It's easy to take a lot of vacation pictures; organizing them is something else. Here, how to chronicle your favorite shots for future posterity.

Edit Yourself

The key to scaling down your photo stockpiles: edit, edit, edit. It's all right if every shot is not a winner — not even the pros bat 1,000 — but it's not all right to cling to every frame as if it were an Ansel Adams original.

Toss or Delete Poor-Quality Photos

As soon as you get your pictures back, immediately throw out any shots that are too dark, out of focus, or unflattering (or delete them from your digital camera). Many photo labs allow you to inspect photos before you pay and to chuck any shots that have technical problems, with those prints deducted from the bill.

Get Rid of Dupes

The harder task is to eliminate redundant shots. There you were, at Walt Disney World, when Junior had a close encounter with Mickey Mouse. You were at the ready with the camera and it was all so exciting that you couldn't help yourself — you shot half a roll. Now you have the pictures back and they all look basically the same: Junior grinning; Junior grinning and waving; Junior grinning and waving with eyes closed; Junior grinning and waving with Mickey's head cut off. Pick just a few that sum up the thrill of the moment. Toss the rest. You still have the negatives, if, at any point, you want to go back and view the moment-by-moment unfolding of the event.

Label Your Images

While your memory is still fresh, it's a good idea to write a note on the back of the photo — at the bottom edge, and only using a photo-safe, nonacidic pen, such as a Sharpie — about where the picture was taken and what people were doing or saying at the time. "Maybe you have a picture of Aunt Mary and Uncle Harry, and it was on this trip that Uncle Harry dropped the cake," says Ronni Eisenberg, author of Organize Your Home!: Simple Routines for Managing Your Household (Hyperion, $10, www.amazon.com). "Write that on the photo, because otherwise in 10 years you won't remember the story, and pictures are the story of your life."