New!! Digital Imaging Essentials

I'm very pleased to be able to share this press release with everyone. For those of you who have watched Geoff Rasmussen's webinars on photo organization you know how extremely helpful they have been. This is one area where I need an intervention! I'm going to be reading this book and hope that I will be inspired to finally get my act together. I know you'll enjoy it too.

Press Release

A new book by Geoff Rasmussen | 150 pages | Paperback pre-order ($19.95) or PDF ($14.95)

Genealogists use digital imaging technology every day. But what they do not know about it can harm their digital treasures. They have needed a comprehensive, easy-to-read guide, full of illustrated step-by-step instructions to learn how to digitize, organize, preserve, share, and backup their digital collections.

Your wait is over. You now have Digital Imaging Essentials: Techniques and Tips for Genealogists and Family Historians at your fingertips.

Pre-order the paperback from Legacy by November 16 for $19.95 and get the PDF (electronic version) FREE! (Expected delivery date: end of November 2012.)

Buy the PDF for $14.95 from Legacy

From the very first page you will notice that this book is much more than a boring instructional manual - it is full of real-life examples that not only teach you the right buttons to push, but it thoroughly explains how to get the most of your digital imaging experience. AND this book is written specifically for genealogists!

YOU WILL LEARN:

• The do-it-right-the-first-time techniques of scanning old documents, andsnapping pictures with your digital camera.
• How to finally get organized so that you can locate any digital image in under a minute.
• Which file formats and file saving techniques to use to properly preserve your digital images.
• How to use Adobe's Photoshop Elements and Google's Picasa with illustrated, step-by-step instructions and learn about other software choices.
• How to privately or publicly share your images and videos via printing, emailing, Dropbox, CDs, DVDs, or online via cloud technology.
• How to access your digital media from any Internet-connected device including your smart phone or tablet.
• How to develop a backup strategy to protect your collections from digital disaster. 

Preview

Click here to preview the Table of Contents, the complete index, and a few selections from the book (31 pages).

About the Author

Geoffrey D. Rasmussen is the father of four budding genealogists. He graduated with a degree in Genealogy and Family History from Brigham Young University and has served as director and vice-president of the Utah Genealogical Association. He is a dynamic genealogy speaker on all forms of genealogy technology, and as host of the Legacy Family Tree webinar series, has spoken virtually to nearly 100 different countries. He recently received the Distinguished Presenter Award at the prestigious RootsTech conference in Salt Lake City. He has authored books, videos, articles, and websites, and develops the Legacy Family Tree software program. On a personal note, Geoff enjoys playing the piano, organ, cello and basketball. His favorite places are cemeteries, the ocean, and hanging out with other genealogists. He met and proposed to his wife in a Family History Center.

Pre-order the paperback from Legacy by November 16 for $19.95 and get the PDF (electronic version) FREE! (Expected delivery date: end of November 2012.)

Buy the PDF for $14.95 from Legacy 

Scanning Up a Storm

original photo

This year I made it my goal to try to get better organized and to digitize my photos. This past weekend I made inroads toward that goal by scanning up a storm.

My father recently gave me a photo album from my great grandparents with photos taken between 1901 and 1912.  These photos are wonderful because they show the family at play on vacation when they are their most relaxed. Prior to this I had seen mostly formal shots that gave me no indication of their personalities or their interactions with each other.

I got out my Flip Pal and tore through 160 photos. That's quite a lot of photos to scan! The original photos weren't in great condition so now I am in the process of correcting/improving them in Adobe Photoshop. After I complete that task I will share the digital copies of the photos - both the original and corrected versions - with all my family.  The important thing is not that they do anything with the photos but that multiple copies are preserved in several different locations.  The other key thing is to make sure all descendants who want them have copies of the photos.

Corrected version

I still need to do work on acting as the family archivist. I need to catalog the photos/album, note the provenance (the chain of ownership) of the photo album and identify where the original physical copy will be kept. That's next on my list!

But I feel good. I feel like I got something accomplished and I'm glad that the line of communication is open with my other family members so that they can get excited too.

This album is just one pebble in a riverbed of scanning and cataloging that I need to do. Small steps. Each small step will get me closer to my goal.





Photo notes: These photos show Sarah Estella Gurney Edwards (1871-1963) helping her young son, William Henry Edwards (1898-1976) up the front porch steps during a family vacation in 1901. The location is unidentified but is likely the south coast of Massachusetts or Rhode Island.

How To Take Better Gravestone Photos

This morning I'm featuring a post by guest blogger, Greg Stewart.  I met Greg on Google+.  He has a very innovative way of improving gravestone photos which helps take the "luck" out of photography to make consistently good photos.  Greg is going to tell you how he does it in his own words.

Nancy L. Meggs Before & After photos using flash

I began photographing tombstones of my ancestors after retiring a few years ago using a Nikon D40 DSLR camera.  I then jumped into researching who these people were which led to more gravesites to photograph.  Some of these cemeteries are well kept while others have been abandoned and overgrown.  Many of the stones are hard to read while looking at them in person, and the photographs were not any better.  At the right time of day the sun worked in my favor to light the stone for a decent photograph while other days would be overcast. 

I soon learned through online blogs (Strobist) how to use a flash off camera for more pleasing light.  There are different methods of triggering a flash off camera, but the one I chose for the Nikon D40 was a cheap wireless trigger purchased through Cowboy Studio on Ebay.  This includes a wireless trigger to mount on the hot shoe of the camera, and a wireless receiver to mount to the flash.  I use a Nikon SB600 speedlight with this camera.  This flash, and others are capable of being used on a manual setting so you can power down the output of light.

The gravestone on the left highlighted by flash

With this new capability I returned to many of the gravesites and photographed the hard to read stones.  With the flash on a light stand I adjust the flash output to 1/8^th to 1/16^th power, and place it to the side of the stone a few feet away.  Lighting the stone from the side causes shadows on the engraving enabling you to very clearly read the inscription.  In the Nancy L. Meggs photograph you notice her first name and middle initial are raised letters.  This was hard to read even in good sunlight.

I have also used a reflector on a stand to reflect sunlight across the face of stones with good results.  The downside to this is when working alone the wind will blow the reflector away, and you need sunlight.  By using a flash on a light stand I can photograph any time of day with or without the sun.

Greg Stewart is a retired Deputy Sheriff from Union County, North Carolina.  He is currently a licensed Private Investigator in North Carolina specializing in pre-employment backgrounds.  You will usually find him in a cemetery satisfying his hobbies of photography and genealogy.  

Photos courtesy of Greg Stewart.

Photos and Privacy: Should We Be Worried?

Yesterday I went on a bit of a genealogical adventure (more on that in a later post).  Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera along.  It wasn't a total loss because I had the camera on my cell phone available though the quality of photos isn't as good.

Recently I made a change to my cell phone settings so that my photos automatically get uploaded privately to my Google+ account after being taken.

Upon my return I decided to check out how Google+ handled my photographs.   Google+ allows me to share, tag, and do basic editing to my uploaded features. 

When clicking on the photo details option I was surprised to discover an option called location.  The location tab provided a zoomable map showing the exact location where the photo was taken.

When on a genealogical adventure this is pretty handy thing.  I had gone to several cemeteries where I wasn't sure of there exact locations.  Now I just have to click on the map to see where I was.

The thing that concerned me a bit was the thought of uploading photos to Google+ or any other site and having the locations available.  I might not worry about the locations of cemeteries but there may be times that I don't want to share the location of a photo.

So I decided to do an experiment and upload several of my photos from yesterday to share on Google+.  I was happy to discover that the publicly shared version of the photo did not display the location in the photo details.  The only information displayed was about the file itself.

But that got me wondering, "Is the information really gone or just hidden?"  Just to be sure I opened the public version of the photo in Adobe Bridge.  I didn't see any location information listed in the meta file information.  Then again, I didn't see any location options in the meta file information either.  I'm not particularly savvy yet with Adobe Bridge so perhaps I just don't know where to find it.

Still I'm not convinced.  Perhaps the gps information is still there and available to programmers who know how to get at this kind of detail.  If you are more technical than I am please let me know if that is the case.

Overall, I am pleased that my phone provides me with location information for my photos and even more pleased that Google+ doesn't upload that information to share publicly. All the same, I'm still going to be very cautious about what photos I share publicly but this is a good start.

Dick Eastman has talked quite about about photography and privacy on Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter.  Please let me know if you have more to share on this topic.  Send me a link or leave me a comment.