Unconfigured Ad Widget

Collapse

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Writing on the back of digital photos

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Writing on the back of digital photos

    Following on from a mention of this in the Family Tree Software thread .....


    I have long wanted to "write on the back" of digital photos. Its OK if there are only one or two people in the photo but trying to name a file with a list of names just ends up being rejected as too long.

    I tried a couple of commercial things like FotoTagger but soon realised that these labels don't stay with the photo if you don't have that program .... rubbish in years to come!

    I have been thinking of trying the free Photo editing programs Picasa or Irfanview. Do either of these support permanent labelling of photos?

    How do you folks do it, please?

    Anne

  • #2
    So far, I have been using the "add caption" feature in Windows Photo Gallery (Vista) for labelling photos and also for adding census references to census images. It's very easy with Vista, but a bit more involved with Windows Live Photo Gallery in Windows 7, so I may try to come up with a different method soon.

    This looks interesting as it specifically mentions genealogy, but I haven't had time to read through it properly yet: http://www.rideau-info.com/photos/labelling.html
    Sarah

    Comment


    • #3
      Yes, I had read that one too, Sarah. I really want something (like it says in the article) that will stand the test of time, just like Granny's pencil notes on the back of paper photos! It seems a waste of time labelling digital photos if those labels will not stay forever with the photo AND be able to be found and read by our decendants!!

      Anne

      Comment


      • #4
        Yes, I know what you mean Anne. I would love to find a good solution too, as I don't feel I have a good solution at the moment.
        Sarah

        Comment


        • #5
          Lets hope someone can help us Sarah!

          What about it folks? Can we do this with Picasa or Irfanview?

          Anne

          Comment


          • #6
            Sarah and Anne, I just tried labelling some digital photos with Irfanview following the instructions given on http://www.rideau-info.com/photos/labelling.html.

            I had to download the Irfanview plugins 427 - a small d/load and just followed the instructions as per labelling. That part was easy!

            The only problem is I don't know how or where to see the labels. Maybe I need to load them to PB and see what shows????
            No, that doesn't show what I wrote on labels.???
            Last edited by Sunny Kate; 30-09-10, 06:02.

            Comment


            • #7
              Seeing the information is pretty easy (in Vista at least), in windows explorer right click on a photo and select Properties and details, once there is some data there you can also edit it. For example



              Personally I use Lightroom to manage my images (but I do a lot of photography, so I had a copy anyway). Picassa does store the information to the IPTC area where the format of your photos allows it. See http://picasa.google.com/support/bin...n&answer=15055

              For Irfanview, make sure you have the plugins installed. Open a jpg file, select Image/Information from the menu (or press I) and then press the IPTC button, and you are presented with 4 tabs to enter all your information into.
              Last edited by jtaubman; 30-09-10, 08:07. Reason: add Irfanview information
              Jane
              Family Historian User Group : My Family History : My Photography
              "Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad."

              Comment


              • #8
                Thanks very much Jane! I have read the Picasa link and it looks like just what I need, I'll give it a try.

                Anne

                Comment


                • #9
                  Hmmmm! Well, I've spent far too much time Googling for information! It seems that nothing is simple, nothing can be guaranteed to stay with the photo, nothing can be guaranteed to be viewed by every program you use or might use in the future, nothing would be immediately obvious as a caption to someone viewing the photo in the future (would they ever find the caption?).

                  Janes' advice is good but it all seems mighty complicated to simple old me!

                  I might be reduced to printing out every photo and WRITING ON THE BACK OF IT!!!

                  Anne

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    You can add text to photos in Photobucket. I've just been playing with it and these are a couple I've just done. The first one I added a border to and then put the text in the border so it didn't cover any of the photo. The outer border is black but you could crop that out.



                    For the second I put two different text items on the picture (ignore the daft tree caption)



                    This was all done by using edit, and then 'decorate' where there is a text box. I then saved a copy so I've still got the original without the writing on. I tried downloading it back onto my pc and they are viewable as normal jpegs with the writing on.

                    Is this the sort of thing you mean?
                    Jackie

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Yes, Jackie. That's exactly what I mean!
                      So are you saying (sorry a bit dim here!) that the .jpg you save to your computer from Photobucket has the writing on it permanently, and forever, whatever program is used to view it? That's great - I am happy to have an 'original' photo and a labelled one.

                      Anne (love the tree btw!!)

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Well I presume its permanent!! If you like, if you PM me your email address, I'll save one of them to my computer and then email it to you to check if the writing is still there (I know it probably sounds silly to techie people but I'm not techie and I like to check these things ;D)
                        Jackie

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          PM on its way, Jackie. I'm not a techie either - I just know what I WANT to do!

                          Anne

                          PS I'll have to go and get tea ready - be back later.
                          Last edited by Anne in Carlisle; 30-09-10, 17:35.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Anne in Carlisle View Post

                            PS I'll have to go and get tea ready - be back later.
                            Can you peel me some spuds while you're there please ;)

                            Email sent Anne. I think you can do this in various programs - try searching for 'add text to digital photo'. I've tried it in Paint but found it wasn't as versatile.

                            It would be useful for things like wedding photos where there are a number of people you want to label
                            Jackie

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Just to let everyone know, this works a treat. When you save the renamed image back to your computer its only small (about 170kb) but it can then be kept next to the main image (just add a '1' to the end of the name and it will file next to the main image). I have quite a lot of wedding photos which need proper labels to identify everone forever!

                              For me anyway, this is a great solution.

                              Anne

                              Comment


                              • #16
                                Another alternative programme that can be used to achieve the same as the photobucket result is Paint.net, available as a free download and has image editing capabilities too and a handy way to edit a batch of images at one go (such as resizing for example).

                                Text can be added to images in a whole host of fonts, colours and sizes and with/without shading. It can also be added onto the image or into a border around the image, example of text onto an image below


                                http://www.flickr.com/photos/50125734@N06/

                                Joseph Goulson 1701-1780
                                My sledging hammer lies declined, my bellows too have lost their wind
                                My fire's extinct, my forge decay'd, and in the dust my vice is laid

                                Comment


                                • #17
                                  Thanks for that, Glen. Super photo!

                                  Anne

                                  Comment


                                  • #18
                                    Anne, thanks for starting this new thread. I like the idea of labelling a photo. Jackie's photo above with the board and the text looks amazing. Isn't it incredible what we can do with computers these days? What will be left the generations below us to do? We'll have scanned everything, labelled it and built the tree for them!

                                    Comment


                                    • #19
                                      I use Ashampoo Photo Commander and it has a tool that allows you to add a text box to the photo and save it as part of the image, so you can "write" on the photo. Or, as suggested above, under "properties" you should be able to add comments to be saved as part of the file information.

                                      I'm sure I remember seeing similar tools on other graphics handling software.
                                      Looking for Bysh, Potter, Littleton, Parke, Franks, Sullivan, Gosden, Carroll, Hurst, Churcher, Covell, Elverson, Giles, Hawkins, Witherden...

                                      Comment

                                      Working...
                                      X