WADING through tens of thousands of old photos. HELP!

[Photologyst]

OK, so I have been going through about ten year’s worth of digi-photos since today’s correction tools are so much better. The plan is to only keep the best, improve them and use them.

Doing this in Lightroom and PS, etc. Looks like I will be at it “forever.” I know, batch processing, culling, etc. But still. . .

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to get a handle on so much volume?

My usually cool head is spinning.

[Jim Bryant]

I just did that. 30 years worth of slides and negatives. Took me three years to scan all that in, but I finished. I just set aside a few hours a night before going to bed to edit and scan. I was very selective in my editing process, but I'm about ready to re-edit to see if anything was missed.

[Photologyst]

Originally Posted by Jim Bryant

I just did that. 30 years worth of slides and negatives. Took me three years to scan all that in, but I finished. I just set aside a few hours a night before going to bed to edit and scan. I was very selective in my editing process, but I'm about ready to re-edit to see if anything was missed.

Oh, gees, Jim, I haven't even touched those that need scanning.

Seriously, I rarely get overwhelmed, but I am feeling it these days. It's eating my life.

[RichardTaylor]

I have been told that Photo Mechanic is an excellent fast tool for reviewing photographs and making "keeper" decisions.

Welcome to Camera Bits, Inc.

I don't own it and I have no affiliation with them

[Jim Bryant]

Yup.........I've been using Photomechanics since they came out. it's one of the best editing programs on the market. You can also upload, email, and FTP from it as well.

[meganea84]

My father-in law was a photographer in the '60 and '70 while he was stationed through out the world in the Air Force we bought a slide scanner and started scanning everything on to hard drives and we are only edited the ones that are worth editing. Most of them are awesome as they are and tell a story by it self. Plus in his dark room he did some awesome things as well. But just to ease your load I would wade through the pictures, get them all up on a hard drive and then make a folder that says "to edit" and only choose a selected few when you are done scanning. No point of editing all of them if all they are going to do is sit on a hard drive for another 20+ years when someone put them on something that is better than a hard drive.

[Photologyst]

Photo Mechanic. Thanks!

I believe I’ve heard of that before on DPS.

Of course, the idea is to cull and only edit the best. Still, that is a BIG chore!

[Jim Poor]

Three cheers for PhotoMechanic. It's the absolute fastest for culling large volumes of images.

[Photologyst]

Originally Posted by Jim Poor

Three cheers for PhotoMechanic. It's the absolute fastest for culling large volumes of images.

Ah, Jim. I think it was you who first introduced me to the program, yes?

I'm about to check it out. I am drowning here and don't find this pleasurable.

I keep making excuses to "play" with DPS photos.

___________

So, do you guys use PM to adjust photos as one would with Lightroom?

Do you use PMs HTML templates on your websites?

Is it better than LR? Because, I am about to go from LR 2 to 3. Don't want to spend money for nothing.

[Jim Bryant]

I use PM only for editing and sending images. When I double click or select an edit, it pulls the image up in Abode Bridge or Aperture 3, (whatever the program I'm working in), where I make the initial adjustments and then open the photo in CS to fine tune.