related Links
Windows Live Photo Gallery is a free service that allows you to transfer, edit & share photos and video
Digital photography has changed my life. Not only do I no longer have to stare down boxes of unfiled photos and feel guilty for not having shared them, but I take more pictures - and have a wider circle of people involved in viewing them.
A recent trip to Europe illustrates the point: My husband and I chronicled our travels on the web with our digital camera. The fact that photos were posted while we were travelling inspired a discourse that made it all worth it. We would actually have email discussions about what was happening — based on what the family back home were viewing.
That said, I'll be the first to admit the process of wondering what to do with all of your digital photos can be time consuming and even frustrating. No wonder about a quarter of images taken never see the light of day. "There are some manufacturers who make that process easier than others with card slots, user friendly software and direct printing from a camera," says Lori Abbott, a category business manager for digital imaging at Hewlett-Packard.
Here's how to go from shoot to finish and make the most of your digital photographs.
Since memory cards in your camera hold a limited number of images, photos need to be transferred to a computer. In most cases, you need a minimum of 175 MB of RAM and at least Windows 98 or Mac 9.1 to transfer photos. The amount of time it takes to transfer depends on the number of images and the resolution.
There are three ways to upload photos:
The transfer process should be smooth and easy. Most cameras come with software that transfers images to the computer.
If you're ready to learn more, read the next article on how to transfer, edit, view and share your digital photos and video!
Some digital cameras also come with software that sorts images into folders, which works well if you get into the habit of uploading images right after you've shot them. Image management programmes, like Windows Live Photo Gallery or Microsoft Digital Image Suite, also have archiving options to quickly locate your images. Photos are most often automatically named according to the date when they are taken. To give them their own name once on your computer, right click on the image and select Rename.
If you have limited disk space, you can borrow storage space from sites like Windows Live SKyDrive or HP Photo. Keep in mind each jpeg image can reach 1 MB or higher. And, if you decrease a photo's resolution to save space, you will lower the image's quality.
You may also want to consider purchasing a CD burner if your current PC does not have one already installed.
Finding storage alternatives such as external hard drives or even onto CD is also wise because PCs can get viruses and PCs can crash. Another reason to archive: as you transfer more pictures, your hard drive gets increasingly full. Images can get corrupted when edited, so it's also important to retain untouched originals.
Email: Often the primary motivator for people buying cameras is to email pictures. Cameras allow users to change the setting to take lower resolution images intended for email, or you can edit the original to a suitable size.
Print: You can either print your photos at home or at a print shop. For Windows XP users, go to the My Pictures folder and on the left-hand navigation, under Picture Tasks, select Order prints online. Newer printers allow users to insert memory cards directly into printer card-slots.
Photo CDs: Add some music, print a CD cover and present friends with a musical slide show. Most print shops can burn your images for you. You can also have ordinary, non-digital photos put onto a CD.
Projects: Images can be used for greeting cards or framed gifts.
Web posting: there are many providers of free websites today, including Microsoft's easy-to-setup, secure Windows Live Spaces, which will take you through the step-by-step process of posting photos online. Some Internet service providers also offer free space and guide customers through the process of creating webpages.
And of course you can do the same with video shot on your video camera or on a video capable digital camera....
The beauty of web postings — as our family discovered this summer — is that they allow people to share photos, no matter where they happen to be. Send out notifications informing people you've posted new images and gather around for some photo viewing!
If you're ready to learn more, read the next article on how to transfer, edit, view and share your digital photos and video!
A recent trip to Europe illustrates the point: My husband and I chronicled our travels on the web with our digital camera. The fact that photos were posted while we were travelling inspired a discourse that made it all worth it. We would actually have email discussions about what was happening — based on what the family back home were viewing.
That said, I'll be the first to admit the process of wondering what to do with all of your digital photos can be time consuming and even frustrating. No wonder about a quarter of images taken never see the light of day. "There are some manufacturers who make that process easier than others with card slots, user friendly software and direct printing from a camera," says Lori Abbott, a category business manager for digital imaging at Hewlett-Packard.
Here's how to go from shoot to finish and make the most of your digital photographs.
Transferring images
Since memory cards in your camera hold a limited number of images, photos need to be transferred to a computer. In most cases, you need a minimum of 175 MB of RAM and at least Windows 98 or Mac 9.1 to transfer photos. The amount of time it takes to transfer depends on the number of images and the resolution.
There are three ways to upload photos:
- Cable: Connect the PC to the camera.
- Camera dock: Place the camera on the dock.
- Card slots: Place the camera's memory card into a memory card slot.
The transfer process should be smooth and easy. Most cameras come with software that transfers images to the computer.
If you're ready to learn more, read the next article on how to transfer, edit, view and share your digital photos and video!
Archiving and organising
Some digital cameras also come with software that sorts images into folders, which works well if you get into the habit of uploading images right after you've shot them. Image management programmes, like Windows Live Photo Gallery or Microsoft Digital Image Suite, also have archiving options to quickly locate your images. Photos are most often automatically named according to the date when they are taken. To give them their own name once on your computer, right click on the image and select Rename.
If you have limited disk space, you can borrow storage space from sites like Windows Live SKyDrive or HP Photo. Keep in mind each jpeg image can reach 1 MB or higher. And, if you decrease a photo's resolution to save space, you will lower the image's quality.
You may also want to consider purchasing a CD burner if your current PC does not have one already installed.
Finding storage alternatives such as external hard drives or even onto CD is also wise because PCs can get viruses and PCs can crash. Another reason to archive: as you transfer more pictures, your hard drive gets increasingly full. Images can get corrupted when edited, so it's also important to retain untouched originals.
Sharing your photos with others
Email: Often the primary motivator for people buying cameras is to email pictures. Cameras allow users to change the setting to take lower resolution images intended for email, or you can edit the original to a suitable size.
Print: You can either print your photos at home or at a print shop. For Windows XP users, go to the My Pictures folder and on the left-hand navigation, under Picture Tasks, select Order prints online. Newer printers allow users to insert memory cards directly into printer card-slots.
Photo CDs: Add some music, print a CD cover and present friends with a musical slide show. Most print shops can burn your images for you. You can also have ordinary, non-digital photos put onto a CD.
Projects: Images can be used for greeting cards or framed gifts.
Web posting: there are many providers of free websites today, including Microsoft's easy-to-setup, secure Windows Live Spaces, which will take you through the step-by-step process of posting photos online. Some Internet service providers also offer free space and guide customers through the process of creating webpages.
And of course you can do the same with video shot on your video camera or on a video capable digital camera....
The beauty of web postings — as our family discovered this summer — is that they allow people to share photos, no matter where they happen to be. Send out notifications informing people you've posted new images and gather around for some photo viewing!
If you're ready to learn more, read the next article on how to transfer, edit, view and share your digital photos and video!
