This week we conquered the old, odd negatives dilema by using two things that we can use a lot. Don't you love when things you buy have many uses instead of just one or two?  The combination of Flip-Pal and Corel PaintShop solved the old, odd negatives issue but both will be used over and over in our family history project.

 Check out our 'Links' page to get your Flip-Pal or your free 30-day trial of Corel Paintshop.  

Today's blog is another video!  Have you found some old, odd-sized negatives? Curious as to what's on them?  Here's how to see them and then digitize them. Click here!

Every day in this family history project is a new adventure!  While scanning negatives using the Wolverine, I ran across some negatives that were a size I’d never dealt with before.  From what I have researched, they are from medium format film. Yet there are 4 different variations!  Just in one of my grandfather’s boxes of negatives, I ran across some that are:

6.5mm x 10.5mm (2.5 x 4.25 inches)
5.5mm x 8.5mm (2.25 x 3.5 inches)
5.5mm x 5.5mm (2.25 x 2.25 inches) and
strips of 4 frames per strip, each frame measuring 4mm x 3mm (1.75 x 1.25 inches)

These are all approximate sizes but none are used in our modern consumer world.  The wonderful thing is that they are hidden gems! They contain old pictures from 1919 to 1954 many I had never seen before.  Check to see if you have any of these old, odd negatives and on Wednesday, I’ll show how I digitized each one.

This week is easy.  If you have negatives or slides that you want digitized click on Treasured Archives Links page and then the Wolverine.  

Don't forget that each week you can always do just a few more scans of pictures that youwant to pass on.  Choose 10-20 more.  If you haven't gotten your Flip-Pal yet, you can find that on our Links page too.

Today's blog entry is a video.  Click here.

If your family is like mine, you’ve got boxes of slides and negatives. There may be some real jewels in there but they’ve been sitting in boxes because no one can even tell who is in the pictures!  So I searched for a way to see them and digitize them.  I also wanted it to be stand alone in case a computer is not readily available yet easily transferrable to a computer, small enough to be portable so I could take it on site with me. I also wanted something that would transpose the negative into a picture for me - either black & white or color.

That’s what we’ll focus on this week – converting slides and negatives to digital files to be saved.  I found the perfect product that does all that and more.  It’s been so fun to see pictures I haven’t seen before!  I don’t even know all the people in them so it has become a mystery game of sorts.  Gather your slides and old negatives and come play with me!

1.      Fly your flag.

2.      Enjoy your freedom!

3.      If you have spare time, make your own home “studio” and practice taking pictures.

Because physical, one-of-a-kind keepsakes can only be passed to one person, it’s good to have a digital likeness to share with the entire family.  Physical items can also wear out, break, or fade away.  Their meaning can fade away with each generation too.  It’s best to get these treasures digitally photographed and write a little something about them so future generations will know their significance. 

Photography is literally “writing with light.” So as you can imagine, light and composition are the two major ingredients of a good picture.  Since we are trying to pass a 3D item on in 2D we need to photograph it in a sharp, clear, defining manor.  You can still take beautiful, artistic pictures of it too but be sure to get the essence of the piece.  The difference is like Shakespeare vs. a technical manual. 

The pictures above show some lead crystal passed down to me from my great-great grandmother.  One is taken in its place in my home.  I used a large aperture to narrow the field of focus to just the front part of the larger piece.  It sits on a doily that the original owner’s daughter made.  The background is natural but too busy for archiving.  The other was taken in my “studio.”  No background, aperture tighter, and shutter open longer.  The only thing that could have made it more utilitarian is if I had placed a ruler in the front of it to get a sense of true size.  The background is actually a white roller-type shade that I attached to the wall using 3M temporary mounting strips.  I draped the shade over a table so I would not have any background at all.  I used the same natural lighting and I used a tripod for both compositions.  

Both depict the crystal and both require a statement of significance for the viewer to understand what it is, but the artistic version is a little busy and takes away the detail of the pieces.  Which is correct?  Whichever you like best!  If you are going to use a picture of an item in a video, a military uniform, for example, you may want to take the picture with a very non-descript background so you can “frame” it with a battleground or picture of the soldier wearing the uniform.