Smart ways to store and share photos

Photographic prints are fragile and need to be handled and stored with care. Digital images are easier to look after. Here are some smart ways to store and share your photographs.

• You should store these in a bone-dry part of your house where the temperature doesn't fluctuate — a cupboard, rather than a basement or attic.
• Your best shots should be mounted in an album, using plastic or paper photo corners, and these pictures shouldn't be viewed in strong sunlight.
• Other photographs can be stored in plastic sleeves or paper envelopes — but the plastic should be non-PVC, and the paper should be acid-free.
• You can buy plastic boxes that are specially designed for containing sheaves of photographs. Ask at your local photographic shop.

If you have a great many digital images, it's worth investing in a detachable hard disk on which to keep them.

• Having your photographs on a disk of their own has several advantages: they are not taking up large amounts of space on your computer's internal hard drive; they aren't in danger of being lost or damaged if your computer breaks down; and you won't have the bother of transfering all your pictures when you change or upgrade your PC.

The simplest way to share individual digital photographs with loved ones is to send them direct as email attachments. But there are more sophisticated and public ways to share large numbers of photographs.

• Many online websites invite you to download some free software, which you then use to edit and manipulate your photos with a view to posting them as "albums" on the internet.
• Here anyone — or anyone you designate — can see your pictures and (if you let them) comment on them. These sites operate much like social networking sites, but with photography as the main focus of activity.

Don't worry about damaged or lost photographs. Instead, preserve your digital and paper photos by storing them correctly or sharing them online.