Sections of the Class Notes

• Introduction
• Digital Cameras and Downloading Photos
• Capturing Images from Internet, CD's, or Emails
• Using a Scanner to Capture Images
• Editing Images
• Viewing Images and Making Slide Shows
• Further Helps and Conclusions
• Assignment

Return 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.

• 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

• 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

• 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.
• Utah State Historical Society and Utah State Archives -- http://history.utah.gov/utah_history_research_center/digitalcollections.html 
• BYU Harold B. Lee Library -- http://www.lib.byu.edu/historic_photos/
• U or Utah Marriott Library and Public Pioneer Library -- http://pioneer.utah.gov/digital_utah/digital_collections.html
• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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
• Picasa from http://www.google.com/intl/en/options/ (or go to http://www.google.com and click on More Options)
• When you run it Picasa will search your entire hard drive for picture files of all types, e.g. .jpg, .tif, etc.
• Photo Story from http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/photostory/default.mspx
• IrfanView from http://www.irfanview.com/ -- slideshows, editing, and will do conversions of image files from one format to another  
• FastStone Image Viewer from http://faststone.org/download.htm
• Good tutorials on these and others -- do a Google search for Picasa tutorial or Photo Story tutorial, for example

• Some tutorials and helpful software reviews
• Screen captures -- http://www.dak.com/Reviews/Tutorial_ScreenCapture.cfm & http://www.mdmerlin.net/tutorials/screencap/index.html
• Video captures -- http://all-streaming-media.com/record-video-stream/screen-capture-software.htm
• Editing images -- http://arstechnica.com/guides/tweaks/mystery.ars
• Scanners -- http://www.scantips.com/ &  http://desktoppub.about.com/od/scanning/Scanning_Tutorials_for_Image_and_Document_Scanning.htm

1. Find a picture online somewhere and capture and save it as a file on your computer.
2. Experiment with different image types, e.g. .jpg, .tif, .pdf.  Try saving a file in each of these formats.
3. Use the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer to view some images in a folder on your computer.
4. 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 .