Pictures/Photos

[stevewool]

We all have them, some are good, some are bad.

I have loads. Most are on a hard drive, but I still have loads of photos of the family from long ago. So how long do you keep them for? Do you go through them often and start to delete some that are on the hard drive, even though they are doing no harm there and they are not taking up much space either?

But then, some are of other people from long ago - some you never see again. So do you throw out or delete them or just leave well alone? You never know, those long distance people may turn up again

[Michael Parnham]

Took very few photo's in my life time, in fact for about 30 years or more never gave a thought to buying a camera, then in 2007 found a website FL350 of video's that people had taken of Aircraft, now that's what gave me the incentive to buy a professional video camera and I really enjoyed filming, Unfortunately haven't got it anymore. Recently wifey said she wanted a Canon D700 because some Filipina showing off on F...book had got one so she wanted one, £600 later I've never used it and Maritess presses all the buttons and knobs not knowing what they are for. It's in its box now until I get a tripod to use it for filming then it will hold my interest!

[Terpe]

I didn't finish scanning all my photo's before relocating here, so that still something I'd like to finish sometime.
I've kept whatever family photo's I could.
Even way way back.
I'll never throw them away or delete them.

To be honest there's no logic to it as I never look at them from one year to the next.
Hopefully someone somewhere one day will find them interesting.
Moments of our lives.

[cheekee]

Interesting.

I got my old family photos out and scanned some to send to Sheina the other day and it was enjoyable to remember the memories.

I won't throw them away. Intend to scan and fix scratches with photoshop.

[Terpe]

There's a few really good photo editing software about to play with, but I still feel Photoshop is the best.
It's pretty complicated sometimes but you can really get to grips with it and discover just how good it is when you have a good project like that to keep up the motivation to master it.

Years ago we spent hours and hours in the darkroom. Computer software is so much better and more interesting IMO

[cheekee]

There's a few really good photo editing software about to play with, but I still feel Photoshop is the best.
It's pretty complicated sometimes but you can really get to grips with it and discover just how good it is when you have a good project like that to keep up the motivation to master it.

Years ago we spent hours and hours in the darkroom. Computer software is so much better and more interesting IMO

I love photoshop and am pretty good with it now.

Using CS6 but I originally bought a copy of CS1 and upgraded from there.

Using Layers is awesome.

Peter if you like photo editing check out auto FX for some good plugins and Vertus fluid mask is awesome for cutting people things out of images.

[Arthur Little]

Throughout the twenty-four years of our marriage, my first [late] wife - a professional studio photographer (up until we wed) - found time to arrange hundreds of old black & white family photos ... many of them (including a fair few in sepia) dating back to the 19th century ... into an almost unique collection, based on information gleaned from her father, whose forebears had dabbled in photography almost since its inception in the 1840s.

Phew, turned out to be a somewhat lengthier sentence than I'd intended ... !

Anyway, most of the 'regulars' here will recall my mentioning at various times that Iris suffered from rheumatoid arthritis which, understandably, meant she was advised on medical grounds to refrain from going out to work after our two kids started school.

Consequently, once she'd attended to her daily household chores, she'd settle down to sort all those old photos in chronological order and finally put them into albums.

Having completed that rather onerous task, she then concentrated on all the more up to date ones she/we'd taken in the course of our own lives as a family ... incorporating numerous press cuttings of interest, ranging from the late 1960s to 1991 the year of her death; indeed she completed the last batch a fortnight before she died.

Resultantly, I now have a large cabinet filled to capacity with all this photographic memorabilia ... albeit the older collection featuring lots of people whom neither she nor I had ever known in our lifetimes (given that they were long dead before she and I were born) are now in her older brother's custody while the more modern ones are among my most prized possessions.

[stevewool]

I have just inherited lots of pictures from the family, some I have scanned onto the hard drive, the rest I have asked if the family want them, but as of yet no replies

[fred]

Good question Steve.
We have loads in old fashioned photo albums and they still seem to be in reasonable nick.. Lost loads in the past during one house or country move or another..That I regret a lot.
The thousands we have now are either on the laptop or an external hardrive..Thinking about getting a one terabyte HD and stick them all on that along with videos. The problem is though do these external HD`s last for years and years? Say 50 years or could all that data be corrupted,damaged or lost?
Some say they put them all on facebook but what happens in 20 years if they go the way of many social media websites and close down?
So what to do with all of our treasured photo`s to ensure our great great grand kids see them?
I have no idea!

[cheekee]

They say to truly back up digital media you should back it to to three different sources. You are right though. Recordable cds can break or get scratched. Hard disks can become corrupted or break. There is recovery software available but isn't guaranteed to get everything back.

Maybe in time these kind or storage mediums will become more bullet proof but in the meantime it's good practice to back up regularly.

Cloud storage can be useful but good services cost money and I don't trust google drive to be secure.

You could print good quality copies of really important photos which could be scanned again in the future if needed.

It's good practice to keep external storage mediums like hard disks away from magnetic interference. Don't use Ssd drives yet as they have a limited read/write ability at present and will break after so many cycles. Better to use a regular one. I keep really important back up cds in a locked container. Technology is improving all the time so hopefully we will get to a stage where reliability becomes loads better.

Difficult one really

[Terpe]

Technology is improving at an exponential pace and I'm convinced this will be the saving grace for our global economies and improvements in human life.

I remember those first computers, experts telling us that there's a limit to HD space preventing videographic.
I remember the moon landings that were made using less 'computer power' than my smart phone.

There's an amazing future in process

[mickcant]

Older named photos are a valuable addition to a family tree, unknown undated ones need sorting while there may still be a family member who knows who they are.

I nearly always find when seeing a new family tree contact they have a photo collection but no idea who they are.
Arthur's late wife did a really good job preserving them for future generations.
Mick.

[Arthur Little]

Arthur's late wife did a really good job preserving them for future generations.
Mick.

Yes, she sure did, Mick ... and she derived much satisfaction from a time-consuming task that would've been practically impossible to complete had she had a full-time occupation.

Now, all these years later, I'm reaping the benefits of the fruits of her labours ... thanks to her sheer tenacity.

If, God forbid, this house were ever to go up in flames, Iris's meticulous compilation would be the first of ANY domestic valuables I'd do my utmost to salvage, as it's absolutely priceless and, needless to say, irreplaceable.

[mickcant]

Yes, she sure did, Mick ... and she derived much satisfaction from a time-consuming task that would've been practically impossible to complete had she had a full-time occupation.

Now, all these years later, I'm reaping the benefits of the fruits of her labours ... thanks to her sheer tenacity.

If, God forbid, this house were ever to go up in flames, Iris's meticulous compilation would be the first of ANY domestic valuables I'd do my utmost to salvage, as they're absolutely priceless and, needless to say, irreplaceable.

Do you have anyone who could scan them Arthur?
Time consuming if you have a lot but worth doing.
Mick.

[Arthur Little]

Do you have anyone who could scan them Arthur?
Time consuming if you have a lot but worth doing.
Mick.

... yes, Mick ... there's either my son-in-law - or the nephew who helped me with the spadework in researching my family history - whom I could call upon ... or (better still) a combination of BOTH their efforts for such a MAMMOTH undertaking.

[imagine]

Good question Steve.
We have loads in old fashioned photo albums and they still seem to be in reasonable nick.. Lost loads in the past during one house or country move or another..That I regret a lot.
The thousands we have now are either on the laptop or an external hardrive..Thinking about getting a one terabyte HD and stick them all on that along with videos. The problem is though do these external HD`s last for years and years? Say 50 years or could all that data be corrupted,damaged or lost?
Some say they put them all on facebook but what happens in 20 years if they go the way of many social media websites and close down?
So what to do with all of our treasured photo`s to ensure our great great grand kids see them?
I have no idea!

An external hardrive is just the same as what's in your computer or laptop, and as you will know, computer and lap top hard drives do fail, there is no way to predict its lifespan,

I save on external hard drive and lap top; also copies on flash drives. I also load photos to free sites like photo bucket, and I also use drop box.

I wouldn't recommend to rely on one saved source