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Blog: Technology As An Organizing Tool
 Photoshop as an Organizing Tool
You probably think of Photoshop as photo editing
software, but did you know you can also use it to organize your photos?
Absolutely!
 I'm not actually talking about the standard Photoshop
software, which is more advanced (and more expensive) than you need, unless
you're a professional photographer or graphic designer. What I'm referring to is Adobe Photoshop Elements , the consumer version of the
program.
To access this feature, when you open the program, click on
"View and Organize Photos." All the images on your computer will be displayed in
order of the date stamp on each one. This will probably take quite a while the
first time you run the program. One thing you'll notice is a sidebar which
includes a number of "tags" labelled People, Places, Events, Things, and
Animals. You can edit these, but they're a pretty good starting point for most
users.
Let's start with the People tag. In the menu, click on
Find – Find Faces for Tagging. The program will scan your photos and
bring up thumbnail images of each face found in the photos. Keep in mind that
it's not human, so if you have a photo of your daughter Sally sitting in a chair
playing with a doll, and a photo of Uncle Bill on the wall behind her, it may
very well bring up thumbnails of Sally, Uncle Bill, and the doll – it can't
discern the difference. No problem! Simply click on the items you don't wish to
tag (shift-click to select multiple items), then right click and choose "Don't
tag selected items."
Next, pick someone who appears in a lot of pictures, such as
your daughter Sally. In the sidebar on your right, click on "New Tag" and type
in "Sally," being sure to add it to the People category. Then hold down the
shift key as you click on each photo of Sally, right click, select "Attach Tag"
and then navigate to the "Sally" tag you've just created. Those images will now
disappear from your screen. Repeat these steps for each person.
You can add your own tags in the Places, Events, Things and
Animals categories, as well as creating new categories that suit your needs, and
continue tagging at will. There is no
limit to the number of tags you can apply to the same picture.
Now, the next time you want to find a picture of Sally and
Uncle Bill at Canada's Wonderland, open up the Organizer, click on the check box
beside the tags for Sally, Bill, and Canada's Wonderland, and all photos
including all three tags will appear on your screen – regardless of whether they
were taken when Sally was a baby or when she was 21 years old. Isn't that
fun?
If you already have hundreds of photos on your computer, this
is probably not something you'll want to do in one sitting, but it could be a
good hobby for rainy days or cold weather – and you have the pleasure of
reviewing your photos as you go! Going forward, you may find it most efficient
to tag your photos each time you add them to your computer, or at least on a
regular basis, to ensure that they always remain well-organized.
Because it's also an image editing program, you can enhance
your photos by removing red eye, lightening or darkening as needed, cropping off
elements that distract from your main subject (or even removing the background
altogether), and so on. Or you can just enjoy them!
posted on: 8/7/2008 8:30:00 AM by Janet Barclay
category: Business
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Technology As An Organizing Tool
by Janet Barclay
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About Janet:
Janet Barclay is a Master Virtual Assistant and the founder of Organized Assistant. Specializing in supporting entrepreneurs in the Organizing and Career Services industries, Organized Assistant provides top-notch Internet marketing services to business owners of all shapes and sizes. Janet's Website:
www.organizedassistant.com
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