Remember when we would pull out the camera for special occasions or a special trip? Most people used to take pictures of events they deemed important enough to record for posterity. The advent of the phone camera changed all that. We now carry with us pictures of those people and events that are important to us, as well as random snaps of things that are fleetingly relevant. This makes it hard to share the important ones.
How many times do you take a picture as a reference because you have a question for someone? How many memes do you have on your phone? What about all those selfies you took to get the one that looks just right? How many tries did it take to get that baby to smile, or the dog to sit?
All these random moments are chronologically interspersed in your photo library together with the pictures that keep value over time. Your birthday celebration, family reunion and travel pictures are a few examples.
When you have such a combination of pictures it is hard to keep track of what is on your phone, and more importantly, they are difficult to find.
How many times have you waited while your friend frantically scrolls through their iPhone looking for the ONE picture they want to share? Or your friend has waited as YOU frantically scroll?
Here are two simple steps you can take to keep your photo library a bit more organized.
1. Clean up your photo library. On your iPhone go to the Photos app and click on the "Albums" icon at the bottom of the page. Then scroll all the way down to the "Media Types" section.
You can see that Apple has sorted your pictures based on media type. You will find the "Selfies" and "Screenshots" albums are probably full of images you will not consider keepers. Go into these and delete at will!
2. Favourite your pictures. They will be automatically added to the "Favorites" album, making that your go-to show and tell album.
To do this: Click on the "Photos" icon at the bottom of the Photos app. Pick a view that makes sense to you- Years, months or days. In my example below I picked "Months" because I find it to be a manageable view.
As you scroll up and down you will see your pictures are grouped by day. This is a simple way to find that day with the special event or outing that you are looking for.
Click on that day and all the pictures taken on that day will be displayed.
Find the one that you want to favourite. Click on it and at the bottom of the screen, in the center you will see a heart. Touch the heart.
Your picture is now in your "Favorites" album and easily accessible!
If you are overwhelmed by the number of pictures on your iPhone, or you have them scattered across several devices and don't want to tackle this on your own, I can help.
As a Photo Organizer I can walk you through the process or I can organize and secure your photo library for you. Your pictures are meant to be shared and enjoyed!