Save Your Photos Month: My Top 5 tips for organizing, storing, and sharing your photos
September is Save Your Photos Month — a nudge to finally protect the memories we can’t replace. I started Picturli because my family’s history almost didn’t make it out of a revolution. Photos became my lifeline back to childhood, and they’re how I help clients reconnect with their stories today. If you’ve been meaning to get your photo life together, this is your sign. Save what matters, and make it easy to enjoy.
Tip 1: Choose one home, then consolidate
Pick a primary hub for your photos. I recommend choosing a 4TB external hard drive. And then bring everything there. That means phone camera rolls, old computers, memory cards, cloud folders, and those “misc” external drives. Don’t overthink the tool; consistency wins.
Quick start:
Turn on automatic backup in your chosen drive or platform.
Import from cameras and cards right away (no more “I’ll do it later” piles).
Set a recurring “Photo Power Hour” to ingest and review new items each week.
Tip 2: Organize by date first, then by event
Skip the “by person” rabbit hole. Start with chronology, then layer simple albums by event or trip. Use a clear, sortable naming convention for anything you scan or add from outside your hub: YYYY-MM-DD_EventName_###
When we digitize at Picturli, we also re-date and re-name files so your archive is actually searchable and sortable (this mirrors how creative teams manage brand assets — simple systems that teams adopt). If you’re scanning: aim for 600 dpi for prints and 4000 ppi for slides/negatives so future you can print beautifully.
Tip 3: Curate as you go (and be ruthless with duplicates)
Make “keep or cut” a habit:
Favorite/Star the keepers so they float to the top when you make books or slideshows.
Use your app’s Places/Map view to clean up by location (Hawaii, Paris, Grandma’s house).
Tackle “This Day” flashbacks: today’s date across past years is a bite-size way to reduce thousands over time.
Before any big event, wipe your phone’s camera lens. You’d be amazed how many “blurry” photos are just smudges.
Tip 4: Protect it with 3-2-1 backups
One copy isn’t a backup. Use 3-2-1:
3 copies of your data
on 2 different kinds of storage (e.g., your computer + an external drive)
with 1 copy off-site (cloud backup or a drive stored elsewhere)
This is the gold-standard because it protects you from device failure, accidents, and disasters. If one fails, you’re still covered. Visit this page for more.
Pro move: test-restore a handful of files twice a year so you know your backups actually work.
Tip 5: Share smart (and keep your originals safe)
iCloud Shared Albums are great for quick sharing, but they store lower-resolution copies and don’t count against your iCloud storage — which means they’re convenient, not archival. Keep your full-resolution originals in your main library and your backups. Consider iCloud Shared Photo Library if you want a single, collaborative family library (note: it uses the organizer’s iCloud storage).
How I like to share:
Make a Year in 100 album as the highlight reel you actually scroll.
For print quality or long-term access, keep full-res in your hub and back it up; treat any social or shared album as a window, not the vault.
A 30-minute “Power Hour” to kickstart this month
Pick your hub and turn on automatic backup.
Import one memory card or one old device.
Favorite 25 photos from a single trip or month.
Delete the obvious throwaways (blinks, four near-duplicates, screenshots you don’t need).
Create one sharable album you’re proud of — then text it to the people who’ll smile the most.
Done is better than perfect
Your future self — and your family — will thank you for the smallest progress made today. If you want help, my team can scan, rename, re-date, and consolidate everything, then deliver a private, searchable archive you can actually use. We also design photo books and gallery walls so your memories live off your hard drive and into your life.