Monday, April 13, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
You've scanned your photos... Now What???
Last week, I spent some time with my new scanner and I was pretty amazed. I managed to scan over 1500 photos in a little over 2 hours. The scanner is lightning fast and so efficient.
Now that these photos are digitized, I have some great software that makes my life so much easier. It's called Shoebox and it's made exclusively for the Mac. But if you're PC user, don't stop reading! I understand that the product called ACDSee works very similarly.
My process is simple. I insert my disc with my photos on it into my computer drive. I then open Shoebox. Within Shoebox, I can see all my photos on the disc. Then, I just start tagging them. The way I scan my photos is by years. So for instance, I can open the folder on my disc titled "1995." From there I will see all the photos from that year. (I could have scanned by category or topic, but I choose to scan mainly by year.) Within that year, I start assigning tags. So, on one photo, I can tag it with as many categories as I choose. For an example, Let's take a photo from Brianna's birth.
I tagged this photo with "1995," "Brianna," "Nick," and "4th of July."
Now, I don't need to know where this photo is on my computer anymore. I can just go into Shoebox and type in one of my tagged categories. If I type, "4th of July," every photo I've ever taken on the 4th of July will appear. Ditto if I type in "Brianna," or "Nick," or so on. I hope you get my gist.
And while this is nice for my more recent photos, it's fantastic for the older ones. For example, my 25 year old niece is getting married next year. Most likely, we will do a video montage for her and her fiance. With Shoebox, it's quite easy. I can just type in "Theresa" and every picture that I own of Theresa appears on my screen. It also tells me where it's stored. What's even better, is that if the montage is to include every family member, I can type in all their names and I can find the photos of Theresa with anyone she's ever known! It's great fun to see what you've got on file... and never has it been faster to find photos! I just found this photo of Theresa and her great grandmother and posted it here within 2 minutes...
Before I scanned these photos, I couldn't have told you where this photo was. Either in an actual shoebox, a photo album I haven't opened in years, or a tupperware bin filled to the top with photos that my mother gave me. It might have taken me hours to find it... if I could even have found it at all.
Shoebox is great for all my photo needs. For scrapbooking, it's unbelievable. The same way I tag my photos, I tag my digital art supplies. So if I'm working on a layout, I can type in "swirl" or "frame" or whatever, and all my elements are right there for me to see. Invaluable!
I hope this posting helps and if you have further questions or I can help you in any way, please feel free to give me a call.
Now that these photos are digitized, I have some great software that makes my life so much easier. It's called Shoebox and it's made exclusively for the Mac. But if you're PC user, don't stop reading! I understand that the product called ACDSee works very similarly.
My process is simple. I insert my disc with my photos on it into my computer drive. I then open Shoebox. Within Shoebox, I can see all my photos on the disc. Then, I just start tagging them. The way I scan my photos is by years. So for instance, I can open the folder on my disc titled "1995." From there I will see all the photos from that year. (I could have scanned by category or topic, but I choose to scan mainly by year.) Within that year, I start assigning tags. So, on one photo, I can tag it with as many categories as I choose. For an example, Let's take a photo from Brianna's birth.
I tagged this photo with "1995," "Brianna," "Nick," and "4th of July."
Now, I don't need to know where this photo is on my computer anymore. I can just go into Shoebox and type in one of my tagged categories. If I type, "4th of July," every photo I've ever taken on the 4th of July will appear. Ditto if I type in "Brianna," or "Nick," or so on. I hope you get my gist.
And while this is nice for my more recent photos, it's fantastic for the older ones. For example, my 25 year old niece is getting married next year. Most likely, we will do a video montage for her and her fiance. With Shoebox, it's quite easy. I can just type in "Theresa" and every picture that I own of Theresa appears on my screen. It also tells me where it's stored. What's even better, is that if the montage is to include every family member, I can type in all their names and I can find the photos of Theresa with anyone she's ever known! It's great fun to see what you've got on file... and never has it been faster to find photos! I just found this photo of Theresa and her great grandmother and posted it here within 2 minutes...
Before I scanned these photos, I couldn't have told you where this photo was. Either in an actual shoebox, a photo album I haven't opened in years, or a tupperware bin filled to the top with photos that my mother gave me. It might have taken me hours to find it... if I could even have found it at all.
Shoebox is great for all my photo needs. For scrapbooking, it's unbelievable. The same way I tag my photos, I tag my digital art supplies. So if I'm working on a layout, I can type in "swirl" or "frame" or whatever, and all my elements are right there for me to see. Invaluable!
I hope this posting helps and if you have further questions or I can help you in any way, please feel free to give me a call.
See me on April 21
Please join me at the Ave. Cellars in Westchase from 6-9 p.m. I will be showcasing my Heritage Maker products, scanning services and watercolor prints along with a few of my friends, who will also be offering some products. They will be selling Silpada Jewelry and Spotted Leopard Apparel. It promises to be a fun evening with great food and wine. Hope to see you there!
A Few Words About Long Term Photo Storage
In the course of researching the best way to save photos I have been scanning for myself and my clients, I have learned quite a few things that I thought I should pass on.
For instance, did you know that flash drives should only be used for the transport of data and that they are not meant for long term storage? Sounds basic, I know. But many people don't know that they are a magnetic media and as such, can be erased when exposed to a magnetic field. And while people may use flash drives with the intention of just transferring information from one computer to another, things come up, the flash drive gets put aside, and time passes without the actual transferring of the files.
I've also had a problem with discs that I've stored my old photos on. Has this ever happened to you? A few years ago, I cleaned up my hard drive and put all my photos on discs. A few months ago, I wanted to access one of those photos. I took the disc out of it's folder where it has been sitting for the past 3 years. But, you guessed it... I put it in the drive in my computer and it was unrecognizable. I haven't the slightest idea what may have happened, but those photos are gone. At the time I had saved the photos, I really didn't know the difference between one disc vs. another. But even then, there may not have been that many differences. Not so today!
Today I feel much more confident about storing my old photos. Because, as luck would have it, my best friend of over 30 years works for a media storage device company. As I researched these issues, she gave me invaluable advice. Her company sells Century Archival Discs. They are not available on the mass market yet, but they are considered the gold standard for professional photographers and videographers.
For detailed information and special pricing on these discs, contact me directly at 813.818.0091.
For instance, did you know that flash drives should only be used for the transport of data and that they are not meant for long term storage? Sounds basic, I know. But many people don't know that they are a magnetic media and as such, can be erased when exposed to a magnetic field. And while people may use flash drives with the intention of just transferring information from one computer to another, things come up, the flash drive gets put aside, and time passes without the actual transferring of the files.
I've also had a problem with discs that I've stored my old photos on. Has this ever happened to you? A few years ago, I cleaned up my hard drive and put all my photos on discs. A few months ago, I wanted to access one of those photos. I took the disc out of it's folder where it has been sitting for the past 3 years. But, you guessed it... I put it in the drive in my computer and it was unrecognizable. I haven't the slightest idea what may have happened, but those photos are gone. At the time I had saved the photos, I really didn't know the difference between one disc vs. another. But even then, there may not have been that many differences. Not so today!
Today I feel much more confident about storing my old photos. Because, as luck would have it, my best friend of over 30 years works for a media storage device company. As I researched these issues, she gave me invaluable advice. Her company sells Century Archival Discs. They are not available on the mass market yet, but they are considered the gold standard for professional photographers and videographers.
For detailed information and special pricing on these discs, contact me directly at 813.818.0091.
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