Vacation Photo Management Strategies

With summer in full swing, the removable media card in your digital camera is begging for relief. When you're home, it's easy enough to dump those photos to your computer's hard drive. But what do you do when you're on the road, the camera is filled to the brim, and there's no laptop in sight? I've developed some strategies over the last few years to deal with an overabundance of digital shots ...

Empty your media card before you leave home. A simple thought, to be sure, but it's too late once you've slammed the car door and pulled onto the highway. Take the time to copy all of the photos off your camera onto your computer the night before you take off. Make sure that the photos are indeed copied, then delete them from your camera.

Cull out the bad shots on the fly. Deleting lousy photos is one of the true joys of digital photography. No one need see your mistakes! You can get loads of extra shots onto your camera if you make a habit of removing the crummy photos -- either as you shoot or at a more opportune time. A few moments spent making room and deleting photos can mean the difference between capturing that next fantastic shot ... or not. It's a bummer to see that "CAMERA FULL" message in the heat of the moment. Don't let it happen to you ...

Pick up a spare media card (and batteries while you're at it. Take a look around the counter the next time you're printing photos at the pharmacy, chain store, or instant print shop. While you may find a better price for media cards online (or in a discount store), forking over a few extra bucks in a pinch is nothing new when it comes to vacation time ... when those twenty dollar bills fly out of your wallet like seagulls ...

Make the most of that extra storage and print your photos online. You can save a considerable amount of money by printing your photos with an online photo printing service. Vacation spots can be notoriously expensive places to print digital photos. You can easily cut your printing costs in half by using an online service.