Wednesday, December 18, 2013

More Backyard Scenes, Pre-Winter


 Flowering Crab

Tuesday night:

I'm scheduling this post because I won't be here tomorrow. We're going to be picking up our Texas daughter from the airport to spend a few days with us. Although I wish the kids lived closer, at least we see them a few times a year. It could be worse. They have no more desire to move back to Wisconsin than we do to move to Texas, so I guess the remedy is to travel. It's definitely worth it.

I have no idea why I'm writing this post. I should be in bed instead. It's been one of those days when all the things I tried to get done sort of failed in the execution, but took a lot of effort and time doing so, and now I'm too tired to do anything else but sit here and go through my photos. I feel too tired to get up and go to bed, and one photo leads to another...

And while I'm on that topic (the photos), let me say that it's really worth spending the $60/year to get Carbonite online backup (no they didn't ask or pay me to write this, but it would be nice if they sent me a couple Ritter Sport Dark Chocolate with Hazelnut bars for giving them this plug!)  My old laptop did crash, and if it hadn't been for Carbonite, I'd have lost everything. It was EASY to retrieve all my files once I had my new laptop. EASY. So, anyway, since that experience, I am probably paranoid about losing my photos, so they're backed up by an external hard drive also. 


Cattle-less Barn


For what it's worth, here's how I organize them. (Not that anyone cares, but like I said, I'm too tired to go to bed.) When I take a group of photos, I immediately upload them to my computer and put them in a folder that is named for the month in which they are taken. That means I have a folder named October 2013, one named November 2013, one named December 2013, etc. So all the original photos are in the 'monthly' folders. When I edit a photo, I then save it with some particular name (trying to think of what I would call it if I were looking for it!!! - not always easy, believe me.)


 Frosted Spruce

I used to save edited photos by topic, so that I still have a  folder named, 'Barns,' one named 'Pets,' etc.etc. But it occurred to me one day that since I have a really good search tool in Windows 7, I can edit a photo, give it its particular name, and save it (along with the original) in the monthly folder. That way, when I download them to my external hard drive, I only need to download the newest monthly folder. All my originals for that month and the edited versions are in that folder. I do that late in the day on the last day of the month.

 For example, if I took a photo of Misty in December, the edited version might have a name like, 'Misty with blankie December 2013) I include the name of the month so that if I ever want to find the original, I can easily see that it's in the December 2013 folder. So now all the photos I take in December, including the edited versions, will go into the December 2013 folder. Then, at the end of each month, I drag out the external hard drive and download only that monthly folder (because it has both the originals and the edited versions) into it - and I'm current. That makes it a lot easier than having to download every 'topic' folder that might (or might not) have a newly edited photo in it.


 'Closed for the Season'


So now, when I want a photo of a barn, I can go to my main 'Pictures' file and search for the word 'barn.' Every photo - in any folder-  that's got the word 'barn' in the file name, will show up. Also, that file name will tell me in which month folder I can also find the original.


 Sunset Behind the Barn

The only problem is that with a photo like the one above, I might have it named 'sunset barn silo winter December 2013.' But at least I find it. On the other hand, because I didn't include the word 'birdfeeder,' I'll never find that again, unless by accident. And I don't need to include the word 'snow,' because I'd say that there's more than a 50/50 chance that the photo will include snow. After all, this is Wisconsin.


 Sunset Behind the Barn b

 Early Sunset Reflections

Early Sunset Reflections b

I think this photo perusing, editing and saving can quickly become a compulsive behavior!
What do you think? And do you have your photos backed up?

Have a great Wednesday!

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24 comments:

aspiritofsimplicity said...

I save all my edited photos in a monthly folder. Our pre-winter looks similar. I wonder what what winter will look like....

Unknown said...

Beautiful winter pictures. It will be great for you to see them again :) Have a great Wednesday too.

podso said...

I enjoyed your photos and Have a wonderful time with your daughter. I have had the same experience, kind of in a zone on my computer and too tired to move to bed! I do find photo editing sort of relaxing, so it can make me ready for sleep ...

Unknown said...

I need to start saving my photos somewhere like that... I have a feeling my computer is going to give out one of these days and I'll be so incredibly sorry I didn't!!!
Love the photos, you are such a good photographer!!

Enjoy the time with your daughter!!!

MadSnapper said...

i love that reflections photo in the windows. wow on that one. and brrrrr on the winter ones..enjoy your time with family. we will be waiting.
i keep mine in a folder with the year, and inside that by what the photo is. trees, reflections, shadows etc. i don't name the photos, they are in named folders.

Diane said...

Fab pictures! All that computer "stuff" is my husband's job. He knows a lot more about it than I do-- or care to! Enjoy your family time!

Carla from The River said...

Enjoy your family time!
And I want to know, why you would not like to move to Texas?

Carla from The River said...

P.S.
I think you should come over and help me organize my photos. :-) I have a photo dump! And that is where they all are. I scroll and I scroll and I scroll.... :-)
Love ya Judy!! Have a great Christmas.

Bossy Betty said...

I am terrible about saving and organizing my photos! Thanks for the inspiration!

Pamela Gordon said...

Your photos are so beautiful. I do back up my computer weekly on an external hard drive. I have my photos in Picasa and every time I load one or 20, I put them in appropriate files with the year, month, date. I even can type in under the photo the specifics I need. I think there might be a way to 'find' photos but I haven't found it yet. :) I hope you had a good sleep after all. Pamela

Grandma Barb's This and That said...

Your pre-winter photos are so pretty. When I upload my photos I save them in a monthly, yearly file. Since my computer crashed I have been saving them weekly to an external hard drive.
Enjoy your daughter!

Deanna said...

I had a second hard drive for my PC which backed everything up but since switching to a Mac I don't. I *think* some stuff is on "the Cloud" but I really don't know for sure. These days I take most photos with my iPhone, upload periodically to my computer and post the best on Flickr and Instagram. Some also go on Facebook. I really need a more intentional system, however.

Down Blueberry Lane said...

We back up our pictures on a CD. I never realize/thought of being able to search for pictures like your described. Good lesson for me. Thanks for sharing. Love your pictures, especially the sunset reflection in the van windows. Very neat! --Susie

Chatty Crone said...

I am ashamed that I do not have mine back up. I will have to talk to my boss!

And i wondered if you had a file named snow! lol

Have fun with your daughter.

Love, sandie

Suzan said...

You do have lovely photos that you want to keep forever and are able to refer back to!!
Like you- I have a lot of genealogy records and photos of documents that are irreplaceable. I also use Legacy - a soft ware program to record all my family history and old family photos and one time - my computer did crash - and I was noxious for two weeks. But that was before I was putting my photos and family history in files--- I was working on my masters and ended up loosing much of my course work.
That taught me then and there to use an external hard drive. I back up all my files and Legacy on the first day of every month. Once or twice a year I will back it up twice and keep one of the hard drives in our safety deposit box. My computer has never crashed since --- I can also sleep at night and lightning storms don't bother me like they use to before backing up my files on an external hard drive. They're cheap too - now adays!!

Terri D said...

Judy, we have had Carbonite for around four years (or five) now and rely on it to keep our photos and data backed up. It works great and is SO worth the money. When a hard drive crashes or you get a new computer, you just sign in and download everything. So easy and no more worries.

Heide at ApronHistory said...

Photo sorting definitely can become obsessive! I really don't worry too much about my photos as they are mostly random everyday things. But if I had thousands from a trip to England I would certainly have them protected better!

TexWisGirl said...

glad carbonite saved your stuff.

enjoy your time with your texas daughter! i know she's probably shivering up there. :)

Vee said...

I do...Lacie my exterior hard drive. We use quite different methods for naming and storing. I'm not sure that mine is an improvement over yours, but we each understand our own "system." I have often wondered about Carbonite.

Enjoy your daughter's visit! I am sure that you will.

Cheryl @ TFD said...

I find looking at photos and cropping, resizing, etc, to be relaxing. In fact, often I get so involved and then suddenly realize how late it is!
Have a nice visit with your daughter! Merry Christmas!

Jean | DelightfulRepast.com said...

Judy, I love your photos. That first one with the little red berries - wow! Carbonite IS wonderful, isn't it? When I get around to doing a little more photo organizing, I'm going to refer back to this post. I like your system.

Cynthia said...

Judy, these are just gorgeous pictures, so festive. Have a great time with your family and enjoy every second.

Cynthia

Magali@TheLittleWhiteHouse said...

I know what you mean, I'm too tired to go up the stiars and to bed, so I'm trying to catch on the numerous posts I missed during the week. I'm a little worried that these are pictures of pre-winter. I'm wondering what winter looks like. Have a nice time with your Texan daughter!

J_on_tour said...

Great insight into your photographic world both virtual & real. I'm not that organised in naming photos although I can hear the trainer in the Apple shop loud and clear at the moment on that one. I've now organised a library for each year split into months. The topics within each month are … you've guessed it … places.

That's some snow, none at ground level here yet although I was out for a walk with a friend on boxing day in it at 730 m height. Could only manage 20 minutes lunch at the top before the gloves had too go back on !!

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