What would you use to identify photo's?

[TwigletNumber5]

What would you use to identify photo's for future generations to know who the people are?

I have a few unidentified family photo's and without being a super sleuth have no way of identifying them, although I am onto trawling through military uniforms and family names and military service records to see if I can identify any, some are from WW1.

I am concerned that my own family photo's should be identified for future generations to know who they are.

Soooooo, should I write in pencil, pen or on a lable to stick on the backs of photo's to identify people?

Is there a special pen I can buy and use that will be acid free and not fade away?

Twiglet

[Guy]

One way is to digitise (scan) the photo and add the names of the people (in order) underneath.
This allows any prints of the photos to include the names.

This also works with photos taken with a digital camera just increase the "canvas size" to allow enough room to type the names.
By digitally marking the photos like this the two parts are kept together.
Cheers
Guy

[TwigletNumber5]

Thankyou Guy, this I have done with some of my own photo's so I will have to do the same with the old ones.
One thing I am bothered about is that scanning may make the actual photo's disappear or fade significantly. One particular one of my grandfather in 1914 or thereabouts, was faded light to begin with and with a couple of us siblings scanning it, it has then seemed to fade even more? But then if it does fade to nothing, we now have a decent print.

Twiglet

[DoctorGeoff]

If you want to stick a label on, you can cut off the sticky strip from a "Post-It" note and use that (peels off easily, and does not damage the back of the photo).
If you read the thread on "Copying old photos" in this section, you can read about taking a photo of the photo rather than scanning it.
The pair of pictures of a small boy illustrates another technique:
The two photos were imported into Powerpoint, and the page then saved as a .jpg file.
With Powerpoint it is easy to add text for each shot.
Of course, you could do this with scans as well.

Another trick that I have used is with a large group photo - see the memorabilia section under Poole=Whiting wedding.
I started with a scan (had not thought of the photo of a photo trick back then) and imported it into Powerpoint.
Then I took a sheet of clear film (left over from the days of overhead projectors laid it over the Powerpoint printout, traced round the heads, and numbered them.
The scan of the group and of the clear film then got emailed to a 3rd cousin in Australia - and then we could start putting names to the faces.
It is so much easier to name No.23 as "Aunt Flossie" than to say the lady in the big hat next to the guy with the big mustache.
I don't see why you could not put say six single pictures on a single Powerpoint page (scans or digital photos) and either print them and stick them into a ring-binder, or mail the page to a relative tracing part of the same family, and see if they could name someone that you can't.

Sometimes, when you find a new relative (maybe through a commercial site) it is nice to be able to send them a photo - and maybe get to or three back.

Geoff

[TwigletNumber5]

Thanks for input Geoff, some good suggestions.
My brother eventually took photo's of photo's. The reason I cannot do in the above quoted bit, ie powerpoint is because I cannot do powerpoint (yet), maybe I will have to learn to do that?

[Darksecretz]

Thankyou Guy, this I have done with some of my own photo's so I will have to do the same with the old ones.
One thing I am bothered about is that scanning may make the actual photo's disappear or fade significantly. One particular one of my grandfather in 1914 or thereabouts, was faded light to begin with and with a couple of us siblings scanning it, it has then seemed to fade even more? But then if it does fade to nothing, we now have a decent print.

Twiglet

scanning shouldn't harm the photo it is sunlight that does the damage, one of the reasons that the photo might be so faded is that if you have 'photo A' you then scan that photo and pass the scan on to a relative, they in turn scan the scan and so on, the quality of the scan gets reduced more and more therefore you get a poorer quality print.

if you still have the original and can get it scanned onto your computer, then by using something like photobucket post it on here and ask for a restore, even if the picture is faded it is possible to bring it back to life [so to speak]

I would er very cautiously at sticking any type of label on the reverse of the photo, the gum can, in time, dry out and then the label falls off.

i'd personally look at something like this:

http://www.genealogysupplies.com/product/Archival-Accessories/Acid-Free-Photo-Signature-Pen-Pack-of-5-Black-and-Blue-and-Red-and-Green-and-Violet/

or this for a single one:

http://www.genealogysupplies.com/product/Archival-Accessories/Acid-Free-Photo-Signature-Pen-Black/

very reasonably priced too!