How Do YOU Organize Your Photo Collection?

[Kassafrass]

I have recently started seriously collecting images of royalty - mainly the Romanovs and specifically OTMAA. So I was wondering - how do YOU organize your picture collection? I can't decide what would be the most efficient way to do so;

Do I separate based on the people? A folder for Olga, a folder for Tatiana etc. Or do I go by the years? Maybe by the formal portraits? '1914 Formals'?

I only ask what you do because I want to try and figure out what works best for me, and I might be missing some ideas Thanks in advance.

PS - I hope this was never a topic before... I searched for it and couldn't find anything like it. If I missed it, I apologize.

[Hikari]

There already was a topic here http://forum.alexanderpalace.org/index.php?topic=13576.0
but I'll tell you mine anyway
First I make a folder for each GD and then I give them a folder for each year.
 
for example :
Olga----1895, 1896....
Tatiana----1897, 1898...
Maria----1899, 1900...
Anastasia 1901, 1902...

For group photos, I put them in a folder called OTMA. Then I make folders for specific places and then I divide them by year.

for example :

OTMA-----Standart
               --------1908, 1909....
        -----Special Events
              ---------1903, 1904....
        -----Formal
              ---------1904, 1906, 1910...

I hope it helps

[Kassafrass]

I apologize again :S I searched for topics on photo organizing but I guess I did it wrong.

Your idea as well as the ones in the other thread certainly are helpful, but there are still some things I'm unsure of...

Do I separate the girls in their regimental uniforms into a separate folder or put them in with the respective grand duchess(es)? Do I separate by the girls and then the locations? The years?

Maybe I'm just too obsessive LOL

[matushka]

As for me I have folder per year, not for every person of the Imperial Family. In every folder, I name every picture like this: the datation (08.05 for example), then the location and then initials of those I recognize on the pictures (or fulls names for more rare people). If I do not know the day, I put only the month. If I have not a month, I give only the location. If I haven't any place only the identification or a key (for example:formal picture).
Like this:
Folder 1913
    - 05.25 Moscow NA AF AlN (for Tsar Nicolas, Alexandra and Alexei).
Or:
Folder 1914
    - formal ON with a book
    - formal ON smiling
Or:
Folder 1915
    - Tsarskoe Selo lazaret AF TN ON groupe wounders

And so on. Like this I can find a picture quite quickly.
When I have nothing, only a name (for example, little Olga, but I can decide is it 1899 or 1900) I let it in the whole fodler Romanov, with some indications. Years after I found something the solution!

[Kassafrass]

That sounds like a good idea. I'm working on compiling as much information as I can on dates and locations and such. I've got my work cut out for me.

I've been interested in the IF since I was a young girl, but I've only recently seriously started collecting photos and such.

[Jen_94]

I tend to create a folder like this:

E.G Olga
   -Casual
   -formal

I do that for every one (Alix, Alexei, Nicholas, Olga, Tatiana, Anastasia, Maria, OTMA, Family pics...)

[KarinK]

I organise my photos in folders according to the people included. I add the year to the beginning of the file name if it's known (so that at least the dated photos are in order - 1909 Alexandra Standart, 1910 Alexandra Germany...), but I still have an annoyingly large amount of photos that remain undated years after I first saved them; that's why I started folders for people rather than years when my original Romanov folder got crowded.

In addition to individual folders for members of the imperial family, I have folders for Nicholas & Alexandra, Alexandra & the grand duchesses, and so on through all the possible combinations. Sometimes there are so many photos of a particular kind that I add a subfolder to make the main folder less crowded and easier to search (for example, WWI in Nicholas & Alexei). I also have folders for significant relatives and friends (for example, the imperial family & Maria Feodorovna, the imperial family & Anna Vyrubova), as well as locations like the Alexander Palace, and many more. I like keeping my various images organised, so it's actually quite fun to me to think of how my Romanov folder has developed from a random collection to the kind of big, orderly mass of subfolders that I tend to maintain for my major hobbies and interests.

[Kassafrass]

It never occurred to me to do them by year lol

Thank you for suggesting that :3

[Kassafrass]

So now that I'm expanding my collection, I must ask: what is your favorite photo hosting site? I've noticed that many people use Photobucket and some people swore that DropBox was the best, but I don't like the way DropBox works and I'm looking for something that doesn't change the link when the location changes.

Any suggestions?

[koloagirl]

Aloha all!

I've been collecting Romanov photos for, maybe 10 years or so now?  I'm afraid my system is based on when I acquired the photo which is another way of saying I really have no system.

What I do have that I love however is a digital frame.....you can put a ton (!!!) of photos on a card and put that in the frame....I have one in the cabinet where my TV is and it goes for 24 hours....I never turn it off.  It is entirely Romanov photos and I am continually updating it with the "new" photos!

I find myself looking at it quite frequently....... it relaxes me also and helps me to sleep sometimes.  I like falling asleep thinking of OTMAA!

I need to organize my photos, but at this point it seems hopeless!

Janet R.

[Aliss_Kande]

What I do, since I have so many, is I put all the photos into PowerPoint slideshows.  Each country will get a slideshow (ex. Austria, Sweden, Hesse, etc.).  Then, each person within the slideshow is ordered alphabetically (ex. Princess Alice, Princess Beatrice, Princess Helena).  In the case of more than one sitter in the portrait, it is put in the section of the oldest member (ex. a photo of Princes Albert Victor and George will go with AV).  Each person's section is then organized chronologically, to the best of my ability.

Russia is a bit different since there are SO MANY pictures of EVERYONE!  In that case, I have a separate slideshow for each member of the imperial family (NAOTMAA).  There is also a specific OTMA slideshow, which is photos of all the girls without their parents (Alexei can go in that album if he's with all four girls).  The rest of the family (Maria Feodorovna, Irina Yussopov, Elena Vladimirovna, etc.) share an album.

I like it better in slideshows than in folders.  It's easier for me to view all of them and label them.  My own personal preference

[Kassafrass]

Now that is certainly an interesting idea that I *never* would have thought of. Doesn't it get time consuming putting them all together?

[Aliss_Kande]

Only if I let them pile up for a long time.  Usually it's not so bad.

It's also a good way to keep from getting duplicates.  You can just compare the same photo and trash the one of lesser quality.

[Maria_Pavlovna]

I keep photos I find over the years on photobucket.com

But since I don’t trust technology and don’t share photos due to copyright laws-

So last year I began making for Private use - binders of photos of royals (print out on paper in 4s or singles in plastic coverings sheets), since I do art projects, I use 1840 to 1940 royals as my items.

Binder one – all OTMAA and married Nicholas II and Alexandra Fyodorovna

Binder two- all members of the Russian Romanov Family (with young unmarried Nicholas II) including the Russian Oldenburgs, Leuchtenbergs etc and all illegitimate members (like the Paleys, Yuriovoskys etc  and even stepchildren of Grand Dukes) and the Yussupov family, mostly of Princess Irina Feliksovna since her mother was a Romanov. 

Binder three – Western Europe Royals houses (in sections) of Spain, Portugal, Italy, France (both Bourbon and Bonaparte), Germany (Prussia, Hesse {young Alexandra Fyodorovna}, and Saxony etc), Austria, England (along with the Battenberg house) and the noble houses of Thurn und Taxis and Toerring-Jettenbach, Holland, Belgium etc (only countries I didn’t do where Monaco and Liechtenstein royals).

Binder four- north and east European royals houses (in sections) of Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Romania and Greece (got a lot of Greek photos, since they’re my favorite after the Romanovs).

To make it was about $200 to make but it has at least millions of photos.

[Kassafrass]

Mandie,

That's wise of you. There is only so much trust we can put into technology, and with that in mind I am currently working hard at backing them up and keeping them in multiple places. Should my laptop die on me (please no please no please no please no please no please no please no...) I will have them uploaded to two-three online sites in which I can retrieve them. I am also currently looking into getting a flash drive that I will use for royalty photos and royalty photos ONLY.

A problem that I have come across when it comes to such things is that some sites you upload your photos to reduce the size and when you download them again, they're never as big and as lovely as they were before. Photobucket is good with that, but I am not particularly fond of the layout.

That being said, I went and did research, tried different sites (and signed up for more accounts than I wished to) and finally settled on Picasa. With Picasa, you get a download that goes straight to your folders and adds your photos directly in there when you add new ones. It also keeps track of the titles if you change them (which I often do as I find out new years and corrections etc.) It even has a rather handy tool that helps you to recognize faces and tag the people in them. At this point, I have 334 photos that include Olga Nikolaevna, but there are some that are still not tagged just yet. It also helps you to cross reference and find photos that include both Tatiana and Olga. I also have my actual folders on my PC organized in that way as well, but this way it keeps them even more organized and easier to locate. Every photo that goes into your Picasa program automatically syncs up to the albums I have online, which I can make private if I want and can host photos from there and post on here and other sites as well.

The only complaint I have at this point is that if I change a title in my folders, it'll show up on Picasa but it won't change on the website albums itself. So I'm looking for a way to fix that.

I admire your diligence and I imagine it must be great to sit and go through them if you wish whenever. It reminds me of someone that mentioned using one of those digital frames to do a slideshow of their photos.

May I ask what kind of paper you use? Regular printer paper or thick photo paper?

Kassy