Madison
County Genealogical Society
Minutes of the Meeting - August 13, 2015
The August 2015 meeting of the Madison
County Genealogical Society was held at the Edwardsville Public Library on
Thursday, August 13, at 7:00 pm.
President, Robert Ridenour, called the
meeting to order.
GIFT
MEMBERSHIPS AVAILABLE
Do you have a family member that is
interested in (or even obsessed with) genealogy? A membership in the Madison
County Genealogical Society would be a very thoughtful gift. A gift card will
be sent to the recipient of any gift membership.
The following memberships are available:
Individual/Family Annual Membership $20.00
Patron Annual Membership $30.00
Life Membership $250.00
Contact our Secretary, Petie Hunter, at petie8135@att.net, about a gift membership.
August
Meeting
On August 13, 2015, Tom Pearson, Subject
Specialist in the Genealogy Room of the St. Louis Public Library, presented Picture This:
Finding, Filing, and Editing Digital Photos for the Genealogist. The
program included information on finding, filing, and editing digital
photographs of special interest to genealogists. Mr. Pearson discussed Image
File Formats, Digital Image Editors, Image Filing Systems, and Fair Use of
Images.
IMAGE FILE FORMATS
Image file formats are standardized means of organizing and storing digital
images. Image files are composed of digital data in a format that can be rasterized for use on a computer display or printer. An
image file format may store data in uncompressed, compressed, or vector
formats. Once rasterized, an image becomes a grid of
pixels, each of which has a number of bits to designate its color equal to the
color depth of the device displaying it.
There are several formats widely used in digital images. GIF, PNG, JPEG, BMP, and
TIFF are image formats widely used.
GIF Useful for displaying graphics with few colors and basic shapes. Still
widely used for producing image animation effects. Small file sizes.
PNG Originally developed as an open-source alternative to GIF (GIF is now also
patent-free). Good for files with large, uniformly colored areas. Designed to
make nice with web browsers.
JPEG Used by nearly every digital camera (JPEG 2000 is used in some digital
cameras for video applications), and universally supported by image viewers and
editors. Files are compressed (and therefore smaller in size), but a JPEG image
also degrades in overall quality each time it is saved.
BMP Handles graphics files in the Windows OS. Large file sizes.
TIFF Some digital cameras can save images in TIFF format, but this format is
not supported by some web browsers. High-quality (and therefore very
large-sized) TIFF images are the photographic standard in the printing
industry.
DIGITAL IMAGE EDITOR CLASSIFICATIONS
Basic Editors are applications that allow you to make simple changes to an
existing image. They help you quickly and easily make small adjustments to the
overall lighting, colors, and tones of your images without the clutter of a lot
of advanced tool sets. They also offer tools such as cropping, sharpening, and
red eye correction. Ease of use is the key.
Mid-level Editors offer more advanced tools like layers, adding captions and
shapes, the ability to select portions of the image and make adjustments to
just those portions, etc. They will also offer filters for applying textures,
artistic effects, edge enhancements, borders, and frames. The breadth of image
enhancements and drawing tools are the most important considerations.
Advanced Editors have additional photographic features that work with the
features of specific cameras and the files that they generate. They usually
compete with professional programs like Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro in some
aspects if not all. The primary criterion is the ability to work with imaging
from many devices.
Digital Imaging Suites bundle related modules or applications to extend the
functionality of the core (basic) image editor. The extra features can be
intermediate or advanced, so that suites generally offer all three levels of
capability. There is no primary criterion for this group because they cover
aspects of the other three classes.
IMAGE FILING SYSTEMS
You may already be using an image filing system for your family photos that
allows you to easily retrieve photos of interest. If so, great! If not,
however, Mr. Pearson suggests this system:
[Last name First name Middle Name]_[DOB]_[State/Country of birth]_[File
type]_[Topic]_[Photo #]
FAIR USE OF IMAGES
In general, if a website is not a federal government website, and its terms of
use do not specifically state that images on the website are public
domain/copyright-free, then assume that all images on that website are
protected by copyright. Ask permission of the webmaster before using any of the
images on a website or in a printed publication.
PRESENTATION HANDOUT
Mr. Pearson had a handout containing lists of digital image editors, sites with
information about fair use of images, and sites that are sources of various
types of images. If you would like receive an electronic copy of this handout
with live links to all the websites mentioned, send an e-mail requesting a copy
to: tpearson@slpl.org.
This presentation was very well received and provoked many questions and
comments.