My Experience Sorting, Editing, and Showcasing Baby Photos

In my first post, I discussed approaches I discovered on my own to taking better baby photos. Today I will share how to sort, edit, and show off your photos. In the past, I made the mistake of just deleting photos that were a little dark, or a little off-colour, even if the pose itself was great. I also kept OK photos, but, never seemed to get any of them printed since I considered them not good enough. Those days are long gone now. I have found a few simple tricks to turn my formerly deleted problem photos into “keepers” and my OK photos into amazing ones.

Deleting and Sorting

You should first go through all the photos and delete those that are too blurry, cut-off, or otherwise unusable. Keep in mind that mildly blurred, dark, and off-coloured can be salvaged and fixed. It is important to discard unusable pictures quickly so you can focus on those that can be salvaged. Keep in mind that “keeping” photos does not mean you need to print them, only print those that are unique or outstanding, just keep the rest on your computer or disks in case you want them in the future.

The next step is to sort your remaining photos into two groups: those that require simple editing (cropping, resizing, reorienting) and those that require more advanced editing (red-eye removal, lightening/darkening, sharpening, or colour adjustments). Grouping all the pictures requiring simple editing means that you can perform simple, repetitive task on them that will get them all done quickly, allowing you more time to work on those requiring more effort.

Photos requiring more involved editing should be kept to a minimum as it can be a time consuming and frustrating process. It may be a good idea to again group these photos into groups based on their editing needs. Some of the most common types of editing include:

Red-Eye Reduction: This is great for getting rid of those daemon-eyes that can sneak into even the best photos.
Sharpening: This is a great way to touch up photos that that were cropped, resized, or are just a little blurry.
Softening: Use this tool to soften up close up shots to give them a more portrait look.
Colour Adjustment: This can be used to add colour to washed-out images, or to adjust photos where the colour is a little off.
Lightening/Darkening: This is a good way to adjust photos that are overexposed or a little dark. Keep in mind that too much lightening can make a photo looked washed-out.
Blemishes: A blemish tool is a good way to get rid of redness, baby acne, scratches, and more to make them look as perfect as they are. Although not every editing software package has a specific function for this, a blurring/blending/softening tool will work similarly.

In addition to simply fixing your photos, you can also use editing software to add some interesting effects to your photos. You could make them:

black and white
aged
tinted one colour
a pencil or ink sketch
an oil painting finish

There is no limit to what you can try, so get creative. Here is an example of a photo that I have edited from start to finish, and then applied a creative effect.

This is the initial photo that I had to work with

First I cropped it down to the section I wished to showcase

The next step was to fix the blemishes, and the discoloration in the eyes. This is the finished product.

From here, I like to play with some artistic effects.

This is a coloured ink sketch of the photo.

This is the oil painting effect.

This is a collage example, with the oil painting, tinting, and black and white effects.

That last thing that helps make your great photos even better is to showcase them. There are many traditional ways of displaying photos like albums, frames, and scrapbooks. But if you want to take a more modern approach, consider the following ideas.

Posters and Banners are a great idea for birthdays, holidays, and family events. You should pick a number of photos, or one large one, relevant to the event. Display them as you like, but leave about 1/3 of the poster/banner blank so that people in attendance can write their greetings and well wishes. When the event is over, the poster/banner can be framed and makes a great keepsake of the event.

Digital frames can be a great money and time saving display option. They are available in a variety of display options like single picture, multi-picture, and album displays, allowing you to show off entire collections of photos. Most simply connect to your computer, or, read a variety of memory cards, making it easy to change the photos you display.

Greeting cards are a great way to send personalized greetings to family and friends. You can choose a layout. For example, (standard ½ fold card, 3-fold card, postcard, etc) and your greeting, and can get them printed individually or in a bulk order. The make a great holiday mementos.

A personalized calendar is a great way to preserve your memories. You may be thinking “why would I get a current calendar done up with past pictures”, and that is a great question. Well, you wouldn’t. Instead, make a calendar of the past year, like a year in review. This is much the same as a memory book but allows for more recording of significant events. You can choose key pictures from the last year and add the dates of things like “first tooth”, “first steps”, “started potty training” and anything you want. Both allow you to keep track of events and time/age appropriate pictures that coincide with those events, and both make great memorabilia of a child’s first years.

Just remember- the photos you take today will be your memories in the future. If you put a lot of time into capturing that perfect moment, do them justice and display them proudly. I hope my tips have inspired you to get out your camera and start snapping!

Johanna Faith is a first time mom, blogging about her new born daughter Tali at Baby Times. She had never seen a new born until her daughter arrived and now can’t imagine life without her.