Saving Photos From Your Digital Camera

So now that you have taken all those pictures with your digital camera, it's time to copy them to your computer. You may also want to think about creating a backup copy of your photos as well ... you don't want to loose any of your special memories you've been capturing with your camera.

Once you have copied your digital pictures to your computer you will be able to print them and share them with family, friends, and others.

How to Download Your Pictures to the Computer.

Using a USB Cable:

Most of the time when you purchase a digital camera it will come with a manual, USB cable - which connects from the digital camera to the computer - and a CD which will include software to help you transfer your pictures to the computer.

So get the manual out of that junk drawer and start reading. Installing the necessary software is easy; this will make transferring your digital pictures fast and simple. Once you have the images on your computer, you can delete them from the memory card and start taking more pictures.

Using a Memory Card Reader:

Note: This method is typically faster than connecting your camera to the computer.

A memory card reader plugs right into your computer via USB connection or if you own a newer computer, you may already have at least 5 different card reader types built in.

Just remove the memory card from your camera and insert it into the card reader and start copying your pictures into the appropriate location on your computer.

Using either one of these methods - after connecting the camera to the computer or inserting the memory card into a card reader - your computer will detect the new connection and ask you what you want to do. Make the appropriate choices for saving your photos to your computer; it's quick and painless.

How To Back Up and Storing Your Pictures.

The pictures you've been capturing of family, vacations, sporting events, friends, etc. are priceless memories you don't want to loose. It's always a good idea to backup the pictures you've copied to your computer onto a CD or DVD, via a public website, external storage device, printing your pictures and placing them in a photo album, or all of the above.

CD or DVD:

These are essentially the same only the DVD will store a larger amount of photos than a CD. Most newer computers today come with DVD burner's that can also burn CDs. Because you want your photos to be treasured for a lifetime and passed on from generation to generation, I'd spend a little extra and get a quality, name brand product. Storage on this type of media will usually last five to ten years when stored properly.

I use the spindle that the CDs or DVDs came on when I purchased them. Some of my burned CDs are older than ten years and I'm still pulling images off them. Keeping them stored at room temperature is fine and you can keep these on a shelf in a closet or office.

Don't forget to label the discs.

Public Website for Storing and Sharing Photos:

There are many different avenues here to pursue. Some of these photo hosting websites will charge a small fee to store your digital photos and some are free. No matter who you end up using, your photos are password protected and you can share them with just your family and friends or the world wide web.

Just like storing backup images on a CD or DVD, this option saves a copy of your pictures and is great if your computer should hiccup and crash.

A few sites for storage are:

• Arcalife Family Memories
• Ages Online Family Tree Builder
• Flicr
• Facebook

External Hard Drive:

Another option for storing your personal photos from your digital camera is an external hard drive.

These can be purchased at a reasonable price and usually connect via USB cable to your computer. External hard drives come with a lot of disk space, they are small and lightweight, and can travel with you.

Printing your Photos:

Another good option for backup is to print your photos and place them into a photo album for safe keeping. With today's technology it's a bit nostalgic to turn the pages of a photo album and revisit our treasured moments and memories. If you know someone who will want to look at pictures and they don't have a computer, this is a great choice.

If you don't have a photo quality printer and don't know how to go about printing your pictures, or you do have a quality photo printer but don't want to take the time to print out a ton of pictures then using a photo processing service is a great option.

Ordering your pictures can be done over the internet or by going into a store that offers printing services.

In the Photo Processing Reviews section of our website you will find some reviews we have done with our experiences with online photo processing services.

Some online photo processing services are:

• Kodak
• Snapfish
• Walgreen's
• Shutterfly
• PhotoWorks

Online photo processing services also offer quite a few photo gift ideas.

All of the Above Options:

It's better to be safe than sorry. So if you're someone who can never be too careful, hopefully the suggestions above will be useful to you.

After all the digital photos you have taken should be stored safely so they can be enjoyed by everyone for a long time to come.