Class:
PHOTOS, IMAGES, SCANNERS,
AND DIGITAL CAMERAS
©2007 by Donald R. Snow
Sections of the Class Notes
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to Don's
Class
Listings page or to the home page of Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group. This page was last
updated 22 Jan 2007.
INTRODUCTION
- Instructors
are Donald R. and Diane M. Snow, 801-225-7123 in Provo, Utah
and 435-673-1932 in St. George, Utah (snowd@math.byu.edu,
dms34@juno.com)
- These notes with active Internet links are
posted on the
Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group website http://uvtagg.org
under Class Outlines, Don's Listings.
- This
class
will discuss some ideas of using digital cameras, downloading the
photos, finding and saving images from the Internet, editing
images, and setting up slideshows. Illistrations will show how to
do the operations.
- Kinds of digital image files -- .jpg, .tif., .pdf, .gif, etc. (These are the most common formats.)
- jpg
(read as "jpeg") -- smaller file size, "lossy format", i.e. it loses
clarity edited and then re-edited
- No
problem if you store the original and always go back to that to work
with
- Can copy the file without losing anything --
only loses information when edited and re-edited
- Default format used in many cameras
- tif
(read as "tiff") -- good "lossless format", but has larger file
size -- keeps its clarity with re-editing
- Good for archiving photos
- pdf -- shows exactly the same on any computer, Wiindows, Mac, Linus, etc.
- Most common format for images of pages of text including pictures
- Format the LDS Church uses for manuals, Ensign
magazines, etc.
- Read with the free program Adobe Reader (current version is 8.0)
- .gif (read as ":jiff") -- frequently used format for displaying on web sites
DIGITAL CAMERAS AND
DOWNLOADING PHOTOS
- Some ideas about buying and
using digital
cameras
- Get
resolution of at least 4 or 5 megapixels -- will allow you to
print good quality photos in larger sizes, e.g. 8x10 inches
- Look for a zoom of at least 5 or 6
and preferrably 10 -- can use it for documents, as well as
normal and distance photos
- Look for very short
delay of taking
the picture, e.g. in 10th of a second rather than 1 or 2 seconds
- Delay
time is the time it takes the camera to focus and set its light settings after you have pushed the button
- Can
speed this up by pushing the button half way down to make the
camera
focus and get the settings it needs, then pushing it all the
way
down to take the picture -- takes the picture instantly then
- Get
a camera that uses regular AA or AAA batteries so you can use
standard
rechargeable batteries and easily get regular
batteries world-wide
- Can
usually buy cameras on the Internet for cheaper than in a store,
but harder to 'take back" if something goes wrong -- use price
comparison web sites
- Before taking photos be sure the date and time are set
correctly on the camera so the meta-data included with each photo is correct
- Meta-data
is the information about the date, time, type of camera, and even the
GPS coordinates of location on some newer camera
- Meta-data
is stored with each image and stays with the image whenever image is
copied
- Downloading the photos from your camera and organizing them on your computer
- Windows Explorer is usually easier to use to
download
your photos than the software that came with your camera
- Set
the extension association (.jpg, etc.) to be Windows XP
Fax and Image Viewer -- then clicking on a photo file automatically
opens the Windows XP viewer
- Use the freeware
program Namexif from http://www.digicamsoft.com
to copy the date and time the photo was taken
from the meta data to the front of the file name
- Makes
them sort completely chronologically in the photo folder
- Usually
easier to have them stored by date and time rather than by
other ways
- After the data and time in the name of the file, type who, what, where, etc.
- Easier to do this by using two windows with Windows Explorer and Windows XP Fax
and Image Viewer, so you can see the name of the file and the image at
the same time
- Allows searching for key words in the
file name, e.g. person, place, or occasion
- Download
your photos regularly so you don't run the risk of losing them in
case the camera storage card gets fouled up
- Make
a backup of your photo folder by transferring it to another
computer using a flash (USB) drive or burn them onto a CD
CAPTURING IMAGES
FROM INTERNET, CD'S, OR EMAILS- Can
find many helpful images of people, places, and maps on the
Internet
- Search engines like Google lead to images and maps -- in Google click on Images to find an image or Maps
to find a map
- Many web sites devoted to photos of
genealogical interest, e.g.
- Online
images are of different resolutions -- click on "Large Images" search,
if that's what you want
- Capturing images
you see on your computer screen -- from Internet, CD's, email, etc.
- Many images can be captured by Right-Clicking on image (cursor changes into a
hand over the image) and following menu
- Click
"Copy Image" -- copies it to clipboard
- Click "Save
Image As" -- allows you to tell computer where to save
it, name to give it, and type of image file to save as, .jpg.,
.gif, .tif, etc.
- Capture with Prt Scrn
-- key at upper right of keyboard
- Usually
saves image to clipboard
- Need to paste it somewhere
to see or save it, e.g. paste it into WordPad (on all Windows machines)
- Use a
program such as FastStone Capture - freeware from http://faststone.org/FSCaptureDetail.htm
- Allows
saving part or screen or entire screen
- Allows
saving it to clipboard or as a file in a given folder
- FastStone
Capture even has a capture for the entire window even when you have
to scroll to see it all
USING
A SCANNER TO CAPTURE IMAGES- Need to get photos and slides scanned before the colors fade
- Many
brands and kinds of scanners -- can buy a useable one for
$50-60
- For viewing photos on screen
- Scan
at no more than 100 dpi (dots per inch)
- Save file
as .jpg
- Use file title that helps identity photo,
e.g. YYYY-MM-DD-01-YellowstoneNatlPark-SnowFamily.tif
- Can
also edit the photo meta data to include date and place
- For
archiving photos to edit and put in scrapbooks later
- Scan
at resolution of at least 300 dpi (dots per inch)
- Save
image as .tif
- Slides
- Need high resolution of 2500 dpi and a good slide scanner costs $1500
- Can do
them with a flatbed scanner, but few have that high resolution and results aren't very satisfactory
- Can project them on screen and photograph them with digital camera, but may get distortion and resolution may not be the best
- Will probably get much better results by having them scanned professionally
- Walmart and
Walgreens charge about 27 cents per slide and do them in high resolution -- that's about $27 for 100 slides
- You get the files on
CD and hundreds of slides fit on one CD
EDITING IMAGES
- Free image editors, e.g. Photo Toolkit from
http://www.photo-toolkit.com/
-- has a good tutorial and help screens
- Can usually do everything you need with the free
ones, but they may not have all
the bells and whistles the commercial programs do
- Always keep the
original file as it is and save edited versions with new names so they don't
wipe out the original
- Examples of editing
- Removing
red eye
- Cropping
- Straightening
photo
- Brightening colors
VIEWING IMAGES AND
MAKING SLIDE SHOWS
- Simplest viewer is Windows Picture and Fax Viewer
which is built in to Windows XP
- Can set the association of extensions .jpg, .tif, etc., to automatically open Windows Viewer
- Hover
cursor over icon at bottom to see what that icon does
- Has
icons to move to next or previous picture, rotate image, print
it, delete it, copy it ile elsewhere, etc.
- Click
on the movie screen to start full-screen slideshow
- Press space bar
to make it stop so you can use arrow keys to go forward or back --
click ESC to stop slideshow
- Can show Viewer in a
smaller
window and open Windows Explorer in another window to edit photo file names while seeing them on screen
- To
get photos
in order you want for slideshow, give them names like 001-[name].jpg,
002-[name].jpg,
etc -- then when sorted they are in the order you want and will show in
slideshow in that order
- This is an easy way to form a slide show to
teach a class.
- Several free photo
viewer-editors
FURTHER
HELPS AND CONCLUSIONS
- Some
tutorials and
helpful software reviews
ASSIGNMENT
- Find a picture online somewhere and capture and save it as a file on your computer.
- Experiment with different image types, e.g. .jpg, .tif, .pdf. Try saving a file in each of these formats.
- Use the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer to view some images in a folder on your computer.
- Download IrfanView and install it on your computer.
Return
to Don's
Class
Listings page or to the home page of Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group .