Options for storing, retrieving and viewing your digital photographs.
You don't want to keep all those precious digital photographs on your computer's hard drive. You'll need a place to store them for safekeeping and you'll need a way of accessing them when you're ready. These are the best options for storing, retrieving and viewing your digital photographs.
Storing: Two of the most popular ways of storing photos are in physical albums or frames―either paper or digital ones―or online by using an Internet platform like Dropbox or Google Photos, where you can access them from any computer or smartphone with an internet connection.
When it comes to choosing between physical albums and frames, there are advantages and disadvantages for both methods. Paper or digital photo albums can be personalized and will last the test of time. They're easy to navigate. The disadvantage is that they are bulky and easily damaged.
Digital photo frames are compact, easy to carry around and you can use them like an ordinary frame when you want a more traditional look. The disadvantages are that they don't have the same longevity as an album, the backdrops change with time and there's no room for customization.
When it comes to storing your photos online, both Google Photos and Dropbox offer 2TB of free space. If you want to store more photos online, you can purchase additional free space to store them. If you have a smartphone, Google offers a new Smart Album feature that organizes your photos by date and makes it easy to share them with friends or upload them for social media. Dropbox offers the ability to share your photos with internet-connected printers, as well as other software. Both Google and Dropbox allow you to download your entire collection on one computer and then back it up on the other, so they are safe from viruses or hardware failure.
Retrieving: Even if you're storing your photographs online using an Internet-connected platform, you still need a way of retrieving them when needed. These are the best ways of doing that.
Internet-connected hard drives are easy to use, but you can't take them places with you. Most computers have a USB port that is used for syncing the contents of an attached hard drive. If your pictures are stashed on a hard drive, you need to plug it in whenever you want access to them.
If your computer doesn't have a USB port, there are alternatives. Internet-connected portable hard drives are gaining popularity and provide instant access when needed. You can also use an SD card reader or any flash memory device that can be connected via USB or network connection.
For those who like to take their photos with them on the go, storing your images on the cloud and accessing them through a smartphone app is a convenient way of having your photos with you wherever you go.
Smartphones are becoming an increasingly popular way to retrieve and store images, since most people have at least one. You can sync your photos with your smartphone, then take them with you on the go. If you're using an Android phone or tablet, Google Photos will automatically back up all your pictures in full resolution to the cloud when connected to Wi-Fi. You can view all of your pictures using an internet browser or upload them directly from a mobile device for sharing. Dropbox offers similar functionality for Android and iOS devices. Apple's iCloud service offers 5GB free storage, but if you want to store all your photos online, you need to purchase additional storage space.
Mobile apps are another way of retrieving your pictures. The advantage is that they're convenient and easy to use. You can also edit pictures on a display that's about the size of a screen protector or pop out the SD card and plug it into your computer for editing. One drawback is that you can't share them quickly or easily, since most apps rely on having an internet connection to download pictures. Some people still like this method because they don't have Wi-Fi access at home or don't want to rely on the cloud for their entire photo library.
When it comes to choosing a mobile app, you should consider which features you need and how easy they are to use. For instance, iPhone users can download Snapseed for free from the App Store and quickly adjust your photo's exposure, contrast and saturation. Android users have similar options in Camera+, which is also available for free from Google Play. Other Android apps that are popular include Adobe Photoshop Express, Camera360 Pro and Light L16.
Viewing: Once you've stored your photographs online or taken them with you on the go, there are two main ways of viewing your photos on an internet-connected device― web browsers or dedicated photo viewing software. These are the best ways of viewing your photographs online or on a smartphone.
When it comes to viewing photos on the web, you can view them either via a website or a dedicated browser. If you're using Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer or Safari as your primary browser on Windows and macOS computers, you can view your photographs by pulling down the toolbar and dragging them over to your screen. On iOS smartphones and tablets, tap the screen in the right corner while in the Photos app. On Android phones and tablets with Chrome as your primary browser, tap the icon that looks like three stacked lines in the upper left corner of the screen.
If you're not using one of those browsers on a computer or tablet computer, there are still ways of viewing online photos (although not all options work on all devices). If you're using Android, tap the three stacked lines icon and select "Open in Google Photos." On iOS devices, tap the icon that looks like a cloud and open the app.
If your photographs are stored on an internet-connected hard drive, you can view them by attaching it to a computer or pulling it out of a portable hard drive. When either device is connected, open your web browser and log into your account.
If you're using an SD card reader, follow the same steps as above when opening photos in a browser from an Android device or iOS device.
The viewing options for photos stored online in storage sites like Google Photos, Dropbox and Flickr are relatively simple. Log into an account from a web browser using a computer or mobile device, then click on the first photo to view the rest. Alternatively, find your photographs in a folder and select them all to view them at once.
Select "view complete collection" to display all of your pictures or select individual albums to look at groups of pictures .
Some people prefer viewing their photos using dedicated viewing software. On computers, you can use software like Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Apple Photos for Mac OS X. You can also open pictures in cloud storage sites like Google Photos by opening the Google Drive app and clicking on the option that looks like a box with an arrow inside it (it's located in the top left corner).
If you're using a mobile device, you can use an application that's similar to Photoshop Lightroom or Apple Photos. For instance, Google Maps offers image editing capabilities.
The advantages of dedicated viewing software is that it allows you to easily edit images. You can crop, resize and rotate them before resizing them for sharing online or sharing on the go using an SD card reader. You can also adjust color and exposure if your pictures are taken with a smartphone camera or edited by hand in a photo editing app.
Conclusion: You can use cloud storage sites like Google Photos, Dropbox and Flickr to save space on your computer or smartphone, especially since you don't have to do anything except log into your account. You can also edit images using tools provided by the site and view them on a computer or mobile device with a web browser.
If you want more control over how you view and edit your photographs, consider software that's specific to photograpy like Lightroom and Apple Photos for Mac OS X. These programs offer more options for editing than cloud storage sites and are available on multiple platforms.
Some people prefer viewing their photos from their SD card in a card reader attached to a computer or portable hard drive instead of using dedicated photo viewing software.