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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.
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