Take Control Of Your Digital Photos

Build a stress-free workflow to import, rate, tag, and organize your digital photos! Version 3.0, updated August 28, 2023 This book gives you the information you need to build and maintain a digital photo workflow that makes it easy to import, rate, tag, and store photos to find them quickly and easily later. It helps you spend more time on the enjoyable aspects of photography—capturing and viewing your photos—and less on the mundane but essential task of managing all your photos. It also puts you in the best position to quickly find and edit your most promising photos. Are you drowning in a sea of digital photos? Unable to find the shots you’re looking for, or to stay on top of managing all the photos you’re taking? Digital photography expert Jeff Carlson gives you a plan for tackling this problem, starting with preparing your camera ahead of time, then choosing the right app to manage your photos, judging and organizing your photos, and backing up your photos for safekeeping. In this book, Jeff offers advice to cover both macOS and Windows (along with limited coverage of mobile platforms), and to address a broad range of photo management apps, including Apple Photos, Capture One, Lightroom Classic, Lightroom desktop, Excire Foto, Exposure X7, Mylio Photos, ON1 Photo Keyword AI, and ON1 Photo RAW. With this book, you’ll learn how to: • Get started with the minimum amount of work: Take advantage of software intelligence to do some of the categorizing work for you, and find out how you can accomplish some tasks even if you have little time. • Prep your camera: Learn four actions you can take before you head out the door that will make things easier after you return with new pictures. • Manage your workflow: Choose the software and approach that best meets your needs for organizing your photos. • Import the right way: Learn how to assign valuable metadata to all images that come in during the import stage, saving lots of time and effort. • Pick winners and losers: Assign ratings to your photos, and remove or hide unwanted photos. • Remove duplicates: Use Lightroom Classic, Photos for macOS, or Gemini Photos for iOS/iPadOS to find and delete duplicate images. • Use AI/Machine Learning: Learn about AI/ML terminology, and use software tools like ON1 Photo Keyword AI and Excire Foto to apply keywords automatically. • Apply keywords and metadata: If needed, manually apply keywords to individual shots, learn how to apply geotags using location data from external devices (like an iPhone), and use facial recognition to collect shots of specific friends and family members. • Search with smart albums: Build smart albums whose contents change depending on criteria you’ve specified, allowing you to find photos more easily, even in images you add in the future. • Manage multiple libraries: Use Photos for macOS, Lightroom Classic, or Peakto to manage multiple photo libraries. • Go mobile: Find the right online service for making your photos available on mobile devices, based on your needs and which desktop photo management app you use. • Protect your photos: Learn how to implement a backup strategy that will preserve all your data, not just your photos, and how to archive photos for the future.

Preserve your data for posterity! Version 2.0.1, updated February 2, 2024 How do you want to be remembered? A will takes care of your physical possessions, but what about your digital life—photos, email, files, online accounts, and so on? If you want to pass your electronic ephemera on as part of your digital legacy, turn to tech expert Joe Kissell for advice on dealing with large quantities of data, file formats, media types, the need for a “digital executor,” and more.n We all have digital data that's important to us now, but a lot of it could also be important to our children, friends, and relatives long after we're gone. But you have to take concrete steps now to make sure that data is preserved in the right way and handled according to your wishes. It’s not all about posterity either, since following Joe’s advice will also help loved ones access your key accounts and important info if you’re temporarily incapacitated, which can happen at any time. The book will help you with these essential tasks: • Identify your key digital assets: online accounts, photos, audio files, videos, passwords, documents, email, and more. • Plan for each type of digital asset based on your priorities for today, for shortly after you are no longer around, and for posterity. Joe explains the ideal file formats to use, how to deal with social media sites, the best ways to digitize paper documents and photos, and strategies for sharing passwords with family members, among much else. • Communicate your wishes in a “digital will” and designate someone to be its “digital executor.” The book includes a template document that you can develop into a personalized digital will. • Preserve your data for the future. You’ll consider types of archival storage media, cloud-based storage services, backups, and what instructions to provide about maintaining your data as file formats and storage media types evolve. Whether you just want to ensure that your heirs get copies of your favorite family photos and a few key documents or you want to catalog and preserve tens of thousands of digital items, this book helps you make smart decisions about your digital legacy. Questions answered include: • What strategies can I use for sorting and preserving email and instant messages? • How can I ensure that my email account(s) will be available to those wrapping up my estate? • What if I have digital data that should be destroyed when I die? • What should I do with my huge photo collection (both digital and paper)? • How should I pass on control of my Apple, Google, and Microsoft accounts? • How can I make my passwords and passkeys available to those who will need them—but keep them private for now? • What should I think about when handing down purchased audio and video files? • What should happen to my Facebook account when I’m no longer around? • What choices are available for keeping my digital archive available and backed up? • How long should I expect archival media to last? • Should I write an autobituary? • Are online digital legacy services any good? • How will organizing all this stuff benefit me while I’m alive?

The Mac user’s guide to mass storage Version 2.3, updated July 7, 2023 This book demystifies storage on the Mac, from mechanical hard drives to solid-state disks, and covering topics such as network-attached storage (NAS), cloud storage, repairing and managing disks, encryption, filesystems (including APFS), and managing data. As the amount of data we store continues to grow, figuring out where to put it and how to access it becomes more complicated. It’s not just that we need to find space for our increasingly large collections of photos, videos, music, and apps—we want it to be available whenever we need it, and be sure that it’s safe from hackers and thieves. Every Mac includes internal storage in the form of a hard drive, SSD, or Fusion drive. But you may also have one or more external devices (such as hard drives, flash drives, SD cards, or RAID devices), not to mention network-attached storage (NAS) devices or cloud storage (like Dropbox or iCloud Drive). Making sense of all your options, managing your stored data, choosing new devices or services when you're running out of space, or even just figuring out what's where can drive anyone to distraction. Fortunately, Jeff Carlson has a book with all the answers! After decades of working with Macs and accumulating massive collections of photos and videos, Jeff has pulled together a wide-ranging book about Mac storage that contains just the help you're looking for. Among many other topics, this book covers: • How to choose a new (internal or external) hard drive, SSD, or hybrid drive • Determining how much storage space you need • What you need to know about APFS, Apple’s new filesystem • How to use APFS snapshots (a.k.a. Time Machine local snapshots) • Formatting and partitioning disks using Disk Utility • How to repair a misbehaving disk • RAIDs: what they are and how different types compare • How to tell when a hard drive is about to fail, and what to do about it • What to do with a hard drive when it has outlived its usefulness • When to use a flash drive or SD card • How to create and use disk images • Deciding among local, network, and cloud storage for various types of files • What a personal cloud is and why you might consider using one • Strategies for freeing up extra disk space NAS devices get special coverage, including: • Why you might want a NAS • How to choose a NAS—and when it's a better idea than an external hard drive • Using a NAS with your Mac for a wide variety of purposes • Special considerations when using a NAS for digital photos Jeff also digs into details about numerous storage-related technologies: • How to tell if your third-party SSD needs to have TRIM enabled (and what to do if the answer is yes) • How to create a software RAID using Disk Utility or SoftRAID • What you need to know about filesystems—and how to choose among APFS, Mac OS Extended, FAT, and ExFAT • Why and how to encrypt a disk using FileVault or the Finder • Using iCloud Drive's Optimized Mac Storage feature If you've ever been stumped at the difference between a volume and a partition, need help figuring out whether to buy a big external hard drive or a NAS for extra storage, or wonder whether Apple's new APFS filesystem is right for your needs, this book will tell you what you need to know.

Build a digital workflow to import, tag, rate, and organize your photos! Why bother taking photos if you can't find them later? If you want to be able to lay your hands on any given photo in your ever-expanding library, digital photography expert Jeff Carlson has developed a simple system you can use to make your photo collection browsable, searchable, and generally navigable! Jeff leads off by helping you understand the strengths and weaknesses of the four most popular photo-management applications: iPhoto and Aperture from Apple, and Lightroom and Photoshop Elements from Adobe. Once you've picked the app that's right for you (and there's a chapter on migrating photos), you'll learn how to create a custom workflow for importing, evaluating, keywording, and tagging your photos so they are quickly sorted into logical groups. For each of these essential aspects of your workflow, Jeff provides step-by-step instructions for each of the four covered applications. And since it's all too easy to lose everything if you don't have backups, Jeff discusses the best way to back up and archive your photos to protect your irreplaceable photographic memories. In the process of creating your custom digital photo workflow, you'll find expert advice about each of these photo-management topics: Shooting smarter: Make sure your camera is set to the correct time (and time zone), choose a file format, and think about capturing geolocation data while you're out taking photos. Choosing the right app: Learn about the pros and cons of the most popular photo-management applications--iPhoto, Aperture, Lightroom, and Photoshop Elements--and find directions for how to migrate your photos from iPhoto to Aperture or Lightroom, or from Aperture to Lightroom. Importing photos: Make your Mac apply keywords and other tags in a batch during import, and make sure you're storing files in a place that makes sense going forward. Judging photos: Get time-tested tips for rating individual photos and learn how to deal with bad photos, whether you want to delete them, hide them, or leave them be. Assigning metadata: Once your camera and your computer have assigned as much metadata as possible automatically, you'll need to do the final bits yourself. Jeff describes how to think about this process, and he gives you specific steps for how to proceed efficiently. Putting photos in albums: With your metadata successfully applied, it's time to enjoy the fruits of your labor! Learn how to set u...

Build a stress-free workflow to import, tag, rate, and organize your digital photos! Are you drowning in a sea of digital photos? Unable to find the shots you're looking for, or to stay on top of managing all the photos you're taking? Digital photography expert Jeff Carlson gives you a plan for tackling this problem, starting with preparing your camera ahead of time, then choosing the right app to manage your photos, judging and organizing your photos, and backing up your photos for safekeeping. In this book--an expanded and updated version of Take Control of Your Digital Photos on a Mac --Jeff extends his advice to cover both Mac and Windows users, and to address a broader range of photo management apps: Photos from Apple, Lightroom Classic CC, Lightroom CC, Photoshop Elements, and Mylio . With this book, you'll learn how to: Get started with the minimum amount of work: Take advantage of software intelligence to do some of the categorizing work for you, and find out how you can accomplish some tasks even if you have little time. Prep your camera: Learn four actions you can take before you head out the door that will make things easier after you return with new pictures. Get your app together: Decide which app you'll use to organize your digital photos, compare popular choices and find out Jeff's recommended application. Import the right way: Learn how to assign valuable metadata to all images that come in during the import stage. Pick winners and losers: Assign ratings to your photos, and remove or hide unwanted photos. Apply keywords and metadata: Take a second pass on applying keywords to individual shots (after starting the process during import), learn how to apply geotags using GPS data from external devices (like an iPhone), and use facial recognition to collect shots of specific friends and family members. Search with smart albums: Build smart albums whose contents change depending on criteria you've specified, allowing you to find photos more easily. While searching, learn how to remove duplicate photos. Go mobile: Find the right online service for making your photos available on mobile devices, based on your needs and which desktop photo management app you use. Protect your photos: Learn how to implement a backup strategy that will preserve all your data, not just your photos, and how to archive photos for the future. "After 20 years of struggling to stay on top of family photos I now have an effective workflow, tagging strategy, and s ...

Take the pain out of dealing with files and folders Version 2.0, updated May 23, 2023 Your Apple devices contain an overwhelming number of files and folders, and as these items accumulate, they create more work for you. Does your file management system involve throwing everything on the desktop and then pawing through it laboriously when you need to find something? Do you even have a system? There’s a better way. This book helps you organize, search, and clean up the files on your Mac, iPhone, and iPad, providing practical steps and realistic strategies to save time, reduce clutter, and decrease stress.n Apple users have fantastic tools at their disposal for using, creating, and editing files of all kinds, but few of us have any real strategy for naming, organizing, or tagging those files—making them increasingly difficult to find later on. In this book, veteran technology author Jeff Carlson helps you make sense of what could be millions of files on your Mac, iPhone, or iPad so that you can spend less time hunting for things and more time doing useful work (or having fun). Jeff starts by helping you set appropriate file management goals and develop overall strategies that fit your needs and preferences. Then he gets into the details of how to use the Finder (on a Mac), the Files app (in iOS and iPadOS), and third-party tools to make sense of your files and folders and easily find what you're looking for. This book covers topics such as: • How to keep important items in sync among your devices • Choosing when to use internal storage vs. external storage (such as an external hard drive, a NAS, or the cloud) • Whether and how to use iCloud Drive to sync your files, including Desktop and Documents folders • How to create shortcuts to your favorite files and folders • Understanding how the macOS folder hierarchy works • The best ways to use the desktop • What you should consider when creating a folder hierarchy • Why and how to use tags to categorize files • How you can automatically sort, rename, and file items on your Mac • Ways you can collaborate with others on the same files and folders • When to consider third-party information management apps (such as DEVONthink) • How to find files and folders with Spotlight in macOS, iOS, and iPadOS • Alternative search tools you might want to consider • How to work your way through a long backlog of unsorted (or poorly sorted) files • Techniques for encrypting sensitive files (and other data) • Ways to free up storage space If you're struggling with file management, this book will help you get a grip on the process—and get your devices to do more of the hard work for you.

Master Apple’s Photos app in macOS, iOS, and iPadOS! Version 3.3, updated October 16, 2023 This book introduces you to the many features of Apple’s Photos app on Mac, iPad, and iPhone, with advice on navigating the interface, editing your images, searching your library like a pro, syncing with iCloud Photos, sharing photos with others, and creating photo books. Get to know Apple’s Photos app and how best to use it to import, manage, edit, sync, and share your photos in Sonoma and iOS 17/iPadOS 17! As the successor to Apple’s iPhoto and Aperture apps, Photos has a more refined interface and deeper connections to iCloud, and it runs faster. Following the expert advice of Jason Snell, publisher of Six Colors and former lead editor at Macworld, you’ll learn how to navigate Photos like a pro! In this book, you’ll learn how to: • Import photos from cameras, mobile devices, or memory cards • Navigate the Photos interface, including the sidebar and icons • View, edit, or disable Live Photos • Organize your library by using enhanced search features, adding metadata, building albums, and creating smart albums • Locate and remove duplicate photos • Search for text, faces, and other objects in photos • Edit your photos using quick fixes like cropping, applying filters, and fixing red-eye and rotation problems • Use advanced editing techniques within Photos and edit using external apps like Photoshop • Manage your photo collection using the Memories and People & Pets features, and get summary views • Sync and share individual photos and videos with iCloud • Use iCloud Shared Photos to share a separate library with up to five other people • Work with multiple Photos libraries • Show off your photos on an iPhone or iPad, including customizing your lock screen • Use the Camera app in iOS/iPadOS to capture photos and videos • View your photos on an Apple TV • Share your photos via social media, export them out of Photos, or turn them into slideshows • Create printed objects (such as books and calendars) from your photos using third-party services