I attempt to make a Family Yearbook every year so that we can have our memories organized and viewable. The kids love looking through them, and it makes me feel less guilty about always telling people to print their images! I’m not perfect at it, but I have found a system that works for me, and I’m hoping it can help you too!
STEP 1
Remember to take photos. I know that this might make some of you laugh, but even though I’m a photographer, I forget to take pictures of us! I have to make an effort to get out my camera and take photos!
STEP 2
Download your photos from your camera. I mostly use my iPhone for family photos. It fits in my purse, and I always have it. Plus my iPhone takes pretty amazing pictures. I use Amazon Photos to automatically upload my images from my iPhone when connected to wifi. There are lots of services you can use [icloud, google photos, Shutterfly, etc.] but I use Amazon Photos & Amazon Drive because it syncs with my computer and I can access the images just like a hard drive. If you have a prime membership, you get free unlimited photos storage! I have found that it is the easiest service to access you photos from to make books.
STEP 3
Once your images upload to your storage system, organize them by month. I create a folder for each year and then within that folder I make a folder for each month: “01 January”. The number system helps keep the folders in order. Then I sort the images by date created and move them into the month folders. In the Family Yearbook Bootcamp I show you how to automate this to save you time!
STEP 4
When I have downtime, I use Adobe Bridge (it’s free) to go through my photos and clean up any that I don’t want. If you have children like mine, you may have a lot of pictures of your feet or the ceiling! Lol, This helps clear up storage space, so you’re not paying for storage you don’t need. Do you have duplicates? In the Family Yearbook Bootcamp I show you how eliminate them in a matter of minutes. I also use Adobe Bridge to select the images from each month that I want to use in my yearbooks. This makes creating them so much easier!
Well, there you have it. Now that you are organized, you can pick your favorite printing site to create your Yearbook quickly. Some services will even populate your images by date so you can select your favorites from each month and it will put them in for you! I’m a nerd about this, so if you need help or have questions, I would love to help! I’m working on a post about my favorite sites that make Yearbooks so stay tuned for that!
