Best formats to save digital photos in

With each new technology comes a whole array of different problems attached to it that must be solved to make the technology truly useful.Such is the case with digital photos. While photography has never been easier to do and to master thanks to digital cameras the avid photographer is left to decide what to do with his or her prints after development.As consumers rapidly shift from film cameras to digital, one of the biggest challenges facing the industry is making it as easy to get a print from a digital camera as it is from a film camera. What are the best formats to save digital photos in?How is the best way to enjoy and share the prints you have so carefully crafted?

The solutions are more numerous to this question that the simple days of film cameras where consumers were used to shooting a roll of film, dropping it off at any 24-hour pickup and letting the clerk know how many prints they wanted. There was only one simple way to make prints that you could instantly share, archive or organize in a scrapbook or album to look at later.Those simple days have changed drastically.While the great thing about digital cameras is you can take many more pictures than with a film camera that presents the consumer with the logistical problem of what to do with all the prints. It get pretty hard to organize, catalog and create a digital catalog (or shoebox or what you may want to use) to easily and quickly find pictures when you have reached 500-750 digital images.Even if you could create the equivalent of a "digital shoebox" for pictures that would still leave you with two big problems concerning the cataloging of those pictures. They are:

• How do I find the picture I want?


• How can I be certain that the digital shoebox will last over time?

If you choose to rely on hard disks, CD's Or DVD's for your digital shoebox needs that may be risky.While digital is a superior storage media it also leaves a problem few consumers think about.Most consumers believe that digital images will last forever and stay unchanged.That is false! If consumers are considering the safety and protection of their images they should assume that every hard disk will fail.Media experts' state that almost all CD-ROMS or DVDs will have a life span of less than ten years when properly cared for, less if they are not.

So what is the solution?Experts recommend that if you want a picture to be around for future generations you should print it on archival paper. Then you can choose to scrapbook it.Scrap booking is a great medium to share pictures since you can tell a story and not just have a collection of pictures.

But what if you are just not crafty in that scrapbook sort of way?There are a number of options provided on line for the avid photographer to scrapbook his or her pictures without every having to visit a craft store. There are a number of online sites that allow for scrap booking that would allow for keeping the digital photos indefinitely.This provides many advantages some of which are:

• This offers a seamless way to sort, choose and arrange images for easy printing on photo paper.


• These types of scrapbooks provide formatted high-quality glossy photographic prints that can be folded or fit into an album cover using only a simple adhesive.


• This serves as a protective type way to store photos from the damaging effects of light and the wear and tear of handling.

One final note on saving photos when consumers are making a print decision they must take care to choose carefully and select the right printer, printer paper and the ink to insure a long life for their picture.When doing this you then have a picture worthy to be placed within a scrapbook detailing that precious life memory to share for decades to come.