TIP #510 THE DIGITAL CAMERA IN GENEALOGY I have recently made another small step into the world of technology and purchased a digital camera. I knew nothing about digital photography; all I know is that over the years I have taken thousands upon thousands of snapshots, enough to fill about 10 albums for me, several shoe boxes and about as many for my daughters. And, I like most of you, still have unlabeled pictures which are driving me slightly mad in determining the 5 w's: who, what, where, why and when! As I looked at the photographs taken over the many years of my life, I could almost cry. I did the best I could with the camera I had, but some were so dark, so faded, some discolored. I was determined to learn what I could about the digital camera in genealogy work. For this post, I'm going to learn along with you some of the techniques to use with a digital camera; I know that I am thrilled with mine, although I forgot to get one with a few features I needed. Let's start with the photos you already have. I have always used my scanner to copy into the computer the old family picture and then edited it with an editing program. You can also use your digital camera. The camera comes in handy when you're visiting with Aunt Liz and she has THE photograph of which you need a copy. But, she wouldn't let go of that picture for anything; not even long enough for you to run down to the local copy shop. Aunt Lizzie says it's her picture and the family can just wait until she's gone. After much sweet talking, she decides that you can make a copy of the picture as long as it doesn't leave her sight. Not too many of us have a scanner in our pocket or a copy shop in the living room. What to do? Why not your digital camera? Or what if you have a picture that has turned red on you ... a common problem with photographs taken during the 1950's through the 1970's. Again, your digital camera can come to the rescue! Most of us don't have a lot of extra equipment and try to hold the camera steady as we shoot a picture of a picture. But, an inexpensive tripod (found at most department stores anymore including WalMart and Kmart) really helps. Your camera needs to be mounted upside down between the legs. If you want to be absolutely positive you have the camera lined up, you can use a level to ensure that the lens is exactly parallel to the photo. If you're like me ... I'll eyeball it and likely it won't be level. I just want to get the picture taken before Aunt Lizzie changes her mind! A copy stand is also handy at times. This will hold the book (photo album etc) and has a lamp on either side. This will distribute the light more evenly and has a place to mount the camera upside down. But most of us don't want to carry a lot of extra equipment with us or confuse the same Aunt Lizzie by hauling in more and more gadgets from the trunk. The tripod will normally work just as well. Natural daylight is the best for shooting books and photos (not in the direct sunlight however) or a small lamp by the item to be photographed. Before you take the picture, check your hands! No, you don't have to run to the bathroom and wash off dirt, but if your hands are shaking, even pushing the button of the camera can jiggle the camera ever so slightly. If you want a perfect picture, you can use the camera's self timer and move those shaky hands away! If you camera has a zoom lens (this is what I forgot in the camera I purchased!), there might be some distortion at the edges. If you're using the zoom lens, try to position your camera at 10mm or greater and being sure that the camera is parallel to the work. To be on the safe side, take at least three pictures of the same photograph or book. You can delete from memory those that didn't come out right, especially if you are hand holding the camera! I am not going to discuss f-stops ... primarily because it is a detailed subject and I am not qualified to discuss this! If you are taking a picture of a photo album page that contains more than one picture, take a picture (or 3) of each beaming face and then take a picture of the entire page. Much like photostating the cover page of a book along with the page you need; this gives you a source of checking the photo layouts; perhaps they were placed in a certain order on purpose, such as the youngest to the oldest child, or progressive ages for the same individual. And, as a personal aside, have a notebook handy and write down any information on that page to identify the person or place. We all get excited and take hundreds of pictures, visit a lot of relatives, go a lot of places and when we get home... ouch! Was that at Aunt Lizzie's house or Grandpa Bill's? Where was that cemetery? When you get home, download those priceless photos into whatever photo program you have. Here you can do your editing - brightness, size, and cropping. And, as my daughter taught me, rename those pictures! Digital prints are all numbers, rename them to something that makes sense to you later! I print off those pictures I want; and store the rest. I like using the digital camera over my scanner in the times when I need to shoot a picture of a three dimensional object --a piece of furniture, jewelry, and "things" that just won't fit on a scanner. But my scanner gets its workout too! Scanner prices have come down drastically, but there's just so much that will fit in my car! Taking pictures of slides will still be a problem. Digital cameras don't handle slides very well; and scanners don't either unless you have a new scanner with a slide attachment. It's many times better just to take your slides in to a photo shop and have them transferred to a Kodak Photo CD. It is noted that some sources stated that it's not a good thing to store your photos onto tape or a ZIP drive. They recommend only a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM. The life expectancy on the latter is said to be between 30-50 years; storage on a ZIP or other disk can damage the picture because of the magnetic properties. I hope mine hold out a while longer! You will save them as a jpeg or a tif file. It is also good to keep the information about the subjects, dates, locations, etc. in a separate file and store your photos just as the image itself. What size of camera should I get? Size counts in the digital camera world. The bigger the image (in pixels), the better the picture quality. It has been recommended to me by many that you should not get a camera less than 3.2 megapixels. Batteries: One must also consider batteries. Believe me, digital cameras go through batteries rapidly. Have charged spares with you! Most cameras will use AA or AAA batteries and recommend NiMH rechargeable batteries. The instruction booklet with the camera will normally tell you how many pictures you can take expect to take. I purchased an inexpensive battery charger that will recharge in 15 minutes; others charge in an hour, others a normal charge time - hours. I carry a spare pair of charged batteries with me. Memory: The camera comes with a tiny internal memory and a pair of batteries that last a very short time. The larger the memory, the more pictures one can take at one time without downloading the pictures. So I suggest buying more memory immediately! On a 3.2 megapixel camera with 600 mb of storage, you can take about 300 pictures. I purchased 128 mb and haven't had a problem. Once you have downloaded your pictures, you erase them from the camera memory and you're ready to go again. In conclusion. I have not meant this to be an intense lesson in photography. Believe me, I am not qualified to do that! To someone who is used to shooting pictures with a regular 35 mm camera, taking the film out and having it developed, digital photography can seem very complex. There are more add-ons one can have including little (and expensive) printing docs so you can print out 4 x 6 pictures on the site, etc. But I was looking for a camera that would shoot pictures of cemeteries, old documents and photographs as well as casual shots of the family and scenery. I added only the battery charger and the extra memory; I hope to invest in a tripod. Sound expensive? Yes, possibly, but prices are dropping. Up front there will be a decent expenditure. But when you shoot as many pictures as I do, I just did a little math. Roll of film: $8-$12.00. Developing: $10.00 plus or minus. Waiting for pictures to be developed? One hour, one day or several days. Ability to go back and re-shoot the pictures if they didn't come out right (we've all chopped off someone's head, caught someone with their eyes closed, had a shadow over the tombstone, had our thumb over the lens ... you know the story!) With digital, I can take a picture, view it, re-do it if necessary and have it immediately. No worry about lost films at the camera developing store, no charge for prints that didn't come out right. No begging the spouse to turn around and go back 50 miles to do it again. I have become so addicted to the digital camera that I carry it with me even going to the grocery store. Sound strange? Not really. Who knows what wonderful picture you might be able to capture on the way? (c) Copyright 7 Oct 2004, Sandra K. Gorin Colonel Sandi Gorin SCKY Links: http://www.public.asu.edu/~moore/Gorin.html Sandi's Puzzlers: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gensoup/gorin/puz.html Gorin Publishing: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/