Too Many Consumers Are Overwhelmed By Managing Digital Photos

[BJ_M]

* 55% of people who take digital photos find managing and organizing their digital photos to be overwhelming and confusing
* 47% do not use any kind of photo management software

The popularity of digital photography is evident by booming camera sales and the growing number of images stored and shared online each year. But with all of these images being stored on PCs, CDs/DVDs, and on the Web, it's no wonder 55% of consumers feel that managing and organizing their digital photo collections is "overwhelming and confusing," according to a national study conducted by Corel Corporation (NASDAQ: CREL; TSX: CRE) and online survey services provider Zoomerang.

The 2006 Digital Photo Survey revealed that the "digital shoebox" problem--comparing the photos scattered throughout a hard drive to hardcopy photos thrown into a shoebox, with little organization--has become the "distributed shoebox", with collections strewn between online and offline folders. With people storing their digital photos in multiple places, the management of these photos has become quite a daunting task. In fact, more than half of the respondents (51%) currently have between 100-1000 photos on their desktop and on online photo sharing sites. And 47% of people who take digital photos do not use any kind of photo management software, relying instead on a system of folders within their operating system in order to keep track of their pictures.

The survey also found that 86% of people who take digital photos share them with family and friends, with email ranking as the number one preferred method of sharing digital photos (80%), followed by printing at home (43%). An overwhelming 91% of respondents feel that sharing photos helps create meaningful, personal, and emotional connections.

Other findings of the survey include:

* Protecting Memories Remains an Issue - more than a third (34%) of respondents do not back up their digital photos
* Photo Printing Popular with Consumers - 84% of people who take digital photos print hard copies
* Home Printing Remains Most Popular - home ranked as the number one place to print photos (80%), followed by photo and drug stores (34%) and online services (14)%

About The 2006 Digital Photo Survey
The 2006 Digital Photo Survey is an independent national survey designed to provide insight into how consumers are organizing, managing, and sharing their digital photos.

The survey was completed by 767 respondents who take digital photos regularly.

[yoda313]

??????

Ok Here's what I do:

I have a folder called PHOTOS on my c drive.

Everytime I put photos on my computer from my camera I make a new sub folder in the PHOTOS directory. All I have to do is scroll a few seconds and I'll find what I want.

HOW THE HELL IS THAT COMPLICATED????????

Boy people are really stupid these days it seems

[3Simon7]

I'm guilty of not keeping my digital photo files organized too.

I do try to keep the files in folders where they belong. Example,
house files together, landscape photos, etc.

One thing that I do make sure of is to take A LOT MORE photos
than I need. Different lighting, etc. That would have been somewhat costly
with film cameras.

[3Simon7]

Boy people are really stupid these days it seems

Your post wasn't there when I started typing. I guess I'm a slow typer!
After I posted and saw your post I really feel stupid.

But I take good pictures!


edit, This should have been combined with my previous post!

[yoda313]

Ok I know we can all get behind in organizing but it only takes a few clicks.....

By the way I hope I didnt' offend too many people here - I was referring to the general public. Those on this website are much more tech savvy then the average joe - or jane

[Conquest10]

I don't have any photo management software. I do what Yoda does. I got a folder named Photos. Inside I got different folders for each camera. When the folder gets over 4 gigs, I start another folder and burn the contents of the previous to a DVD. Not too complicated people. But I'm sure the ones that are reading this aren't with the masses.

[MeDiCo_BrUjO]

I didn't want to exaggerate, so I did a properties check on my "my pictures" folder; here are the results:

5.65 GB in 10,403 Files (Photos)

I do what most of us do.

Create a folder inside my pictures for each name of us or if it was a special place we went today. You can see my pictures folder like this:

My Pictures
---MeDiCo_BrUjO
---MeDiCo_BrUjO's Wife
---MeDiCo_BrUjO's Daughter 1
---MeDiCo_BrUjO's Daughter 2
---Universal Studios
---Magic Kingdom
---Seaworld

Before extracting the pics from the camera, it gives me the choice to pick a name for all of them. I usually do like this:
Aug29_2006_
So the program will name all the pictures in sequence 001, 002 etc.

I have 10,000 pictures and I have never been confused about their locations or management and I don't use a special software for it.

[adam]

I can see how it can get confusing if you have alot of photos all of the same general type. I've got around 5 to 6 gigs of photos on my pc too, and almost every single one of them is of my daughter. They are all in a master folder and then in subfolders. Some have meaningful labels like Christmas, First Birthday, etc... But I've got hundreds upon hundreds of just random photos of her. I can label them by her age or by the date but none of that really helps. If I want something I just have to browse in thumbnail view.

[SquirrelDip]

I store on an attached storage device and periodically back up to DVD. Folders are named YYYY-MM-DD (for the day I download them) and the files are prefixed with the the same - this way sorting by name will always show files in chronological order.

[Doramius]

Kodak Cameras come with EasyShare software, but I find it a huge PAIN regardless. I do like the fact that the pictures get downloaded into a folder that's labeled by the day I DL'd them. I then delete them manually from my camera. I don't trust it automatically as I might accidentally screw one up and need to go back to the camera for it. I store a copy of the folder on a separate data storage HDD. At worst I might have a week or 2 of pictures stored in a days folder because of how long it took me to get them DL'd. I look at the pictures by thumbnail, so I can easily run through the pictures and rename them if I have to. For 1 month of DL'd picture days, it may take me an hour or 2 to name them if I feel like it.

Some people just don't want to take the time to try to organize or sort name them. Of course, actual snapshots taken is a lot more than with film cameras. Film cameras always had you place in your mind to say, "Do I really want to waste film on this moment?" A lot of extra cost was wasted away. Now if you don't like the picture, you can delete it immediately and try again for a better shot; or if you keep it, you don't have to print it at all.

[hech54]

I actually had a guy on a photography forum that my method(s) of backing up my photos are too extreme....meaning overkill.

To me that is impossible.

[zzyzzx]

There seems to be two common methods to organize photos. One is by date, and the other by subject matter. Personally, I use the date method, but I also crop the photos and gie them meaningful descriptive names (which enables me to find them). Other than that, yeah, it's not rocket science.

[lordsmurf]

I have a "Photo" folder with tons of subfolders, and then I use NikonView to preview. Photoshop to edit, save in a special folder within the subfolder holding the source images.

It's really not that hard.

These same people probably cannot organize their sock drawer either. I doubt it has anything to do with photos or digital, it's an inability to organize.

[träskmannen]

I store them in chronological order after when they were shot (not downloaded) in subfolders named in a YYYY-MM standard. That is more or less the way I stored physical photos before switching to digital and I see no reason to change method.

I can't imagine that any other method would make it easier to find back a certain photo if I need it.

[Doramius]

These same people probably cannot organize their sock drawer either. I doubt it has anything to do with photos or digital, it's an inability to organize.

Agreed. Of course I don't really organize my sock drawer either. I always buy either solid black or solid white tube socks. I'm a bit plain, but I like things simple.