CREATING A DIGITAL PHOTO INVENTORY | DPO CHALLENGE – WEEK 2

Last week, we began our digital photo organizing journey by designating our digital photo hub, and migrating all digital images that we’d like to include in our photo collection into that hub. This week, we will get a better understanding of the scope of our photo organizing project that lies ahead by creating a digital photo inventory of our collection.

Think of this inventory as your “BEFORE” snapshot. As with any transformation, we sometimes lose sight of how far we’ve come until confronted with that BEFORE image, right?

WHAT DOES A DIGITAL PHOTO INVENTORY CONSIST OF?

Remember all of those sub-folders you created last week during the hub migration process? For each of those sub-folders, you’re going to record the number of images contained within the folder, as well as size of each sub-folder (i.e., the total number of gigabytes).

WHY GO THROUGH THE TROUBLE OF CREATING A DIGITAL PHOTO INVENTORY?

First, it provides a starting point for you to gauge progress. A huge part of the digital photo organization process is “decluttering” the collection (deleting poor quality photos and duplicates). It’s important to have that baseline snapshot of the size and quantity of your image collection so that you have these numbers as a basis of comparison after you complete the organization process (AKA your AFTER shot).

Knowing the size of the collection can also help you to plan out an appropriate timeline for completing your organizing project. The timeline for organizing a collection that consists of 5,000 photos is quite different than the timeline for organizing a collection consisting of 250,000 photos!

And knowing the approximate size of your digital photo collection is helpful when selecting backup tools and products, and setting up accounts on photo storage sites.

HOW DO I DETERMINE THE NUMBER & SIZE OF DIGITAL FILES?

So hopefully, I’ve sold you on the merits of this baseline photo inventory thing. Now let’s talk logistics.

Create a simple spreadsheet containing three columns: Source Folder, Image Count, and Size (Gigabytes). In the Source Folder column, list all of the sub-folders you created last week as part of the digital photo hub migration process. Each folder represents an original image source. Don’t want to create your own? You can download a COPY of the one I use here.

Now, it’s just a matter of filling in the blanks and letting the spreadsheet calculate your totals for image count and collection size:

Need help gathering this info? No problem.

If you’re a PC user, right click on each sub-folder and select “Properties” to get both an image count, as well as the size of the files contained within the subfolder. FYI, if you have folders nested in your main sub-folder, be aware that you will need to subtract the folders from the file count in order to get an accurate image count.

For example, in the sub-folder Memory Card 2 – 2012, my image count is 314 (316 minus 2 folders). This number is reflected in the spreadsheet above.

Mac users can get the same information within Finder by selecting Get Info from the File menu for a specific subfolder.

Oh, and here’s a tool for converting megabytes to gigabytes that may come in handy as you complete your inventory.

If you haven’t read the overview of the challenge do that first before starting to this week’s assignment.

Your Assignment for Week 2: Digital Photo Inventory

1. Download a COPY of the digital photo inventory spreadsheet template or create your own

2. Record the number of images and size of files for each subfolder within your digital photo hub

Come back to this post later in the week to let me know about your progress by leaving a comment at the bottom of the page or in my Facebook Group. Let’s have a contest to see who has the LARGEST number of images in their collection to organize! Once you’ve completed your inventory, return to this post and leave your number in the comments section!

Have you grabbed your free Digital Photo Organizing Tool Kit yet? I’ve created it as a companion resource for Challenge participants. Just enter your information in the form below, and the Tool Kit will be sent straight to your inbox!

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This post is part of the 10 Week Digital Photo Organizing Challenge

Just stumbled upon the Challenge? Read the Digital Photo Organizing Challenge intro post first. Here’s what to look for in the coming weeks:

• Week 1: Create a digital photo Hub
• Week 3: Create a photo backup system
• Week 4: Create a core file structure
• Week 5: Sorting digital photos
• Week 6: Remove duplicate digital photos
• Week 7: Rename digital photo file names
• Week 8: Tag & rate your digital photos
• Week 9: Create a digital photo maintenance plan
• Week 10: Celebrate and share your digital photos

 

~ Happy Photo Organizing my Friends!