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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: fifer1947 on Sunday 12 June 11 13:24 BST (UK)
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I have boxes of them! ::) I am the last in my family so I have all the photos from everyone, and it suddenly struck me that when I pass away none of my children will know who the people are in the pics.
Can anyone suggest a way to identify the people on the photos (preferably without writing on the photos directly).
Thanks!
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Hi,
The quickest way with hundreds of them is to use the good old pencil on the back of them. Pencil will not harm the pictures .
The Pencil writing will be there for years to come if they are not handled much.
If you want a slow way without writing anything at all on the photographs is to scan every one and name them , or put them into photo albums and write in the album beneath every photo.
Kind regards
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Having recently acquired lots of photos of varying ages, some with ID on the back and others not, I can understand your dilemma.
Some of the photos were marked in pencil on the back, which sounds OK, except that it was a hard pencil and the writer pressed rather hard. There are pressure marks :( Other photos have recently been marked with identification - in blotchy biro which has then transferred itself to the photo surface underneath it in the pile :(
I have been scanning them and adding the id to them in a spreadsheet which describes the photo, its location in an album (if that is the case). It is time consuming to say the least.
Previously with large groups, I scanned the photo, printed it and then imported it into Word and added vertical lines to each face, printed it and then wrote the name of the person against the line. Useful if you can then get some other member of the family to confirm the ID or give their own version.
I'm sure there must be other ingenious ways of doing the same thing.
Nell
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I'm sure there must be other ingenious ways of doing the same thing.
Nell
That's what I'm looking for ;D
Many are already pencel marked on the back but not in a way that clearly identifies the individual ie "Meg 1921" !! Some are marked with a whole story but do not identify the individual except as "William" and this is a family of 10 children who each had a William, I'm reluctant to add even more or spoil the original tale.
Thanks to you both for suggestions.
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Hi Fifer,
I cannot add to the sound advice that you have been given, but your thread has inspired me to find the old family photographs and keep them for posterity.
Isn't it just typical: my father used to go through them every once in a while and say who they were, but we didn't pay much attention, and now it's too late. :(
However, I think that it is important to "catalogue" them from a historical point of view and these days they can be saved on computer and possibly downloaded to other websites that want to keep them, as a record of the times lived in.
Best wishes,
Dave the Walrus
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Good idea Dave! :)
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I wouldn't recommend using a pencil. Whilst a soft one won't necessarily harm the photograph, pencil isn't necessarily that durable.
One of my other interests is in musical instruments. Certain instruments from the 1920's and before have serial numbers written in pencil (inside so the numbers weren't susceptible to wear) and one regular topic of discussion on musical instrument boards, is how to make faded numbers readable.
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Why not just write on a small sticky label and then put it on the back of the photograph.
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Why not just write on a small sticky label and then put it on the back of the photograph.
I considered that but have sometimes found these labels come "unstuck" and attach themselves to the next article (in this case it would be the front of another photo! :-[)
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Why not just write on a small sticky label and then put it on the back of the photograph.
I considered that but have sometimes found these labels come "unstuck" and attach themselves to the next article (in this case it would be the front of another photo! :-[)
Scrap that idea then ;D
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I have quite a lot of family photos and I scanned them all in and have named the files for who is in them and saved them in Surname folders (and backed them up loads!). For group photographs, I have saved a copy of the picture and written the names of the people directly onto the image. Obviously as computers change and software progresses, my files may not open, but I hope to be around for a good few years yet, so will update and convert them when necessary.
It took a long time to do and involved speaking to members of my family who remembered the people but it was lots of fun (I've even recorded the sound from when I sat with my aunt and went through the photos for prosperity - you even get a mention Mark! It also has my mum shouting at me to clear them off the dining table so she could serve dinner!).
Whatever you decide to do, enjoy it! You don't say how old your children are, but I know when I was a child I loved looking through them with my family.
Kim :D
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My children are all in their 40's now so time presses on! :-[
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After reading this i have started scanning all mine to pc, 200 down 500+ to go, worth it in the end though
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I've been doing this recently too! I scanned my parents' wedding group photo and put white blocks beneath or above each face as space allowed. I tried typing numbers in but found getting a suitable font problematic so ended up printing out the scan with white blocks and writing numbers in each box. I made an excel grid with lines to write on, numbered it down the left hand side and had the following headings:
Name B/G (whether on the Bride or Groom's 'side') Relationship to Bride or Groom
This has worked quite well as I'm able to not only record the names but also a brief description such as 'Brother in Law, married to no.4' or 'Workmate from Philips TVs'
Seems to have worked quite well :)
Heather
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An archivist spoke to a meeting of the Edinburgh branch of the Aberdeen and North East Scotland Family History Society in March this year. She recommended writing on documents with a 2B pencil. She also recommended , when saving photographs digitally, to format them as TIF rather than JPEG files to retain the quality regardless of how often a file is opened. JPEGs deteriorate slightly every time a photo is opened.
Graham.
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An archivist spoke to a meeting of the Edinburgh branch of the Aberdeen and North East Scotland Family History Society in March this year. She recommended writing on documents with a 2B pencil. She also recommended , when saving photographs digitally, to format them as TIF rather than JPEG files to retain the quality regardless of how often a file is opened. JPEGs deteriorate slightly every time a photo is opened.
Graham.
Thanks for that Graham, tif files it will be!
I've more or less decided to keep and print scanned copies to which I will append the names and details. The scanned images also saved to CD. That I think will be the best of both worlds......... and of course the originals can go "back in the box" ;D
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This has worked quite well as I'm able to not only record the names but also a brief description such as 'Brother in Law, married to no.4' or 'Workmate from Philips TVs'
Heather
Just being nosey Heather, but did you really have relatives who worked at Phillips? Was it in Croydon? I only ask because most of my maternal immediate family worked there!
Kim
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Hi Kim, yes indeed my parents met at Philips Mitcham works in the early 1950s! Does that count as Croydon? Seems to be about 4 miles away according to Google maps.
Heather
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Heather - yes I think that's the one! My parents met there in the 70s and my grandad and aunt also worked there. Small world...
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JPEGs deteriorate slightly every time a photo is opened.
This is completely wrong. There is no loss that occurs from simply opening and closing a jpeg or any other computer file. Loss will only occur with a jpeg if you open it and re-save it. Any significant loss usually requires multiple re-saving. So if you plan on opening a jpeg, making changes to it, and then saving the changes, TIFF might be a better option.
Nick