Ancestry Quick Tip Jamboree: Identifying People in Old Photos Identifying Digital Photos On all photos in my genealogy collection, I scan the photos and use Jasc Paint Shop Pro (other software will work) to add text to the bottom of each digital photo. I add names, dates, locations, what's written on the back of the photo, or anything pertinent on the bottom of the photo. You can change the text color to white on dark photos. Or if you have a lot of typing, I make a rectangular box, fill it with white paint, and type the words in the box. For family reunion photos, I scan the photo, put the generic text at the bottom (1944 Riggs family reunion), then save it (Riggs 1944 reunion.jpg). The I type the name of the person right on the chest of the person, or above the person, and once all the people are named, save the file with a new but similar name (Riggs 1944 reunion names.jpg). That way if I find new information and some of the names are wrong, I can start over with the no-names photo, and add the names again. Thanks, Patty Delmott Identify People by Number Here's a variant of Sally Kramer's Quick Tip in the July 3rd Ancestry Daily News in which she described a method of identifying the subjects in a group photo. Instead of drawing heads by hand, you can use a photo-editor to adjust the image whose subjects you want to identify. I use Adobe Photoshop Elements, v. 2 (APE2), but the following directions are sufficiently general that they ought to work in other photo-editors. Save a copy of the original photo. If it's a color photograph, remove the color from it. (In APE2, choose Enhance > Adjust Color > Remove Color.) Then decrease the contrast and increase the brightness until the photo consists of light, flat, gray tones. (In APE2, choose Enhance > Adjust Brightness/Contrast > Brightness/Contrast...) Then use a Text tool (the Type tool in APE2) to superimpose a black number on each individual in the gray image. (You may have to set the text color, and the font style, family, and size before inserting the first numeral.) Print the resulting image on the top part of a sheet of paper, and distribute copies to each person you want to query. With a few copies of the original image handy, the grayed, numbered image makes it easy for friends and family members to respond to your request for help. Bruce King New Milford, CT Photocopy the Picture In large group pictures, you can take a photocopy of the picture and using the copy, number each of the people. Then, on a separate piece of paper, write all the numbers, filling in all names and information about the photograph as you know it. Then let other family or friends fill in the blanks. This works great for me, and I keep the copy with my family tree folio. You could also make copies to send to distant relatives for their input. Mike Hollis Look at Angles for Faint Writing I have had a set of photos of my "Great-great-great" relatives for over five years. I did not know who they were. There appeared to be nothing on the back or the front identifying them. Last weekend I was going through some old papers and these 1880s photos slipped out of the cover I store them in. By a trick of the angle of light I saw on the back of one "Great-Grandmother Cashel, Grandmother Cashel and a Great-Aunt" written very faintly in pencil by my father's sister, Aunt Doris. I looked at the backs of the three other photos at the same angle to the light and lo and behold-there were the names of those people! The lesson here is, do not always look at photos straight on. Try various angles of light; you may be surprised and delighted (as I was) by what you find. Pat Almond Family Reunion Photo Pre-Identified At your next family reunion, before you take a group photo give each person an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of stiff white paper. Each paper is numbered with a large black number from 1 to whatever number of people there are present. Have each member write their full name, address, phone, email, and which branch/part of the family they are related to. Arrange everyone for the photo with everyone holding their number just under their face. Make sure the photographer can clearly see each number. Take a shot. Then have everyone lower their number and take another shot in the same position. Afterward, you can easily match up faces with names and you have the information for a master list of all who attended the reunion. Janet Wolf Enlarge Photos For those who have family photos which are small, especially group photos, take them to your local office supply store, or where you get you photos done, and have an enlargement made. Sometime back I took a photo from a family reunion and had it blown up, and once enlarged I was surprised to find my great grandmother, grandmother, and even my father as a small boy, in the photo. The small size of the original had kept me (and my older relatives) from identifying people. The enlargement made it possible to identify nearly all of them. Judy Germann

Can this be done with IrfanView also? Does anybody have this program? I've been playing around with a picture in the program but can't seem to find a place where I can add comments etc. on a picture... Thanks for any help... Mary At 10:04 AM 7/15/03 -0700, you wrote: >Ancestry Quick Tip Jamboree: Identifying People in Old Photos > >Identifying Digital Photos >On all photos in my genealogy collection, I scan the photos and use Jasc >Paint Shop Pro (other software will work) to add text to the bottom of >each digital photo. I add names, dates, locations, what's written on the >back of the photo, or anything pertinent on the bottom of the photo. You >can change the text color to white on dark photos. Or if you have a lot of >typing, I make a rectangular box, fill it with white paint, and type the >words in the box. For family reunion photos, I scan the photo, put the >generic text at the bottom (1944 Riggs family reunion), then save it >(Riggs 1944 reunion.jpg). The I type the name of the person right on the >chest of the person, or above the person, and once all the people are >named, save the file with a new but similar name (Riggs 1944 reunion >names.jpg). That way if I find new information and some of the names are >wrong, I can start over with the no-names photo, and add the names again. > >Thanks, >Patty Delmott > > >Identify People by Number >Here's a variant of Sally Kramer's Quick Tip in the July 3rd Ancestry >Daily News in which she described a method of identifying the subjects in >a group photo. > >Instead of drawing heads by hand, you can use a photo-editor to adjust the >image whose subjects you want to identify. I use Adobe Photoshop Elements, >v. 2 (APE2), but the following directions are sufficiently general that >they ought to work in other photo-editors. > >Save a copy of the original photo. If it's a color photograph, remove the >color from it. (In APE2, choose Enhance > Adjust Color > Remove Color.) >Then decrease the contrast and increase the brightness until the photo >consists of light, flat, gray tones. (In APE2, choose Enhance > Adjust >Brightness/Contrast > Brightness/Contrast...) > >Then use a Text tool (the Type tool in APE2) to superimpose a black number >on each individual in the gray image. (You may have to set the text color, >and the font style, family, and size before inserting the first numeral.) > >Print the resulting image on the top part of a sheet of paper, and >distribute copies to each person you want to query. With a few copies of >the original image handy, the grayed, numbered image makes it easy for >friends and family members to respond to your request for help. > >Bruce King >New Milford, CT > > >Photocopy the Picture >In large group pictures, you can take a photocopy of the picture and using >the copy, number each of the people. Then, on a separate piece of paper, >write all the numbers, filling in all names and information about the >photograph as you know it. Then let other family or friends fill in the >blanks. This works great for me, and I keep the copy with my family tree >folio. You could also make copies to send to distant relatives for their input. > >Mike Hollis > > >Look at Angles for Faint Writing >I have had a set of photos of my "Great-great-great" relatives for over >five years. I did not know who they were. There appeared to be nothing on >the back or the front identifying them. Last weekend I was going through >some old papers and these 1880s photos slipped out of the cover I store >them in. By a trick of the angle of light I saw on the back of one >"Great-Grandmother Cashel, Grandmother Cashel and a Great-Aunt" written >very faintly in pencil by my father's sister, Aunt Doris. I looked at the >backs of the three other photos at the same angle to the light and lo and >behold-there were the names of those people! The lesson here is, do not >always look at photos straight on. Try various angles of light; you may be >surprised and delighted (as I was) by what you find. > >Pat Almond > > >Family Reunion Photo Pre-Identified >At your next family reunion, before you take a group photo give each >person an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of stiff white paper. Each paper is numbered >with a large black number from 1 to whatever number of people there are >present. Have each member write their full name, address, phone, email, >and which branch/part of the family they are related to. Arrange everyone >for the photo with everyone holding their number just under their face. >Make sure the photographer can clearly see each number. Take a shot. Then >have everyone lower their number and take another shot in the same >position. Afterward, you can easily match up faces with names and you have >the information for a master list of all who attended the reunion. > >Janet Wolf > > >Enlarge Photos >For those who have family photos which are small, especially group photos, >take them to your local office supply store, or where you get you photos >done, and have an enlargement made. > >Sometime back I took a photo from a family reunion and had it blown up, >and once enlarged I was surprised to find my great grandmother, >grandmother, and even my father as a small boy, in the photo. The small >size of the original had kept me (and my older relatives) from identifying >people. The enlargement made it possible to identify nearly all of them. > >Judy Germann > > >==== ROCKINGCHAIR-ROOTS Mailing List ==== >To find SURNAME LISTS: >http://lists.rootsweb.com > >============================== >To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, >go to: >http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237