For Christmas I was fortunate to get one of those all-in-one units for my computer -- you know, the kind that is a combination printer, scanner, and copier. I have used the printer portion of it for various things since Christmas. I have tried out the copier, and it works great! However, with the holiday today (I was lucky enough to have the day off!) I was able to take a little time set up the scanner portion of it, and try it out.
So, I opened up one of the family photo albums and scanned this photo of Dawn Ann and me on the day that we were engaged (July 25, 1991). The picture is taken by my Sister, Jeannette, who accompanied us on our trip. This photo was taken near Yellowstone Falls, at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. I had not yet popped the question when this photo was taken. That moment would come little later in the day, along about sunset.
With the scanner I hope to capture many of our family photos, most of which I will post on Flickr. I will post a few of the best ones here as well from time to time.
I was pleased with the performance of the scanner. I have many of photos to go through. I have noticed that some of the older color photos (25-30 years old) are now beginning to fade and spoil. I hope to preserve them, and the memories they carry with them by digitizing them. It will also provide me a better way to share my photos with family and friends.
An added benefit of digital photos, whether taken by a digital camera or by scanning, is that you can post them on a web hosting site, such as Flickr (there are many other photo hosting sites as well - and many of them are free!) The advantage to posting your photos on the Internet is that if something were to happen to your photos, or computer at home (flood, fire, blue screen of death, etc.) that you now have a back-up copy off-premises, located on the Internet, where your precious photos can be preserved and retrieved. Many of these photo hosting services will allow you to choose whether or not you want others to view your photos. I know with Flickr, you can set the privacy level on your photos so that only you can see them, or only a few selected people, such as family or friends can view them. Alternatively, you can choose to allow your photos to be viewed by anyone -- its up to you.
2 comments:
I am hearing a lot of Charlie Brown adult talk there in the beginning, but I am a huge fan of flickr! Cool photo there David, thanks for sharing!
I've got the preservation bug. I've been scanning in old family photos in an effort to make them accessible to the family and also to keep them preserved. I have avoided flickr so far, but you make a good point about having a backup off premises. If I lost my digital photos, it would be a sad day. I'll have to look into it.
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