I’ve never been good about rating my photos. In the past, Media center’s <date taken> view has always made it easy enough to find the photos I’m after. But since we upgraded all of our PCs to Windows 7 and set-up a HomeGroup, I’ve just about tripled the number of photos Media center now sees, seamlessly, across the network. So when Media Center’s cool photo slideshow screensaver comes on, it’s now drawing from three times as many sources.
You know how it is: when you import photos from your camera or phone, you don’t always go through them and delete the bad ones. Heck, I never do it. The fallout is that when our Photo slideshow screensaver comes on, were likely to see really nice kids soccer photos competing side-by-side with the series of nostril photos my seven year old took last time she got hold of the camera. My wife always seems to walk by when a bad picture rolls up, and she puts her hands on her hips and says “glad we have all this technology.”
I’m happy to report I’ve found an easy way to rectify this situation. First, I told Media Center to use only 4 or 5 star rated photos when the slideshow screensaver kicks in. I did this by going to Settings | Pictures | Favorite Pictures.
Then I went in to my picture library and realized how easy rating photos can be. What’s more, I realized all I really had to do was find the photos I thought were good enough for the slideshow, and give them a 4- or 5-star rating. I did this from the couch with my Media Center remote, but it’s just as easy with a keyboard and mouse.
When I find a picture I want to rate, I hit the More Info button on my remote. If I were using a mouse, I’d right click on it.
In the menu that pops up, I scroll down to the line of stars then hit either 4 or 5 on the remote to apply the rating. That’s it. From the comfort of the couch, I cruised through most of the folders in our picture library, picking a handful of photos in each, and now, when the slideshow screensaver kicks in – which is most of the day – only our favorite shots are included. Easy peasy.
