Photos of persons in family trees

[feelsrgreen]

Hello to all, not sure how to word this. I'm happy with Reunion, but using it can be a puzzle for my old mind.
I use photos when available for all my tree members. Note that I have restrained my tree to my personal Great Grandfathers c1880 on my mother's and my father's side as well, c1880. This means that only I need about 400. Yes the tree is quite small. I'm lucky to have most member's photos available in portrait modes. I have featured a typical photo of each person to identify their images on the tree etc.
Questions =
1. I have used scans of real photos in my large collection of 'paperwork', so would it be best to adjust and use the same colour on each eg sepia or B/White.
2. As colour pics became available and there are newer members's photos available, should I convert these to a copy in Sepia to match the old ones.
3. I have some members photos from early ages -as a baby, then and along the years to adults etc. I try to choose a mid-life-aged one, where possible such as marriage groups etc.
4. Filing and naming of photos are a big headache. Is there some guide to whether to use the maiden name of the females as in the tree, or their married name etc.
5. When a photo is of two siblings, and a bride and groom, do you copy that and assign a copy to the list of each person in the file?
6. With families photos of Mother, Father and children etc, which designation is used- ' Smith family ' is too easy to misfile. Which family of Smiths?
7. Perhaps using the file number of each person I.D. to name the file ? then add the name - eg ID 3 John Alexander Smith.

I know each person using a family tree would have their own personal method. I would just like to make a system and stick with it.
Easier said than done.
For instance my granddaughter has married and now has a son - Riley.
We have already an accumulation of many photos in just 10 months, some with his mother, some with his Gran, aunt, and so on. Most of these are in Jpeg format already, so filing on Mac is easy, but how?
Thanks to all for your help.

[ttl]

Re: Photos of persons in family trees

A lot of your questions come down to personal preference, but I'll try to share what works for me.

Some people have pretty elaborate folder systems for their photos, and they have been described a number of times on this forum. Mine is pretty rudimentary; in the Pictures/Reunion Pictures folder, I have a folder for each of the major branches in my family, and keep photos that are linked to Reunion stored there.

1. I have used scans of real photos in my large collection of 'paperwork', so would it be best to adjust and use the same colour on each eg sepia or B/White.

Unless I want to create a product (such as a chart) with some artistic uniformity, I will always use one of the best photos available, unchanged from the original. Two main advantages include less work, and images representative of the individual's time on earth.

2. As colour pics became available and there are newer members's photos available, should I convert these to a copy in Sepia to match the old ones.

See 1.

3. I have some members photos from early ages -as a baby, then and along the years to adults etc. I try to choose a mid-life-aged one, where possible such as marriage groups etc.

For the preferred picture on the family card, I will try to use a photo from the person's prime of life, but also include the others in their multimedia links in Reunion.

4. Filing and naming of photos are a big headache. Is there some guide to whether to use the maiden name of the females as in the tree, or their married name etc.

I'm pretty inconsistent with this, but take comfort in the thought that any name will help the next person, and context will assist them.

5. When a photo is of two siblings, and a bride and groom, do you copy that and assign a copy to the list of each person in the file?

I keep one copy of the file in the appropriate Pictures/Reunion Pictures/[Family Branch] folder, and link to this in Reunion for each of the people who is represented.

6. With families photos of Mother, Father and children etc, which designation is used- ' Smith family ' is too easy to misfile. Which family of Smiths?

As an example, I have a photo with the filename Ole&ThecklaLundinFamily_ca1935. Since my hobby is not cataloging photos, I'm satisfied to provide just enough info to allow someone else to figure things out if they have to. In most if not all cases, they'll have an easier time than I did.

7. Perhaps using the file number of each person I.D. to name the file ? then add the name - eg ID 3 John Alexander Smith.

This sounds like a very nice way to do things. Something that might enhance this would be to add the birth year to further distinguish between individuals with the same name (e.g. ID 3 John Alexander Smith b1835).

Good luck in getting your photos under control.

[Charles Bourland]

Re: Photos of persons in family trees

Hello to all, not sure how to word this. I'm happy with Reunion, but using it can be a puzzle for my old mind.
I use photos when available for all my tree members. Note that I have restrained my tree to my personal Great Grandfathers c1880 on my mother's and my father's side as well, c1880. This means that only I need about 400. Yes the tree is quite small. I'm lucky to have most member's photos available in portrait modes. I have featured a typical photo of each person to identify their images on the tree etc.
Questions =
1. I have used scans of real photos in my large collection of 'paperwork', so would it be best to adjust and use the same colour on each eg sepia or B/White.
2. As colour pics became available and there are newer members's photos available, should I convert these to a copy in Sepia to match the old ones.
3. I have some members photos from early ages -as a baby, then and along the years to adults etc. I try to choose a mid-life-aged one, where possible such as marriage groups etc.
4. Filing and naming of photos are a big headache. Is there some guide to whether to use the maiden name of the females as in the tree, or their married name etc.
5. When a photo is of two siblings, and a bride and groom, do you copy that and assign a copy to the list of each person in the file?
6. With families photos of Mother, Father and children etc, which designation is used- ' Smith family ' is too easy to misfile. Which family of Smiths?
7. Perhaps using the file number of each person I.D. to name the file ? then add the name - eg ID 3 John Alexander Smith.

I know each person using a family tree would have their own personal method. I would just like to make a system and stick with it.
Easier said than done.
For instance my granddaughter has married and now has a son - Riley.
We have already an accumulation of many photos in just 10 months, some with his mother, some with his Gran, aunt, and so on. Most of these are in Jpeg format already, so filing on Mac is easy, but how?
Thanks to all for your help.

One of the incredibly excellent design components of Reunion, unlike many other software
packages, is that on the Family View one can easily locate an unique "Person ID" and an unique "Family ID".

So if I have three pictures of a single person, and their Person ID is 54, then I label the pictures #0054 John on a horse, #0054 John on the porch, and #0054 John in bed. I then select the preferred picture and place it on the media location. When I print a book (Register) I know where to find the other pictures I might use.

If I have a group picture, I Shift/Control/4 and get individual pictures as appropriate and then label the group picture #0002 FG (which means it is the family of xxxx).

See www.genealogyhowto.com for other thoughts on pictures, especially when the person lived prior to cameras.

[Wayne Till]

Re: Photos of persons in family trees

Hello to all, not sure how to word this. I'm happy with Reunion, but using it can be a puzzle for my old mind.
I use photos when available for all my tree members. Note that I have restrained my tree to my personal Great Grandfathers c1880 on my mother's and my father's side as well, c1880. This means that only I need about 400. Yes the tree is quite small. I'm lucky to have most member's photos available in portrait modes. I have featured a typical photo of each person to identify their images on the tree etc.
Questions =
1. I have used scans of real photos in my large collection of 'paperwork', so would it be best to adjust and use the same colour on each eg sepia or B/White.
2. As colour pics became available and there are newer members's photos available, should I convert these to a copy in Sepia to match the old ones.
3. I have some members photos from early ages -as a baby, then and along the years to adults etc. I try to choose a mid-life-aged one, where possible such as marriage groups etc.
4. Filing and naming of photos are a big headache. Is there some guide to whether to use the maiden name of the females as in the tree, or their married name etc.
5. When a photo is of two siblings, and a bride and groom, do you copy that and assign a copy to the list of each person in the file?
6. With families photos of Mother, Father and children etc, which designation is used- ' Smith family ' is too easy to misfile. Which family of Smiths?
7. Perhaps using the file number of each person I.D. to name the file ? then add the name - eg ID 3 John Alexander Smith.

I know each person using a family tree would have their own personal method. I would just like to make a system and stick with it.
Easier said than done.
For instance my granddaughter has married and now has a son - Riley.
We have already an accumulation of many photos in just 10 months, some with his mother, some with his Gran, aunt, and so on. Most of these are in Jpeg format already, so filing on Mac is easy, but how?
Thanks to all for your help.

I can only tell you of my portrait naming convention:
Surname_GivenName_MiddleName.jpg

Tim's suggestion for adding a birth year for identically named persons is good too.

Then if you send pictures with a gedcom, the recipient can easily link the picture to the correct individual. Of course, If they are also using Reunion, you simply need to send the family file and photos.

[Bob White]

Re: Photos of persons in family trees

Mine are named much like Wayne and filed much like Tim. My variation is including the time frame. Thus, using my name in the example, the file name would be WhiteBob_Dec1994.