CREATING A BACKUP
Sometimes bad things happen. One day you will have a hard drive failure. It can be a devastating thing to lose all of your files, maybe even more so to lose all of your photographs. Consider creating a backup copy of your images onto a separate drive. There are many types to choose from, from a single disc to a more robust redundant drive system like the Drobo. The important thing is that you don’t put off getting and using one until it’s too late.
Luckily, there are some great backup options available within Elements to help protect against image loss. Under the File menu in the Organizer you will see two options. The first lets you copy or move your files to your separate backup drive. The second will back up your images along with your Organizer catalog. This is a nice option, and I highly recommend it for your peace of mind. The first time you back up your catalog, you will need to perform a full backup, but later on you can do incremental backups to keep it updated. Just follow the easy instructions in the backup dialog and you will be well on your way to some peace of mind.
I recommend that you use a backup storage device other than your computer’s hard drive. An external drive or DVD is safer than using the drive in your computer because you can keep an external drive separate from your computer and safeguard it against catastrophes such as lightning strikes and power surges. Some people go as far as putting their backups in a safe deposit box.
Importing from a card reader
The nice thing about importing from a card reader is that it’s the same procedure that we just went through for importing directly from your camera. The only difference between the two processes is the selection of the source. For card reader imports, follow the same process that we just went over, except this time select your card reader from the Get Photos From drop-down menu. This is located in the Source section of the Photo Downloader dialog.
STEP BY STEP
Let’s run through that process one more time to make sure you have it down:
1. Attach your card reader or camera to the computer.
2. Select File > Get Photos and Videos > From Camera or Card Reader.
3. Select your source from the Get Photos From drop-down menu.
4. Adjust your Import Settings options.
5. Click the Get Media button to begin the import process.
IMPORTING FROM A FOLDER
The chances are you already have photographs stored on your computer. In order to make your life a little easier, as well as to make your photos easier to find, you should add those photos to the Organizer as well. Depending on how many photographs you have stored on your computer, this might take a little while to do, but it is well worth it in the end.
THE FOLDER IMPORT PROCESS
To add photos to the Organizer, select File > Get Photos and Videos > From Files and Folders. You can also access this function by pressing Control-Shift-G (Command-Shift-G on a Mac).
From here it’s just a matter of navigating to the folder where your photographs are stored and selecting the files that you want to import (Figure 1.7). You have the option of selecting an entire folder or individual files. If you select a top-level folder (meaning there are folders inside of it), all of the files in the subfolders will also be imported.
FIGURE 1.7
The files and folders selection window.
Just what is a workflow?
Hang around enough photography Web sites and forums and you will hear the term workflow. So just what is a workflow anyway? Simply put, this describes the digital photographic process and how you want to handle your images. A typical workflow might include: shooting the photos, importing and organizing the image files, sorting through the shots to find the keepers, deleting the “not so great” ones, editing the images, and then outputting them. There is no perfect workflow, and you will develop your own as you go. This topic and the ones that follow will help you to create the workflow that is just right for you.
Assignments
You might have already imported images using the Organizer, but here are a few things to practice just in case you haven’t.
Make A Plan
Take a look at how your photos are currently stored on your computer. Are they kind of scattered around different folders depending on what you were doing or thinking at the time? Well, it’s time to get organized. Spend a few minutes thinking about how best to organize your images. Write it down and make a tree diagram to help you plot your future imports.
Get Started with What You Already Have
Since you have just looked into your computer files to find your photos, why not go ahead and import them into the Organizer so that you can start your organization efforts right away. Remember that you can import anything from a single image right up to whole folders and subfolders. Start with something small before you just dump everything in, so that you can get the hang of things.
Time to Move from Camera to Computer
Even if you don’t have a card full of images waiting to import, I’m sure you can find something to point your camera at to get a little practice. Or, if you are like some people I know, you have several months’ worth of images just waiting for someplace to go. No time like the present. Hook up your camera or card reader and move them to their new home.
Life Moves Faster with Shortcuts
Earlier in the topic I wrote about some keyboard shortcuts that can be used to make your repetitive tasks go a little faster. Try clicking the menus on the top bar and then look at the commands that come up. Functions that have keyboard shortcuts assigned to them will display the shortcut to the right of the function name. Try using a couple of them and then learn the ones that you will use the most. Over time, your work will go much faster and you will fly through your organizing and editing tasks.
