UpFront with NGS The Online Newsletter of the National Genealogical Society Volume 1, Number 13 -- 05 December 2002 :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: Co-editors: Dennis and Carla Ridenour -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Quote of the Day -- 05 December 2002 "In all of us there is a hunger, marrow deep, to know our heritage--to know who we are and where we have come from." --Alex Haley (quote from "Black Roots" by Tony Burroughs) Contributed by Curt Witcher =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Today In UpFront :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: NGS Tea Scheduled --Join the NGS Executive Director for Tea NGS Conference in the States --Conference Highlights NGS Regional Conference --Hilton Head Island, South Carolina NGS eBay Auctions --First eBay Auction a Success! Santa's Mailbag Software Review --Photo Collector from LifeStory Productions, Inc Research Tools and Techniques --The Digital Darkroom, Part 3: Editing Photos Captured from a Microfilm Reader Display News Items, Announcements, and Press Releases --Monmouth County (NJ) Genealogy Society Annual Workshop --101 Holiday Family History Gift Ideas Previous Issues of UpFront with NGS Family Reunion Calendar How to Submit Items for Publication in UpFront with NGS How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe NGS Contact Information :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: "UpFront with NGS" is a publication of the National Genealogical Society, a nonprofit service organization that leads and educates the national genealogical community. To learn more about the goals, publications, conferences, services and members benefits of the National Genealogical Society, visit the NGS Web site: http://www.NGSgenealogy.org © 2002 National Genealogical Society -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= NGS Tea Scheduled :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: Join the NGS Executive Director for Tea 8 January 2003, 2:30-4:00 pm. All friends, past volunteers and current volunteers, and other supporters of the National Genealogical Society are cordially invited to tea on January 8, 2003 at the Glebe Headquarters, Arlington, VA. The tea will be from 2:30 pm until 4:00 pm. Wendy W. Herr, Executive Director will serve as host. "Since starting my duties on October 1, I have been privileged to meet many of the fine volunteers and supporters that hold a warm place in their hearts for the NGS. I am looking forward to hosting this event to thank them for their efforts and to meet those individuals that I haven't had the pleasure of meeting yet." If you are in the area on Wednesday, January 8th, please feel welcome to attend. RSVPs are being taken at 1-(800) 473-0060 Ext. 116 or herr@ngsgenealogy.org =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= NGS Conference in the States :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: 28-31 May 2003 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Conference Highlights The NGS 2003 Conference to be held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania will feature a number of first time events and will offer family historians many exciting learning opportunities. For starters the 2003 event will be the first conference where family historians will have an opportunity to explore in depth problems associated with colonial American research. Significant differences existed between the colonies---no two were the same. Diverse forms of colonial government created records at variance from one colony to the next. Ethnic traditions existed that were still rooted in the culture of 'the old world.' Throw in the wilderness environment and researchers have a situation that makes researching colonial ancestors rather difficult. Five nationally recognized speakers will furnish insights into methods that can be used to reconstruct families for four colonies and one region. They include: Virginia, North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania and New England. The NGS 2003 Conference in the States will be the first to showcase several NGS GENTECH events. On Wednesday evening genealogical software developers and others who have an interest in the technical aspects of genealogical computing will have an opportunity to attend a presentation given by Hans Fugal that explores a data model that was elaborated under the auspices of GENTECH in the late 1990s. The NGS luncheon to be held on Thursday will be a joint event with GENTECH. Each day of the conference attendees will have an opportunity to attend a NGS GENTECH sponsored lecture. Developers of genealogical software will offer 'hands on' experience in the NGS GENTECH computer labs. Another first on this year's program will be the three-hour workshop that will show researchers how to abstract documents. The Education Fund of the Board for Certification of Genealogists will sponsor this particular workshop. The highly successful Master Lecture Series, first introduced in Milwaukee, will be continued in Pittsburgh. Four scholars and master presenters will demonstrate the methods they used to reconstruct difficult families under seemingly impossible circumstances. Each family will represent different types of research predicaments/problems associated with familiar family names, problems connected with the frontier or problems tied with a well-known family steeped in controversy. Genealogists looking for forebears in England will want to attend all four presentations to be given by Stella Colwell. Stella, who works for the Public Record Office in London, will be giving attendees a lot of inside information on how to go about finding records in Great Britain's National Archives. On Thursday, 29 May 2003 Michael Hammer, PhD will give a presentation on genetics. Professor Hammer is a geneticist, biotechnology scientist and director of the Genomic Analysis and Technology Core Facility at the University of Arizona. In 1997 he co-authored the paper that showed present-day hereditary Jewish priests, who by tradition are descendants of Moses' brother Aaron, are descended from a single male ancestor. Digital Records Service: NGS will be digitally copying your records-primarily we will gather your family Bible records for the Bible Record Archive; although any records that you bring we be digitized for you. Additional NGS Conference information is available at http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/conf.htm -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= NGS Regional Conferences :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: 14-16 February 2003 Hilton Head Island, South Carolina This upcoming regional conference will be hosted by the Heritage Library, a not-for-profit institution devoted to the study and preservation of history and genealogy. The speakers are Cyndi Howells and Sheila Benedict. Pre-conference speakers include Brent Holcomb, Steve Tuttle, and Alexia Jones Helsley. You might consider combining the Hilton Head Island conference with a family vacation as there are over 250 restaurants, 27 golf courses, shopping, tennis, 20 miles of beach, boating, history and eco-tours on the island to keep the rest of the family busy while you attend the conference or do genealogy research at the Heritage Library. The registration brochure should be available at the NGS Website, http://www.NGSgenealogy.org within the next few days. In the meantime readers interested in attending this conference are encouraged to view the Agenda posted at http://www.heritagelib.org/NGS.htm -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= NGS eBay Auctions :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: First eBay Auction a Success! The first item auctioned off on eBay for the purpose of building the Second Century Endowment Fund was super success! Buyers, often reluctant to bid on an item where the seller is new---and indicated by a pair of sunglasses by eBay---were not deterred by the shades and bid anyway. The item was a traveling church minute, dated 17 Oct 1864, from York County, Pennsylvania with the surnames SHELLY, CHARLTON, and HIESTER. "More important than the money raised, approximately twenty dollars, was the over 250 people that visited the site and learned more about NGS at the same time they we viewing the item", said Wendy Herr, Executive Director of the NGS. There was a noticeable change in the number of new members joining NGS and in the number of visits to the newly redesigned NGS website. Another auction will be up and running within the week, and the Society is actively seeking donations of items to sell to raise funds and awareness. All items are tax deductible to the donor, and greatly appreciated by NGS. Please contact Wendy Herr at NGS if you have an item at herr@ngsgenealogy.org -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Santa's Mailbag :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: Dear Santa, I have been a good genealogist all year. I have proven all new bits of information and I have cited all my sources. I haven't fallen for any of those silly genealogical myths. I have shared what I know with my family and I have helped new genealogists to get started in the right direction. I have labeled all of my family photographs and I have backed up all of my computer files once every week. I have been a really good genealogist, Santa! So please, please, please give me a trip to the NGS Conference in Pittsburgh for my Christmas gift this year. All of my friends will be going to Pittsburgh next May and I really want to go with them. I hear that they will have a lot of fun, learn a lot and have the time of their life at the 100th birthday celebration for the National Genealogical Society. Santa, take a look at the NGS web site and see how easy it would be for you to wrap up an NGS conference registration to put under my Christmas tree this year: http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/conf.htm Please say "Hi" to Rudolph and Mrs. Claus for me. Your friend, Virginia, the Genealogist --------------------------- Santa's Reply Hello Virginia, Thanks for writing! I've been tugging at my beard for weeks, trying to think of the perfect gift for Mrs. Claus. Your letter provided the ideal solution! As soon as I finished reading it, I visited the Website at http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/conf.htm Hohoho...it sure looks as if the NGS elves have been just as busy as our North Pole group. I explored every page and was so impressed with the program topics listed on the "At-a-Glance" page that I decided to purchase an NGS family membership http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/Bookstore/ListMemberships.cfm and then returned to the eShow site to wrap up three "Early Bird" registrations; one for myself, one for the Mrs. Claus, and one for Rudolph. I was delighted to discover that in addition to a substantial NGS member discount, I also saved $30 on each registration by registering before March 17, plus a $10 discount for each online registration, leaving just enough funds in my checkbook to grant your request. After all, anyone who cites all their sources and is wise to those silly genealogical myths deserves a special gift. Speaking of myths, Mrs. Claus and I have been helping Rudolph research his family tree in hopes of discovering the source of his unique facial features. Unfortunately, genealogical resources here at the North Pole are somewhat limited and we've been unable to disprove all those stories about Rudolph's ancestors that were tossed around during those early reindeer games. I'm thinking program topics such as sessions W102, Genealogy in a Heinz 57 World: Old Myths, Modern Methods; W121, Oral History for Genealogists and Family Historians: Separating Fact From Fiction; T207, The Internet for Genealogy: Setting Straight the Myths and Misconceptions; and T247, Genetics and Genealogy will help us discover the truth. See you in May. Your friend, Santa, the Genealogist PS -- Merry Research to All and to All a Good Conference! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Software Review :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: Photo Collector A Photo Management Program Developed by LifeStory Productions, Inc. Do you have a box of family photos sitting somewhere in your house waiting for someone to bring them back into the realm of the living? My wife and I do! Our box is a theoretical one filled with current paper photos, negatives, antique photos, slides and digital camera images. We have searched for years for some way to transform this 'hodge-podge box' into electronic files that can be manipulated into the many uses that might be required now and in the future. We wanted to be able to (1) presently enjoy these precious evidences of life and (2) pass them on to our descendants in a form that is usable and of interest to them. To our surprise and delight we have found a new, comprehensive photo management program that is just now being released by some friends I had worked with several years ago. It is Photo Collector by LifeStory Productions, Inc. of Orem, Utah. It was in development for more than five years and has gone through a grueling beta test process to make it solid. LifeStory is a group that has had a long term love for genealogy and wanted to originate a program that would be simple enough for the novice, yet robust enough for the very experienced both of whom have their respective 'box of photos'. This program is so well thought through and written that it is very easy to use. The 35-page manual was so well written that we actually read it first! Photo Collector was designed for a PC running Windows 98, ME, 2000 or XP. (It does not work on a MAC). The instructions for installation and operation are very clear and the terms unique to the program are logical and easy to understand. For example: * Collection - a group of photos kept together in a folder. * Hot Spots - labels that overlay a photo and can be hidden, shown on screen or printed to explain photo details. * Photo Info - a group of characteristics or words selected or entered by the operator that are used to sort and find photos in your collections. * Gift CD - photo collections selected for sharing. It also contains an automatic slide show that was a delightful surprise for us. It was obvious to us that assisting the individual user was a clear priority. We registered our copy on-line and were made members of the 'Photo Collector Club' which gave us access to free upgrades, hints, tech support and announcements over the internet. We found a lot of help by 'playing' the 'Show & Tell' training movies. You will appreciate the many helps that are built into the program, just as we did. You will get a flavor of how this program can help you with your 'box of photos' by viewing a screen grab of Photo Collector's Main Menu posted at http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/upfront/120502/mainmenu.jpg This Main Menu is used to access the eight major program functions. These functions are: (1) Welcome - plays a short movie (2) How-to - displays a menu of training movies (3) Support (4) Photo Collections - for manipulating photo collections (5) Working With Photos - for manipulating individual photos (6) Finding Photos - that allows searches for certain photos (7) Help (8) Exit My wife and I spent time trying each feature of the program. (1) We created new Collections and then moved, copied and added photos to them. (2) We added and edited Collection names, photo captions, info characteristics and the date photo was taken. (3) We scanned photos directly into the program from our scanner. (4) We imported photo files singly and in groups already on disk. (5) We deleted photos and Collections. (6) We printed 8 by 10 single photos and multiple thumbnails. (7) We tried the photo editing which worked well. The basic editing operations built into Photo Collector are: brightness, contrast, hue, saturation, gamma, rotate, flip, mirror and crop. (8) We did searches for photos using a word in the captions, characteristic types and by dates. (9) We added, deleted and edited 'Hot Spots' to photos and printed the photos with and without them showing. (10) We created Archive CD's of selected Collections. (11) We imported Collections from these CD's. (12) We sent selected photos directly to e-mail. (13) We created Gift CD's for our children detailing their lives. (14) We played slide shows of our Collections. When you use the program you will discover 'tricks' that help you. Some tricks we learned were: (1) Decide where to install the program - choose the drive that has the most space. (2) You must create a new Collection before trying to scan, import, move or copy photos into it. (3) Be sure and put the name of each person shown in the photo in the 'caption' in order to facilitate 'finding' those individuals later in every photo in which they appear. An additional trick a friend of ours shared with us was when he took his notebook computer to a family reunion. During the meeting he entertained the audience with the family collections he had created with Photo Collector by using a projector and the Slide Show feature. He had someone take pictures of the audience with his digital camera during the reunion. He quickly imported these photos into a new collection and showed the audience a slide show of themselves! The report was that it astounded them and was the hit of the reunion! I expect that he will create Gift CD's for the participating families so they will have all that they experienced in a low cost, memorable keepsake. Be sure you share the tricks you discover as they will help us and others, by using the Internet site and e-mail. So the question is, "Do you have a growing 'box of photos' at your home waiting for something to happen?" We believe Photo Collector is the answer to your dilemma as it has been for us. There is nothing on the market like it. We have seen programs that have a few of it's features that cost up to $300. Photo Collector, at $79.95, can not be surpassed. To learn more about Photo Collector or to purchase and register the program, visit the LifeStory Website at http://www.PhotoCollector.net/IsTheBest Reviewed by Floyd Nordin, Past president and founder of the Silicon Valley PAF User Group. (fnordin@bigplanet.com) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Research Tools and Techniques :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: The Digital Darkroom, Part 3 -- Editing Photos Captured from a Microfilm Reader Display This week we're going to discuss how to deal with some of the problems you might encounter when editing documents photographed from a modern microfilm reader. By "modern" I mean the type of reader that projects an image onto a vertical screen, not the older type that projects onto a horizontal surface. * Typical Problems* Although the setup for copying documents displayed by a microfilm reader is quite simple, these photographs present some unavoidable problems that will need to be corrected after the photo is captured. When shooting flat paper documents, what you see is generally what you get, however when shooting a modern film reader display, you soon discover that the captured image looks quite different from what you saw with your eyes. The first thing you'll notice is that your photo has a "hot spot" right in the middle. See: http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/hotspot.jpg This "hot spot" is caused by the projection system. Light is shone through the film, through a lens system, and then by the use of mirrors and other lenses, the film image is reversed and projected onto the rear of an etched translucent glass sheet, known as a Fresnel screen. Since you view it from the front of the screen, the reversed image looks correct. The problem with this projection system is that as the light is focused, it tends to be brighter in the center of the screen, and the brightness rolls off toward the edges. However, having two eyes, set apart from each other, we actually look at the image from two different angles. The brain then takes the two images and meshes them together into one image, with averaged lighting. This phenomenon reduces the appearance of the "hot spot." Your camera, on the other hand has only one eye, and it looks directly at the center of the screen. As a result, you end up with only one angle, no light averaging brain and a photo with an annoying "hot spot." You probably didn't need to know any of that, because what we are really interested in is dealing with the "hot spot." In addition to the hot spot, you might notice that the vertical and horizontal lines are not straight. Instead, they have a tendency to curve out from the center. This problem gets worse the farther from the center of the picture. See: http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/curves.jpg The curving lines are also caused by the projection system. In order to project the image from the film, onto a screen, with the actual distance from film to screen less than two feet, and the image multiplied by 20 to 30 times, the lens system must use highly curved lenses. The more curve to the lenses in the lens system, the harder for the lens manufacturers to reduce curvature distortion. Therefore, curved and distorted lines appear on the screen that is being photographed. If you zoom into your photo, you'll notice the third, and possibly the most annoying problem. This is a phenomenon caused by the Fresnel screen. The Fresnel screen is made translucent, by etching, or placing microscopic "pits" in the glass. This process creates a screen that allows a projected image on the rear to be visible from the front. It is a wonderful process for most applications, however when the light coming through the Fresnel screen is recorded digitally, the angle of some of the pits in the Fresnel screen and the color frequency of the light, create tiny areas of color separation in the projected image. Viewed with the naked eye, these are not noticeable, but what they do is create a gray appearance in the bright areas. See: http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/separation.jpg So, let's attack these problems by learning a few new image-editing skills and practicing some of the ones introduced in Vol. 1, No. 12 *Our Sample Image* The image we'll work with today is of an obituary published in the Beaver, Oklahoma Herald Democrat on April 4, 1935. This photo was captured from a microfilm displayed on a film reader at the Beaver County Pioneer Library. Our goal is to clean it up for use in a family history project and/or to include as documentation in a genealogy database. Note: the following editing directions are for PhotoImpact 6.0. You will need to look for similar commands and menu selections if you are using a different program or download the trial version of PhotoImpact 8.0 from http://www.ulead.com/pi/trial.htm *Today's Exercise* Step 1: Transfer the sample image to your own computer: As we mentioned last time, the exact steps for transferring an image to your computer will depend on your browser. If you use Internet Explorer, one of the quickest methods is to right click on the image URL and select the "Save Target As..." command. If this doesn't work with your browser or if you have problems transferring the image to your computer and need additional help, please send a message to ridenour43@msn.com The sample image (2.3 mb) used in today's exercise is posted at: http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/charles-conner-obit.jpg After opening the image in your editing program, you will notice that it is rotated to the right and has a yellow line running through it. This line was on the film reader screen as a guide, but when taking pictures it presents another problem; anything you want to photograph either has to have a yellow line through it or be off center [1]. I chose off center, however, when you get away from center on the film reader, you get distortion, and the column in this image is slightly distorted. I also chose to photograph the image horizontally in order to capture the entire obituary and less of the surrounding text. [1] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/1.jpg Step 2: Rotate the image so that it is upright. Select Edit, then Rotate & Flip, then Left by 90 degrees. [2] [2] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/2.jpg Step 3: Note that the column of text is slightly distorted [3]. To correct this distortion, move the image to the center of your workspace [4] and eliminate any extraneous areas, by cropping only the column of text you want to edit. Next, set the selection tool to Shape, Rectangle. Then, starting at the top left of the column of text, left click and drag down to the bottom right of the column [5]. Select Edit and Crop [6]. When you have just the column of text selected [7], expand the canvas [8] by 100 pixels in all directions [9]. Now, use the Rectangle Selection tool to select just the column again [10]. [3] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/3.jpg [4] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/4.jpg [5] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/5.jpg [6] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/6.jpg [7] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/7.jpg [8] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/8.jpg [9] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/9.jpg [10] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/10.jpg Step 4: In order to use the transform tools, the selection must be an object. Right click within the selection to bring up a menu window, and then select Convert to Object. This converts the selection to an object [11]. [11] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/11.jpg Step 5: After you have converted the selection to an object, select the Transform tool and choose the Distort attribute to transform the objects shape. You can move any corner in any direction, and the other corners remain stationary [12]. Click and drag the upper right corner down to make the top line level. Take care not to move the corner left or right or you will end up with a different distortion. If you don't move enough, or if you move too much, you can grab the corner again and re-adjust it. Move the corner so that the top line is level, and then repeat for the bottom line [13]. When the image is adjusted the way you want, Right Click inside the selection area and select Merge from the menu that comes up [14]. [12] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/12.jpg [13] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/13.jpg [14] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/14.jpg Step 6: When the column of text is straight, use the Rectangle Selection tool to select just the column, and then select Edit and Crop to remove all but the column [15 and 16]. [15] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/15.jpg [16] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/16.jpg Step 7: Our remaining image is brighter in the center and darker at the top and bottom. We will correct this by using the Mask tool to create a mask, and then use the Brightness and Contrast tools to adjust just the dark areas. To create the mask, click on the mask tool located in the lower right hand corner of the Photo Impact work screen. This will place a red mask over the entire image [17]. We want to modify the mask, by using the Liner Gradient tool with the start color set to black, and the end color set to white [18]. [17] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/17.jpg [18] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/18.jpg Step 8: Left click and drag a line from the center of the image down towards the bottom of the image [19]. Release the Left click to make a part of the mask transparent. The brightness and contrast tools will then affect this portion of the mask. [20] [19] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/19.jpg [20] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/20.jpg Step 9: To make the mask active, click on the mask icon in the lower right hand corner of the screen. The red area will disappear and a selection area will remain on the bottom of the graphic [21]. Using the Brightness and Contrast tools, make the necessary adjustments to the graphic. Clicking on the + of the Brightness control makes the area brighter, clicking on the - makes the area darker. Clicking on the + of the Contrast tool, gives the area more contrast, and on the - gives the area less contrast [22]. After you have adjusted the brightness and contrast to your satisfaction, Right Click inside the selection area and select Merge from the menu that appears [23]. [21] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/21.jpg [22] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/22.jpg [23] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/23.jpg Step 10: To correct the top of the image, repeat steps 7-9 [24, 25, 26]. [24] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/24.jpg [25] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/25.jpg [26] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/26.jpg Step 11: Its time to save our work to assure that the changes we have made are not lost. Click on file, and Save As [27]. In the window that comes up, select the location, file type (I like to use .BMP) and name the file [28]. [27] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/27.jpg [28] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/28.jpg Step 12: We want to make the background white, and the text nice and black. In Photo Impact, the method that I use is to make a two-color adjustment. This takes several steps, but gives good results. To begin we need to change the image from a true color image to a grayscale image. To do this select Format from the menu bar, then choose Data Type, and then Grayscale [29]. [29] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/29.jpg Step 13: Changing the Data Type creates a new window with a grayscale copy of our image [30]. Normally I would close the original image, and just work with the grayscale window, but this time I will leave both images open for comparison. If you decide to leave both images open, make sure the image named Untitled is selected. Do this by clicking anywhere on the image. Then, from the menu bar, select Effect, Special, and then Two Color [31]. A color adjustment bar will come up with a small preview window [32]. When you adjust the sliders on the bar, the small preview changes in real time. Adjust the sliders to give the best results, then click on Preview and check the full size grayscale image to see if further adjustment is needed. If not, click OK, however, if you think more adjustment is needed, click on Continue to return to the slider bar window [33]. [30] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/30.jpg [31] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/31.jpg [32] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/32.jpg [33] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/33.jpg Step 14: If you look at the title bar of the grayscale image, you will notice that it is being viewed at 24% of its actual size [34]. This means that the image is much larger than it needs to be, and if viewed at 100% of its size it would not fit on the screen. We want to reduce the size so that storage space is saved, and it can be printed and viewed more easily. To do this, we choose Format from the menu bar, and select Dimension from the menu that appears [35]. In the entry screen that comes up [36], we are able to adjust the size of the graphic to fit the output we expect to use it on. I try to set it to fit on one printer page. If you look at the center of this window, you will see an area called Preview. There are several selections, including Printer Portrait, Printer Landscape, and several Computer screen sizes. I would select Printer Portrait for this column. In this preview window, it should say "Exceeds page size." To the left of the preview window is the New Image window. This is where you tell the program, how you want to adjust the image. We will select User Defined, Keep Aspect Ratio, and in the Unit window, select Percent. Now when you enter a number in the width or height window, both are changed to the same. Enter a number in one of the windows, and you will see that the preview window changes to reflect what is entered. If the preview window still says Exceeds page size, then enter a smaller number. Keep trying smaller numbers until you arrive at the number that is small enough to fit on the page, but if increased, exceeds the page size. This should be around 30, and the preview shows your full column on one page of paper. Click OK, and your column should now say it is shown on the screen at about 80% [37]. [34] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/34.jpg [35] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/35.jpg [36] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/36.jpg [37] http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/UpFront/120502/37.jpg You should now be familiar with using the mask tool, and several other tools for editing your document images. Next issue, we will look at some of the updated cameras and other equipment that is being released before Christmas. Until then, think digitally--Denny Contributed by Dennis Ridenour, ridenour43@msn.com or UpFront@NGSgenealogy.org Note: To download previous issues of "UpFront with NGS" go to http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/upfront/archives. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= News Item :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: 25 January 2002 Eatontown, New Jersey "Putting the Pieces Together" An Intermediate Genealogy Workshop Beat the winter doldrums by joining the Monmouth County (NJ) Genealogy Society's at their annual Intermediate Genealogy Workshop titled "Putting the Pieces Together" on Saturday, January 25, 2002 at the Eatontown Community Center, 68 Broad Street, Eatontown, New Jersey from 9AM to 3:30PM. The day will include a choice of 10 lectures and a Question & Answer session with the lecturers. Topics to be presented: * WWI & WWII Military Records * Ethnic Research -- Irish, German, and Italian * Maps, Atlases & Gazetteers * Creating Timelines * Genealogical Proof Standard * Lineage Societies * Researching Your Ancestor's Locality * Monmouth County Research For further details, including directions & registration form, please visit the MCGS website: http://www.rootsweb.com/~njmcgs/events.htm Pre-Registration for MCGS Members: $20 Pre-Registration for non-members: $25 At the door: $30 Bring your own lunch; beverages and desserts will be provided. Snow Date - February 8th Contributed by Michelle Tucker Chubenko, MCGS Education Chair Monmouth County Genealogy Society http://www.rootsweb.com/~njmcgs/ NJGenWeb: Genealogical Calendar of Events http://mywebpages.comcast.net/famhist/calendar.htm -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= News Item :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: 101 Holiday Family History Gift Ideas The holidays are a great time to share your love of family history. Carol Harless has compiled a thoughtful and unique list of family history gift suggestions, many of which can be completed before the holidays and treasured for generations. You'll find Carol's list posted at the Silicon Valley PAF User Group Website http://www.svpafug.org/holiday.html -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Previous Issues of UpFront with NGS :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: Did you miss an issue of UpFront with NGS? Previous issues are located at http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/upfront/archives/ Searchable issues of UpFront with NGS are on RootsWeb: http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl?list=NGS -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Family Reunion Calendar :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: To add your family reunion to this calendar, please send an announcement to carla@jb.com To view a complete list of other coming events visit http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/newscoming.htm June 12-14, 2003 The BUNKER Family Association will hold its 90th annual meeting and reunion in Portsmouth, NH on June 12-14, 2003. All Bunkers and persons related to Bunkers are welcome. There will be visits to old Bunker burial grounds and the Bunker Garrison House site built by James Bunker c. 1660. Many Bunker artifacts, books and pictures will be on display. For more information, contact Gil Bunker at gilbunker@snip.net, 9 Sommerset Rd., Turnersville, NJ 08012-2122 or check the website at http://www.bunkerfamilyassn.org June 13-15, 2003 The descendants of Samuel SLADE will gather evening of June 13th, full day on 14th, and those interested in staying for church on Sunday June 15th, 2003. This event will be held at Fincher United Methodist Church, Meansville, Pike County, Georgia. We are seeking names and addresses of interested parties. For further information please contact Barbara Slade Dayhuff, bsd338@bellsouth.net June 21, 2003 The PINEGAR Family will be holding the annual PINEGAR family reunion in the Des Moines, IA area on 21 June 2003. We are seeking names and addresses of all relatives so we can contact each and every one possible. We are planning a fun filled day for all and hoping to exchange family pictures along with family history. For further info contact : vickie@mojaveweb.com June 28, 2003 Armand Allard DUPLANTIER: A Family Reunion and Celebration of Armand Duplantier's 250th birthday will be held Saturday, June 28, 2003, at Magnolia Mound Plantation in Baton Rouge, LA. All descendants of Armand Duplantier are invited to attend. If you are a descendant of Armand Duplantier, please mail or e-mail your name, address, phone number and e-mail address to Margo Duplantier Rhinehart, 712 Carondelet St, Mandeville, LA 70448, e-mail: Margo92802@aol.com We would also like to have the names and addresses of any other descendants you might know. If possible, please let us know how you are descended. Some of the other family names descended from Armand are Favrot, Peniston, Reynaud, Toca, Hatkinson, Fortin, Laquier, Aucoin, Meffre-Rouzan, Kleinpeter, Burke, Randolf, D'Armond, Hathorn, Noland, Lamon, and others. If you think you might be a descendant but aren't sure, let us know and we will try to help find out. We will put you on our mailing list for this exciting event, and further information will be sent out soon. In the meantime, please visit our Website at http://www.duplantier.org. July 4, 2003 The GIACOLETTI family of BISBEE, ARIZONA will be having their family reunion on 04 July 2003 at the GIACOLETTI Ranch in Bisbee, Arizona. If more information is needed please contact rugratgrm1@aol.com July 18, 19, 20, 2003 "Mother Cumberland-A Harvest of Memories: Reunion 2003" will be hosted by the Brady Family Heritage Association on July 18, 19, 20, 2003 at the Shippensburg University, Shippensburg, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. For more information contact Donna Cuillard at dcuillard@aol.com or visit the Brady Family Heritage Association Web site at http://bradyheritage.org/reunion2003.htm -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= How to Submit Items for Publication in UpFront :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: To submit an article, a helpful tip or news for publication, please send e-mail to: Co-Editors: Carla and Dennis Ridenour, carla@jb.com or ridenour43@msn.com or UpFront@ngsgenealogy.org -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: Send a NEW e-mail message to: NGS-L-request@rootsweb.com Type only one word in the body: subscribe ---or--- Type only one word in the body: unsubscribe For technical help regarding the list, including how to subscribe or unsubscribe, contact: UpFront with NGS, List Administrator Cyndi Howells, cyndihow@oz.net -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= NGS Contact Information :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: National Genealogical Society 4527 17th Street North Arlington, Virginia 22207-2399 Phone: (703) 525-0050 or (800) 473-0060 Fax: (703) 525-0052 E-mail: ngs@ngsgenealogy.org http://www.NGSgenealogy.org Membership membership@ngsgenealogy.org http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/member.htm Conferences conference@ngsgenealogy.org http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/conf.htm Learning Center learning_center@ngsgenealogy.org http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/edu.htm Member Resource Center mrc@ngsgenealogy.org http://www.NGSgenealogy.org/libwelcome1.htm Volunteers volunteers@NGSgenealogy.org -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=