Mar

9

That pesky photo organisation problem

Filed Under Organising files, Photos, software 

I worked with a customer last week who was struggling organise his photos. He was using Adobe Elements, which is an excellent program for photo editing, but lacks a coherent cataloging feature.

Elements does come with an organiser, but it is seriously flawed – it doesn’t use the computer’s existing folder structure. As well, setting up the monitoring is iffy at best. Monitoring will allow you to tell Elements “Ok, I put all my photos in C:\photos so please monitor the folder for additions/removals/edits. It does … sometimes. Elements ignores some subfolders as well as some edited photos – not all, just some. It’s far too erratic to rely on. I could get it to scan about 2/3 of the subfolders, but it stubbornly refused to see the rest, no matter how many times I reset the monitor.

I suggested he save what was left of his sanity and use Elements for editing, but Picassa for organisation. Picassa’s strength is simple – it doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel. It uses the existing file structure in the computer and it does an excellent job monitoring for changes. Adjusting the monitor filter is easy, even for novices. The Elements’ filter was awkward and down right annoying. The major sticking point for me is Elements’ organiser’s failure to use the computer’s folder setup. It wants the user to create “catalogues” and move photos around into them. A lot of extra work and not easily portable to other programs if you decide you no longer wish to use Elements. Picassa lets you move photos around, rename folders, split folders etc with little effort. Even if you delete Picassa, the changes remain.

Picassa was not designed for high end photo editing, so you many not be content using the built in features. It has some good tools, perfect for the average user who doesn’t want to get into anything complicated. If you don’t want to use Picassa’s editing, simply right click on the photo you want to work on and use the “open with” feature and send it to Elements (or your program of choice). Do your edits, save and Picassa immediately pics up the change.

Picassa will allow you to :

    Import from camera/card
    Check for duplicates before importing photos
    Move photos from folder to folder
    Change photos and folder names quickly
    Split folders
    Basic edits
    Email photos directly from the program
    Backup photos to CD or external drive
    Upload photos to the Internet

For a free program, it’s a powerhouse for organising photos. So forget other programs. Picassa will keep you sorted out and still let you use your favourite photo editor seamlessly, whether working on a PC or a Mac.

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