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Too many pictures -- what to do with them?
So I'm usually a photobook person, for trips, our wedding, house remodel, that sort of thing. I thought once we had MJ I would do one book a year (birthday to birthday), kinda chronologically documenting each year, and then an extra here and there if there are big events. So I'm done with month 1 of the first MJ book and on page 50. FIFTY. Shutterfly only lets you do 100 pages. Theres no way to fit in another 11 months to 50 pages. I did include some pregnancy picts, ultrasounds, maternity pics, that sort of thing, but thats only 8 or so pages in the beginning anyway.
What do you all do to document? I don't print a lot of pics (don't have anywhere to put them), but I think I need a new game plan. I wonder if after this year there will be fewer pics and one book would cover it, but I need advice.. what are you all doing with all of your pictures? Suggestions? Do I just break it into 2 books and press on? Aye-yah-yah!!! Soooo many... it's become a totally daunting task!
Re: Too many pictures -- what to do with them?
now, we know he is super cute - but are there really 42 pages worth of photos from month 1?
Sounds like you have some hard editing to do, I would say no more than 5 pages per month. It's not like you have to delete the pictures you don't choose.
Month 1 Page 1 - MJ by himself
Month 1 Page 2 - MJ with mom
Month 1 Page 3 - MJ with dad
Month 1 Page 4 - MJ with your parents
Month 1 Page 5 - MJ with YH's parents
Month 2 Page 1 - .....
Maybe do Newborn (first days) for 5 pages as I outlined then do month 1)
So the TOC
Maternity - pg 1-8
Newborn - pg 8-14
Month 1 - pg 15-19
I upload everything onto Shutterfly. I buy into their Print Plans and weed through and pick out all my faves and have those printed. I bought a few of the same color/type albums and put all my prints into those chronologically. I think the albums hold 500 prints? And it has the lines on the sides in case I want to add a comment or description of the pics. Super simple for the plethora of pics coming in the mail! For his 3 month and 6 months professional pics I made photobooks for us and the in-laws and will do again for his 1 year pics. My "Nolan" Shutterfly album on their site has about 2000 pics in it...so far.
Are you using layouts that let you maximize how many pictures per page (yet still allowing you to fully see the pictures)? When I did the first year, I did pregnancy pictures, then started each month with his monthly photo. I think the idea above of "rationing" a certain number of pages per month is a good idea to get you going.
The rationing makes sense. I definitely have a lot of the same pose/ outfit/ day so I have narrowed those down a bit. I also like starting with monthly photo..
but even from the hospital with visitors and everything we just have lots.... then the first trip to NY to meet all of hubbys extended family, then our trip to FL, his Christening (which could be a separate book), then halloween, Christmas.... oye... and while he IS, indeed a cutie :-) its almost more about including everyone else so we see who was with him during the year, if that makes sense.
Go old school! Print a ton of photos and buy photo albums to put them in. That way you can do hundreds if you want...and snapfish has a promotion right now where you can get 111 prints for $1.11 if you do it by Thursday. (Code: 11PRINTS)
You can then do fancy photobooks of a much more limited nature for a few themes (holidays, first birthday party, etc.) if you want a coffee-table like presentation as well.
I've been working on a 1st year book for a while. I had to be really choosey and choose the layouts that maximized my pictures. I tried to really do it so that I didn't include him with each family member each month. I tried to pick the best one of them and my favorites. It's tough, but here he is 16 months and I haven't been able to quite finish it yet.
I think it'll get easier, cause I never have time to take pictures anymore and have been doing a lot more video.
Thanks for sharing what works for you! As always, this board is a great resource. I like the seasonal idea, and really its more realistic at this point. If I do pregnancy and birth, that would be a good one. After that even holiday to holiday might work.
I know that it will be less as he gets older and maybe doesn't change on a weekly basis, but for now, I'd like to do something and its very overwhelming!!! Any other ideas, please share!!!
I think this is a super common problem no matter who you are. I have someone who picked 400-500 photos from her "event" for her 40 page album. There is no way I could fit that many and make it work and look good.
So I was super selective on what ones to use. I planned out how many spreads (2 pages) I would dedicate to each section of the event. 2 spreads for A, 3 spreads for B... etc. Once I hit that second or third spread, I knew that I had to make sure they each told the story with the best photos from that section.
You will HAVE to be selective. Chose one photo from the month as the key photo and then accent with smaller ones that highlight the big events. And big things like visiting family seem really important (which it is), but you don't necessaily need a photo of every single person meeting him. Is the reaction or photo particularly awesome? Then include it. If it isn't flattering to him or the other person, maybe skip it. The person will be on another page. Think about it in terms of chosing photos from your wedding. You might love them all, but, in the end, they all won't make the cut. And those that don't can live on your hard drive or on Shutterfly for when you need them. Be picky. It will be hard, but your book will turn out TONS better if you are selective.
Good luck!
I make small books with our professional photos. Everything else just gets saved to Shutterfly. I also have a small digital photo frame on my desk at work. I update the photos on there whenever I remember (which isn't very often).
I am not a "look through a photo album" type of person though. I figure I have the photos saved in a safe place if I want to print them or make a book or slideshow later.
This is exactly what I need to do. Go through them and delete them right away then go from there. The seasonal/ 3 month thing might have to work for the first few years. I don't look at them often, but I know I'll want them later, and I know he'll enjoy them as well. I used to be a scrapbooker, and like digital so much better now, but I feel like I need to do something for now....
Susie, you're right -- being selective is the key... less is more, less is more!
I have no system, I really need to figure something out. I have done baby books and thats about it. Everything else is on my external hard drive and you don't even want to know how many pictures I have of my children.