TMG-L Archives

Archiver > TMG > 2002-04 > 1017723891


From: Collene Pearce <>
Subject: [TMG] naming/captioning photos
Date: Mon, 01 Apr 2002 22:59:54 -0800
References: <000001c1d98d$f13234a0$d6f8010a@aprisma.com>


> I'm new to the list (and to TMG - I've been using FTW for the past 2 years).
>
> I struggled with the issue of how to catalog and caption photos very early
> in my family research. I tried using file names to hold the caption
> (incompatible with CD file systems),

I don't quite understand what you're saying.

> text files (pain to maintain), etc.

Again, I don't understand this.
How would you put a photo in a text file (unless you use
base64 encoding or some type of encoding)?

>I came across a program called ThumbsPlus. It uses an MS Access
> database to record information about all your photos - caption,
> keywords, user-defined fields, etc.
...snip....
> Mike O'Brien
> http://www.milleker.org

I like the way you tie all your documents to an individual
in a genealogy project, but I'll bet we could think of a way
to tie the two, without all the redundancy and with maintaining
photo images independently. I once had ThumbsPlus+ installed,
but didn't find it useful, for my purposes, so it's now gone. ;-)

To the original querrant --
I REALLY would not recommend depending on any current album
software to store your pics and captions. IMHO, it is best
to store pic & caption together.

Is makes a great deal of sense to use Thumbs... or some other
type of album software to "look" at your photos or to keep
track of them, but I would not recommend using it to format
and store your photos. Any album software will have a limited
lifespan. It won't even be as long as microfilm. ;-)

Imagine how thrilled your great niece will be, 25 years from
now, when she finds your old "files" and the note you left --
"Dear Jane: I've spent years compiling these photos and
captions for you. I've formatted them with this fancy
program. I'm sure you'll be thrilled to see all the images
of your ancestors." And of course, the thrill Jane was
beginning to feel, at reading your note, turns to huge
disappointment when she realizes she can't recover anything
from your non-standard photo storing method. ;-) She'll
probably be able to send it off to some company who sells
conversion services, but it will cost her a mint. ;-)

Oh, sure, if you use a program like that, you can export
a JPEG image, when the vendor decides to sunset the software,
but then if one has to export the photo, in order to "save"
it, why bother storing it in the album software's database,
anyway? ;-)

I much prefer to do the work ONCE. If my standard files
fall out of favor with the general public, I will be able
to write a short, quickie script to migrate the image
files to the newly popular format.

My opinion on this photo/caption topic should not be
miscontrued to imply I'm "anti-database". I am not.
A true relational or OO DBMS is a wonderful thing, as
long as it is used in the proper environment.

Just my 2 cents.
:-)
acp
--------------
> Mike O'Brien
> http://www.milleker.org
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Norb Bankert [mailto:]
> Sent: Monday, April 01, 2002 1:33 AM
> To:
> Subject: Re: [TMG] labeling photos
>
> If you are talking about caption labels, I create white space at the
> bottom of the picture and type in the photo information. Examples can
> be seen at:
> http://www.bankert.org/photo_albums.htm
>
> If you are talking about file names, there are many variations in
> organizing by family, individual etc. My own method turns out to be
> more correctly called a "lack of method" relying more on separate
> directories per family with some haphazzard file naming. Luckily for
> me, the thumbnail views in windows explorer turns out to be the best
> way for me to find what I am looking for.
>
> Norb
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <>
> To: <>
> Sent: Sunday, March 31, 2002 9:57 PM
> Subject: [TMG] labeling photos
>
> >
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I"d love any suggestions you might have on labeling photos.
> >
> > I"ve been scanning family photos and have been struggling to come up
> with a
> > good
> > system for labeling them. Any ideas would be appreciated.
> >
> > Susan Wassenhove
> >
> >
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--

:-)
acp
******** "Too many stupid people. Too few comets." *********
**********************************************************************
* A. Collene Pearce * * www.jump.net/~collene *
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*

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