Saving Images: Resolution and Format

Tip: Be sure to save your digital images offline even if you use an online photo site. Consider storing your images on a Photo DVD (pictured above) a Photo CD, on a digital media card or on an attached disk drive. That way, you will always have access to your original images in their original size and format.

When you upload your digital images to an online storage provider or photo site, be sure to check out what size image they store.

Some size re-size your images in order to make their storage more efficient. I was making a photo book for a friend and she sent me a Photo CD that she had ordered from her online provider. I loaded the image onto my computer and made the book. When the photo book came back, the images were very low resolution, looking grainy. I'd seen this many times before, so I took a look at the file sizes and sure enough the image on the disk were less than 200k! I'm guessing that the original files were some where around 5 megabytes.

I went to the online photo site that she uses to see what their policy was and after some looking found that they defined "high resolution" image size as 1,000 x 1,000 pixels. A camera that takes 12 megapixel images has an image size of 4256 x 2832 pixels. I checked another well known photo site that specializes on photo books and they "suggest" using 1,280 x 1,280 pixel images in their full page 8 1/2" x 11" photo books.

You might also want to check out what type of digital press they use to make the photo book and the settings they use on the press to print. I've seen photo books printed on a number of presses and there really is a quality difference. We like to use providers who use HP Indigo presses. we have a very picky retail partner who will only allow the use of the Indigo press for printing her customers books.

So why do they downsize? Simple, when you are storing millions (or billions) of images, the larger the file sizes, the more costly the bandwidth and storage. I talked to one online site that used to store 600 x 600 and upgraded to 800 x 800 and it cost $35 million to do the upgrade.

Be careful with downsized images. You'll run into big problems if you ever want to make a larger print or crop the image.

Working with Walgreens, aVinci Media has introduced a Photo DVD Archive product. The Photo DVD not only stores up to 4 Gigabytes of images (7 times the capacity of a Photo CD) but it also includes a free slideshow using forty (40) of your images set to music. You can watch the slideshow on any TV or Computer with a DVD player. The product is available on the in-store photo kiosk. As of January 15th, it is available in approximately 2,000 stores. It will roll out to all Walgreens stores in the next 30-45 days. The cost is less than $8

Photo Tip: Indoor Natural Light Photography

It's possible with the sensitivity of new digital cameras to take indoor or night pictures using natural light. Natural light is much less harsh than flash. The picture above was taken in a restaurant during a family party. In order to make sure your image will be in focus, set the ISO (film sensitivity) to a high number like ISO 2000. It is also best to have a lens with a wide aperture. I've found that an aperture setting of 2.8 is a must if your subject is moving. Once you capture the image, be sure to check the digital display. If your camera allows you to zoom in, you can choose an area, like the eye or hair to see if you can see detail.

One issue to using an ISO above say ISO 2000 or ISO 3200 is that the higher the number, the more "grainy" the image will appear when it is enlarged. A little practice will help you find the perfect setting. Natural light will add character and a softness to your subject.

One last tip, be sure to double check your White Balance. If you are shooting under fluorescent lights, you can get a greenish cast to your images. If you have a nicer digital camera, you should be able to set the white balance or use the "Scene" choice option to ensure the right color balance.

Storytelling Tip: There's A Story Behind Every Image

Every image has a story. For my mom's last birthday, my brother asked my dad for any pictures he had of mom. My dad sent over a number of slides and the image above was one of the slides he sent. We scanned about sixty of them and then made a DVD and a Photo Book. I wondered what the story was around this image. So today, I sent the image to my mom and asked her about the image. This is what she told me:

"It was taken in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. Right after Dad came home from overseas. We had been married 6 months. It was June of 1955. Ford Hardtop maybe 1954. We were just in the park, celebrating his homecoming. He had stopped in Hawaii - therefore the flowers. He had the white coat made for me in Japan."

Tip: If you want to know more about an image, ask. Use open ended, general questions like "What do you remember about this picture?" If you ask open ended, general questions, you'll find out more than you expected.

Follow up general questions with specific questions like "When was this taken?" or "Where was this taken?" Use specific questions as follow up to general questions. Avoid questions that can be answered with a "Yes" or "No".

Me in Black & White

Here I am a lot younger in a picture that I had not seen before. My grandfather must have taken it, because I ran across the negative, same issue as the image of the Indians. I had to scan it, crop and then improve.

I remember when my father planted the aspen trees behind us. That was taken in the yard of our home on Sumac Way.

Scanning Old Photos

I came across this image in a bunch of my grandfathers things. The problem was that it was just a 4"x5" Black and White negative. It is important to me for two reasons. First, my grandfather loved the Indians. Second, I still have the headdress that he is wearing. When he met these fellows, they were very, very poor and were quickly losing their culture. He helped them make the headdresses that he and the chief are wearing. He also worked with them, teaching them how to make drums, one of which I still have.

Anyway, I wasn't sure what to do with the negative and how to get at least a reasonable image. I opened the regular scanner bed and set it directly on the glass. I then removed the white backing on the scanner so that the light used to illuminate negatives was exposed. I did not use the slide/negative carrier since the negative was too large (You'll note I could not get the entire negative, so I settled for the faces). I set it in place and then set the scan to "film" and "b&W". I used 600 dpi setting. HP has some nice tips for scanning at the following link:

http://www.hp.com/united-states/consumer/digital_photography/organize_archive_photos/tips/10_tips_scanning.html

When I got it, it was a little washed out, so I used Adobe CS2 and cropped it and then used "Auto Improve". It added some dense black to the image and for taking a couple of minutes and costing nothing is a pretty good option. Now that I have the image, I'll take the negative to a good pro Photo Shop like Inkleys.

By the way, these are "Shivwits" Indians from around St. George Utah. Grandpa has the moustache.

The Three Myths: Myth #1 "It Takes Too Long"

This is an image of my two youngest daughters a few years ago. We got them a plastic blowup igloo. Great fun. When they got in, the static electricity nearly caused a thunderstorm!

Creating interesting products using your own digital images has long been plagued by what I refer to as "The Three Myths". These myths have been well earned in the industry and are still around today in an industry dominated by software tools, computer hardware and technology wonks. Here they are:

Myth Number 1: It takes too long

Myth Number 2: It costs too much

Myth Number 3: The quality is poor

Today, I'd like to take on the Myth Number 1.

In the early days of digital photography only the hearty, knowledgeable few were able to navigate the cluttered ocean of software tools and hardware. Creating a photo book using your own images was, well impossible. Along came some bright developers and not only was it expensive, it also took a long time.

At the beginning of 2008, the Photo Industry published a study saying that it took more than 19 hours for the average person to create a photo book. I was blown away and did some research. Did you know that it only takes, on average, 183 minutes to buy a car!

Who has 19 hours? I worked with a great lady, an expert in scrapbooking and the industry. When her mother died, she made her a book using an online photo book tool. I asked her what she thought.

"It took a long time" was her well considered reply.

"Will you ever make another?" She thought a moment, pursing her lips and looking up and off to the left. "No" she said after a moment. "Really?" I asked.

"Well maybe I'll do another if my father dies."

I was shocked. Here was an expert and she might make two books in her lifetime because it took too long.

More shocking was the industry's answer. After thoughtfully considering the time and effort it took, they suggested that retailer offer "training classes" in how to make a photo book.

I met another lady at a high end Photo Retail store. she had been coming to the store for more than a year in order to make the perfect book of a trip she took with her daughter.

Last March, I looked at a piece of software that touted itself as "the easiest to use option" on the market. The books were lifeless and single dimensioned. Worse yet, I did the math. If you were to try all of their potential features, you'd be choosing from more than 9.6 trillion choices. At aVinci, we're working to create solutions that create professional looking photo books, DVD's and posters in seconds.

If you have layouts or styles you like, art that impresses, tell me and we'll tell the industry.

Slideshows, DVD's and More

We live in the age of multimedia. Our lives are supplemented with wildly vivid imagery. Have you noticed the change in television studio sets since the introduction of High Definition? I took the picture above in ESPN's Digital Studio.

One of the best ways to showcase your digital images is with a slideshow. Now personally, I hate the word slideshow, but it is a word to which people relate (sometimes badly). When I was young, world travelers would come by the Elks Club with their travel photos and put on a slide show. "Here I am in front of the Eiffel Tower" was quickly followed by "My dog jumps in the Seine".

We've come a long way from simple slideshows. Here's a link to http://www.avincistudio.com/ where you can create a movie of your images in mere seconds. Just download the software and in minutes you'll see how great your images look in a full motion production.

What's more, if you'd like a couple of secret promo codes, I'll post those too if you ask.

I provided a sample above of a Wedding Production that was made in seconds using aVinci software. All you do is supply the images! Good luck.