Everyone hoards digital photos the same way, but there is no one-size-fits-all photo organizing strategy. To eliminate the clutter and find your best shots, pick the approach that best suits who you are.
Perfectionist? Review each photo individually—use this method only if you have the time and energy to do so because it always takes longer than expected.
Favorite the photos you instantly love and would want to share immediately. Delete the bad, duplicates, and missed photos. You’ll get used to deleting these over time as you build your decision-making muscles.
On your second pass through the collection, deal with the “undecideds.” Some photos can be improved by cropping or editing and become favorites.
Type A? Cull fast and furiously in short bursts of time, a little bit every day. If you don’t have much time, block out thirty minutes per day in your calendar to attack the clutter diligently. Have a set list of criteria (such as subject matter, story, image quality, etc…) to favorite your best pictures. Set a timer and work fast. Don’t waste time agonizing between similar photos—just pick one. Over time, your eye will instinctively recognize which pictures to save and which to delete.
Marie Kondo fan? In her best-selling book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, Marie Kondo insists you tackle your photos after you have successfully discarded everything else in your home that doesn’t “spark joy.” In her words, “Photographs exist only to show a specific event or time.… When you do this, you will be surprised at how clearly you can tell the difference between those that touch your heart and those that don’t. As always, only keep the ones that inspire joy.”
Social media maven? Keep only the pictures that you have posted or would post on social media if you had the time. Ask yourself why you’ve shared these photos in the first place: what about them makes them resonate emotionally? This will become your criteria for keeping photos. Eliminate everything that doesn’t make the Facebook or Instagram cut.
Math geek? Structure your choices by working within numerical boundaries. Decide on a specific number of pictures you’d like to keep each month, from a particular event or even a specific percentage of your overall collection. You can do so by deciding that you want one portrait, one group shot, one landscape, etc. per event. Be realistic about the number of photos you want to favorite or keep per month by calculating what that means for a year.
If you work in percentages, use thumbnail mode at the maximum size to delete, delete, delete. Delete up to 90% of your shots, leaving only the best 10%. Or do the opposite: look for your gems first, and favorite an average of one out of ten of shots.
Family archivist? Keep one picture a day. If you’re constantly taking pictures of your life and family with your smartphone, consider a method like the 365 Project. The idea is to limit yourself to 365 photos a year to strengthen your photography. Curate your photos, so they are very different from each other (mix up shots of people, locations, and details).
Team player? Divide the task with your partner, an older child or turn the task into a social activity and block off a couple of afternoons and work together with friends who are also trying to organize their photos. Ask each other for advice when curating your images, especially when you can’t decide between two similar photos. Show each other your pics, and if you notice that your friends are getting bored, it’s a sign you still have too many photos! Just like exercise, the work is always easier if you’re accountable to someone.
If you’ve tried all these strategies and you’re still struggling to get things done, it may be helpful to work with a personal photo organizer who can look at your photo collection with an objective eye and coach you over the finish-line. If the amount of time you can spend doing the work turns out to be the problem they can even jump in and the do the work for you!