Working as the editor for www.valeriebertinelli.com, I have the pleasure of curating images of one of the most photographed women in the world for the popular photo galleries on this site. Normally, that’s an easy task: Valerie will send along a handful of photos from a trip to Cape Cod, or we will snap a few pictures backstage during a Hot in Cleveland taping. 

Then Val and Tom decided to get married in a surprise New Year’s Day celebration (2,500+ pictures). Now we’re talking about an overwhelming task - and if you have that box of old photos in your closet, you know what I’m talking about. 

New brides, new moms and old photo-buffs, don’t fear: I have a step-by-step process to get your photos organized and get your memories preserved and displayed. If we can narrow down 2,500 wedding photos into four galleries for this site and one photobook for her family, we can tackle that box in your closet. In fact, it’s a lot like cleaning out your closet in three easy steps.

Step 1: Thinning the Herd - Deciding what to keep is the hardest part about cleaning out your closet, and the same goes for organizing photos. With digital cameras, we take a lot of bad photos because we have unlimited opportunities to capture a good image... but that doesn't mean you want to look at the baddies, right?

Prepare your workspace: Find a well-lighted space with a lot of surface area. I’m fond of my kitchen table. Lay out three boxes (shoeboxes work well) and label them DISPLAY, DISCARD and RESERVE. If you are doing this electronically, create three separate folders or albums. Turn on some upbeat music that will keep you moving and on task.

Make the First Cut: Put DISPLAY and DISCARD directly in front of you and RESERVE off to the side. Stack your photos in one pile, so you can view them one at a time. Go through every photo as quickly as possible and go with your gut. Right now, you have to be fast and ruthless. For every photo, ask yourself YES or NO - and put it in the respective box immediately. If you’re waffling, put it in RESERVE (for now), but embrace the idea of saying NO to any shot. On the first cut for Valerie’s wedding album, I went from 2,500 to 800 images. 

• DISPLAY: Instant YES. You love this photo. It's technically sound - in focus, with good lighting. You look good. It captures a seminal moment of the event: Exchanging rings, holding your baby for the first time, the family reunion group photo. Display photos have a good reason to stick around. Don’t linger over them, just put them in the display box and KEEP MOVING.
  

• DISCARD: Instant NO. It is a poor quality image or it sparks an existential crisis. This is the second most-important box. 
  
  • Is it dark, blurry, obstructed beyond cropping salvation?
    
  • Are people looking at the camera or in six different places?
    
  • Are you wondering why on earth you took this picture?
    
  • Do you look hideous for no good reason? Val wanted us to use her “before” picture without makeup because it was a fun shot and a great contrast to her bridal photos.  There’s a difference between not looking your best in an interesting photo and looking at a picture in the future and saying, “Why did I keep that? I have six chins in this picture!” 
    
  • Are there bad boyfriends and toxic relations stinking up the frame? Is there any good reason for them to be there? The group shots are somewhat unavoidable, but still, this is your fabulous life - if they’ve done you wrong, they don’t deserve to be in it! 
    
    
• RESERVE: This is your last-resort option. If it’s a so-so picture, or the only image of Aunt Carolyn from the wedding, or you’re not really sure why you took it, but you like the scenery, put it in RESERVE. If you have two images that are close in nature, but you can’t decide which to display, put them both in reserve. Don’t agonize - if you can’t decide on Display or Discard, put it in RESERVE and we’ll come back to it later. 
  
• Make the second cut - Now that wasn’t so painful, was it? At the end of the first cut, you should have reduced the field by about half. You will want most of the photos to be in Discard - you're not throwing them away, but you really only want the winners to be on Display. Once a photo takes up residence in either Display or Discard, you don't want to revisit them because we have more work to do. Now we have to tackle the Reserve!
  
• Empty the RESERVE box onto the table: Lay the photos out in rows and columns so you can see as many as possible. On your computer, blow up the size on your screen so you can CLEARLY see as many as possible in your viewer (usually 4-5 at a time works for me). 
  
• Give them a quick once over: Do any automatically jump out for DISPLAY or DISCARD duty. Assign these to their new home. Go with your gut.
• Consider the reclamation program: Could any of these photos be manipulated via cropping or editing software to improve a needed shot.
  • Cropping: The art of cropping is cutting out unwanted subject matter in an image to isolate one particular facet or eliminate a troublesome area. I don't want you to do any actual cropping right now - but you should examine each Reserve photo to see if it could be improved with a few quick snips. Can you highlight one particular person for a good shot? Can you block out that hand in the corner? Can you focus on an interesting detail?
    
  • Photo manipulation: I can assure you that no wrinkles were harmed in the production of Valerie's wedding album. She is naturally that beautiful. We did, however, do some color correction and we might have erased an errant pole or flower. Sometimes you can re-size or shrink a blurry shot. Only you know your level of skill with photo-editing software. Either way, just decide if you want to make the effort (DISPLAY) or you don’t care (DISCARD). If you dread the thought of messing with photo software, don’t waste your time: DISCARD. 
    
• Make the Call - Similar Images: Remember those photos that were close in nature, but you couldn’t decide? Put them side-by-side on a blank surface without any other photos around - and nitpick them to death. Does something jump out. Ask for an outside opinion. If you still can’t decide, put them both in the DISPLAY box - one may speak to you in the organizing phase. For Valerie’s photos, this was the hardest job because she is so photogenic - and there were so many good shots.

Make the third cut: This is our final cut during the editing stage. For the third cut, you must have a specific reason to say YES to any photo. If you find yourself saying, “Meh,” you are looking at a photo that is going to waste your time in the future. Put it out of its misery. If you have a specific reason to keep a photo, but you’re not crazy about the image, keep it in RESERVE as a possible filler. At this point, you should have only a handful of photos in RESERVE.

Take out the trash or discard the DISCARD box: Some people can’t bear to throw away photos, but you can at least put them back in the attic, and you should at this juncture. Don't bother organizing them because you'll be handing down your photo albums to the next generation - not the crummy box of discards - and your grandchildren won't care about your creepy ex-boyfriend. My suggestion is lighting them on fire, but we’re all about safety here at valeriebertinelli.com.

And congratulations - you just passed Step 1 of the Stacy Bertinelli Program for Assembling Your Photo Album! Pour yourself a richly deserved cold beverage. Come back next week and we'll tell you what to do with the photos you've picked out!