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By Janet Lunder-Hanafin When it comes to broken resolutions, sorting The days of laboriously tucking each corner of a photo into a little gummed photo corner, licking the icky glue, and then sticking the selected “keeper” onto a black page in an album which, sooner or later, ended up on a shelf in the back of a closet are gone. Digital cameras and computer technology have ushered in a new era, not only in taking pictures, but in preserving and displaying photos. So, get some bang for your buck and try some innovative ways to get the pictures you love out of albums and into the limelight. First of all, don’t be intimidated by the move to digital photography. Through community education, camera and computer store classes, or perhaps even an individualized tutorial from your grandchildren, you can find plenty of expertise to guide you through selecting a camera, and then not only taking pictures, but downloading, editing, sorting and storing your photos. With film cameras, we took dozens, maybe hundreds, of photographs and got prints developed. Then, too often, we saved even the blurry ones, the ones with someone’s eyes closed or head cut off, and multiple shots of scenic vistas that were great when the shot was taken but lost something when reduced to a 4 x 6 inch glossy. A digital camera enables a photographer to take thousands, maybe (gulp!) millions, of shots . . . but they don’t have to be developed in the old-fashioned way. You can select, either on your camera or on a computer screen, those you want to keep and get rid of the rest. With a little instruction and practice you can edit your chosen photos to make them perfect, and then you can save them for display in any number of ways. Essentially you will have one gigantic photo album, because the photos you save will be stored on your computer. You will want to back them up with an external hard drive (don’t worry, the classes will teach you all about this) in case anything happens to your computer. You’ll also learn how to catalog your photos so you can find the ones you want easily. On-line photo printing services such as Snapfish, Kodak, Ritzpix and Walgreen’s Photo Center give step by step instructions to print photos as well as other options for sharing and presenting your favorites. You can also bring your camera or memory card to a do-it yourself photo kiosk to choose the pictures you want processed. With most on-line companies you can pick the prints up at a local retail store or have them mailed to you. Other products will be shipped. Nearly all on-line printing services also offer storage. Think of this service as a way of keeping your negatives safe somewhere else in case anything happens to your computer or external hard drive. If you prefer, you can produce the pictures you want to keep in your purse or brag book, or even framed to display, on a home photo printer or your computer printer. Dedicated photo printers use archival quality photo paper and ink and the finished prints will last 30 to 50 years. If you want to print photos on your home printer, be prepared to do some experimenting and practicing first. Since the machine is not used only for producing photographs, you will have to purchase special photo paper and then tinker with sizing and editing to get the effect you want. Sharing photos of grandchildren is one of the joys of grandparenthood. Last summer I ran into old friends, grandparents of twins, at the St. Paul Farmers Market. You bet they had pictures to share! They pulled out their matching iPods to flip through digital albums and comment on their favorites. Don’t worry that your hands-on, “real,” photo prints are out of date and have to be discarded. Technology is available for scanning even ancient photos. National Camera, for example, will scan up to 400 loose photos and save them on a CD for $80. You can then download them to your computerized album, even retouch them if necessary, and choose those you want to add to any current collection. Old pictures that have suffered damage can often be repaired by professionals before being scanned. A digital photo frame is the 21st century version of a photo album. Selected photos are stored on a tiny card, inserted into a slot on the frame, and you have a continuing slide show. You can make various cards to fit themes–a family vacation, party or holiday; grandparents and grandchildren together; photos of children with their pets, including old photos of grandparents when they were young with animals of their own; or a particular person from birth through the present. You can also assemble a grouping of photos and put together a slide show with music or commentary and save the production on a DVD which can be shown either on a computer monitor or television screen. Your computer can be used to create a photo book, another slick rendition of the old photo album. Compare several on-line photo companies for prices and services. Choose a cover style, and then, working around a theme, select as many photographs as you want; add text to identify people, places and dates (be sure to proofread); and design the pages to your liking. You may want just one for yourself, but if the book commemorates an event such as a family trip or celebration, you can order copies for each of the participants. A family photo calender is a great way to keep extended family members up to date on events and special dates as well as changing faces and places. You might feature a “person of the month” or do a collage of individual family pictures for each month with smaller shots in the leftover days on the actual calendar. On the daily spaces you can note family birthdays, anniversaries, and other events that are special to your family, as well as the holidays that are printed on commercial calendars. Your favorite photos can also become the center of attention, and enjoy continual exhibit, on playing cards, coffee mugs, key chains, pillows, blankets, keepsake boxes, candy tins, jig-saw puzzles and, of course, t-shirts. Use your imagination. A picture that you want to cherish for a long time can be made to look like an oil painting. You can also create posters, greeting cards or stationary; and if you want to spread an image far and wide, you can order postage stamps made of one of your favorite pictures. You’ll pay the face value of the stamps plus an additional amount for production costs and shipping. Give some thought to the old photos you treasure, perhaps one of you and your grandmother picking flowers in her garden, or you and your grandfather showing off the first fish you caught. Often favorite photos depict ordinary activities but evoke special memories. Make a habit of keeping the camera handy to shoot some of the same kinds of happenings with your own grandchildren. With a digital camera you can quickly snap a dozen shots and not worry about the cost of developing all of them. The photos you save don’t have to be perfectly posed to be memorable. Computerized photo editing programs will help you correct exposure and color, or crop a picture to get rid of too much sky. Finally, get yourself into the picture. For now, you will love showing off photos of your grandchildren. When those kids have grandchildren of their own, they’ll love showing off pictures of themselves, with you, to yet another generation. Photo Resources CLASSES Apple Stores Community Education Classes PHOTO DEVELOPING, PRODUCTS, AND STORAGE Walgreens Target Snapfish Shutterfly Flickr SPECIALTY PRINTING & SERVICES American Greeting Photoworks ScanCafe PhotoWow |
21st Century Family Photos