Open Pictures Folder

Run: shell:My Pictures in the Run dialog (Win+R)

Opens %USERPROFILE%\Pictures — typically C:\Users\username\Pictures.

Common Subfolders

• Camera Roll: Photos synced from phone via Windows Photos or OneDrive
• Screenshots: Win+PrintScreen saves screenshots here automatically as PNG files
• Saved Pictures: Photos saved from the Windows Photos app
• Scanned Documents: Output from Windows Scan / wiaacmgr

Screenshots

• Win+PrintScreen: Saves directly to Pictures\Screenshots as a numbered PNG
• Win+Shift+S (Snipping Tool): Saves to clipboard first — click the notification toast to annotate and save manually
• Xbox Game Bar (Win+G): Screenshots save to Videos\Captures by default (not Pictures)

PowerShell — Find Recent Images

Get-ChildItem "$env:USERPROFILE\Pictures" -Recurse -Include *.png,*.jpg,*.jpeg,*.gif,*.bmp,*.heic | 
    Sort-Object LastWriteTime -Descending | 
    Select-Object Name, LastWriteTime, Length | 
    Select-Object -First 30

Forensics — EXIF Metadata

Photos taken on cameras and smartphones embed EXIF metadata including GPS coordinates, device model, timestamp, and lens information. This data persists when files are shared or uploaded.

Extract EXIF data:

exiftool image.jpg

Or use PowerShell with the Get-ExifData function (requires PSExiftool module). GPS coordinates in EXIF can precisely locate where a photo was taken — valuable in investigations and privacy-sensitive for shared images.