I agree with folks who are simply throwing away photos that are not up to par. I inherited my grandparents albums, my mom's and now I have so many of my own. I emptied all albums, threw away the terrible, blurry, head cut off stuff and didn't look back. Lots of those were saved from the days where film and developing were expensive, and a luxury to many families. They saved all pics, no matter the quality.
I also threw away the pics of past relatives travels that were shots of mountains, lakes, etc. with no people in them, no idea of when or where they were taken, and most were not that good of a quality either.
I went through all the official portraits like weddings, graduation etc. that relatives had sent out many generations ago, made a small copy for myself, and gave the originals back to the person in the pic, or their surviving son/daughter or next of kin. That was well received, as most had a copy or two of the original portrait, but many more kids/grandkids that were glad to have an original and not just a copy of their loved one.
I made copies of all of the oldest pics in the collection, those from the 1950's back through the late 1800's, and gave copies to my brother, with all labeled concerning dates, people, function, and location. Most people in these photos are gone, and I wanted to make sure if my son or grandkids, or niece and nephew or their kids got them, they would be able to place who was who, and how they were related to them.
I got rid of pics of people who I couldn't identify, and no one in the oldest generation of my family could identify. I spent two years identifying, labeling and placing pictures in chronological order. I used several sources in their 80's and 90's to help identify the people, places, and times of the photos. I'm glad I didn't wait any longer, as all those who helped me, were gone within a 3 year period.
Pictures I take today, I print a few of my favorite, and put on cd very many more. I don't store any pics in my computer.
I purchased all new albums, and filed them chronologically. I still prefer an actual picture over a digitally stored photo, but have done both.
If you have a lot of photos, you may just have to come to grips with the fact that quite a number of them need to either be thrown away or given away to the family. I had to ask myself, just how many pictures did I really need or want of one person. Many people were not important enough for me to want a half of an album of them. I would try to keep one or two of them at each various stage of their lives, more depending on their importance to me.
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