How Smugmug (and dGrin) saved my Christmas
So I thought I should post this, because Smugmug and dGrin helped me out a ton this Christmas. It wasn't the simple order some nice pictures for the family... this was a project.
It all started with an idea: Scan some slides. My parents have a whole bunch of slides spanning from the 1950s to the 1980s. My mom has always wanted to have them made digital so that she could look at them from time to time. I looked into some services, but they were pretty expensive.. I thought I could do it cheaper (and maybe even better) on my own.
So I started by posting a thread here about slide scanners. I got several good recommedations for the KonicaMinolta Dimage Scan Dual IV. There was even a heated discussion about the buy-use-and-return system. (I didn't do that). So, off to B&H I went. The person working in the slide scanner seconded (or fifth) that opinion, so I picked it up.
Now came the fun part... For several weeks, I scanned slides. 4 at a time. Over 2,000 scanned in the end. I didn't just scan them, however. I used ACDsee to enter the EXIF date for each and every one of them based on what was printed on the slide. I also added an IPTC keyword for everyone I recognized.
I could have just burned them on DVD and handed them over, but I had grander plans... enter smugmug. So onethumb announces that prices are rising. This inspired me to upgrade to a power account now so I could build a custom theme.
I used dgrin to read through some prior posts on customizing, and asked some questions of my own. Now I had a custom theme for these pages. I think the final product came out pretty nice! One of my aunts even signed up for smugmug and has started poting old pictures that she started scanning.
All of my relatives have been thrilled looking through the old slides.. they've had a blast. My original intention was to sell the scanner (here in the flea market), but I've gotten several requests to borrow it, so the flea market will have to wait!
So that my parents would have something to open, I did burn all the images to DVD. I even picked up a Lightscribe DVD... What cool technology. It lets you burn an image on the label of the DVD. Pretty cool... I used ADCsee's photoslate to create a collage of some of the images that I used on the DVD cover, the DVD itself and the background in the smugmug theme. It came out pretty nice.
Basically, I wanted to say thanks to everyone here who helped me out. It was a great hit.
If anyone wants to see the end result, here is the link : http://galla47.smugmug.com/GallagherZegers
-KG
It all started with an idea: Scan some slides. My parents have a whole bunch of slides spanning from the 1950s to the 1980s. My mom has always wanted to have them made digital so that she could look at them from time to time. I looked into some services, but they were pretty expensive.. I thought I could do it cheaper (and maybe even better) on my own.
So I started by posting a thread here about slide scanners. I got several good recommedations for the KonicaMinolta Dimage Scan Dual IV. There was even a heated discussion about the buy-use-and-return system. (I didn't do that). So, off to B&H I went. The person working in the slide scanner seconded (or fifth) that opinion, so I picked it up.
Now came the fun part... For several weeks, I scanned slides. 4 at a time. Over 2,000 scanned in the end. I didn't just scan them, however. I used ACDsee to enter the EXIF date for each and every one of them based on what was printed on the slide. I also added an IPTC keyword for everyone I recognized.
I could have just burned them on DVD and handed them over, but I had grander plans... enter smugmug. So onethumb announces that prices are rising. This inspired me to upgrade to a power account now so I could build a custom theme.
I used dgrin to read through some prior posts on customizing, and asked some questions of my own. Now I had a custom theme for these pages. I think the final product came out pretty nice! One of my aunts even signed up for smugmug and has started poting old pictures that she started scanning.
All of my relatives have been thrilled looking through the old slides.. they've had a blast. My original intention was to sell the scanner (here in the flea market), but I've gotten several requests to borrow it, so the flea market will have to wait!
So that my parents would have something to open, I did burn all the images to DVD. I even picked up a Lightscribe DVD... What cool technology. It lets you burn an image on the label of the DVD. Pretty cool... I used ADCsee's photoslate to create a collage of some of the images that I used on the DVD cover, the DVD itself and the background in the smugmug theme. It came out pretty nice.
Basically, I wanted to say thanks to everyone here who helped me out. It was a great hit.
If anyone wants to see the end result, here is the link : http://galla47.smugmug.com/GallagherZegers
-KG
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Comments
Great job. Super customization! You did a super job, keywording, and linking, and making it fun for them to find themselves. Just beautiful.
And I know from where you are coming! My first exposure to SmugMug was nearly three years ago, when I did the very same type of project.
http://williams.smugmug.com/share/7mc8b8k9QLsR6
And here's a post I made on another forum (before Dgrin was born) about my family's experience...
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isn't this a great source? i just love it.
my stuff
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
I'm probably going to need to hang on to it for a little while longer. Some of my other family members want me to scan some more. Hopefully soon, though! Then we can send it 'round the forum...
-KG