Getting Started / Linda Knapp
Digital images allow for easy sharing of family reunion

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We all descended on my brother's place in Florida and took over a nearby beach house where we played and visited for five days, despite the 40- to 50-degree wet weather.

I traveled low-tech this time, with only my camera and cellphone. I shot 50 pictures, which seems like a lot, but didn't come close to filling the 512 MB memory card in my Olympus C-5050 digital camera.

This camera is unobtrusively small, and I managed not to bother people with my constant clicking by using no flash or low-intensity flash when the indoor light was low.

I snapped while we searched for shells on the beach, played games, romped, cooked meals, explored St. Augustine, and planned for my father's final years.

It was the best family gathering ever, and I couldn't wait to see the pictures. The night we returned I plugged the camera into the computer and transferred all the images.

The next day, I reviewed them, tossed out more than half, improved the rest with mild editing, and pondered how to share them with relatives on the East Coast.

Some prefer printed photos and others want them electronically, so I decided to do it all — a printed photo collage, a Web page of images and a slideshow on CD.

Last year, I did similar projects for my two older kids' college graduations and my mother-in-law's memorial. Those were well received, and I'm hopeful these will be as well.

If you'd like to try one or two of these projects, I'll explain how.

The most distinct is the two-page printed photo collage, and perhaps the most prized of prints, because it captures the people plus events and can stand up for display on a table or shelf.
 
To make it, I used Adobe InDesign, though any page-layout software will do, as long as it enables photos to be placed anywhere on the page.

The next step is to select up to 20 photos that include everyone and the major activities. The trick is to re-create the experience while using images that bring out the best in people.

I placed the photos in roughly chronological order with a balance of portraits and candid shots of individuals and groups.

It took time to develop a design that was aesthetically interesting and emotionally uplifting. I chose to omit captions except for a title and date.

I printed the results on premium photo paper, mounted them (using double-sided sticky tape) on black matte board, and pasted the double-page display inside a plain black presentation folder. It looked great.

Next, I posted some of the photos on my Apple HomePage Web site. I picked the best 48 (maximum) images, arranged them in a "Reunion" folder and pressed HomePage (in iPhoto) to post them on the site. Now, any relatives with Internet access can see the collection.

Besides HomePage, there are many Web sites that provide space for posting photos, such as Shutterfly.com, Ofoto.com, and Webshots.com.

Finally, I created a slideshow of 60 images with musical background to burn on CDs for the family.

There's no limit to the number of photos in a show, and the progression of images with music effectively portrays the five-day experience.

There are abundant programs available to do this (including Apple iPhoto, Adobe Photoshop Album and Microsoft Digital Image Suite).

However, I chose to use Callisto PhotoParade Essentials this time because my relatives all have PCs and this software enables them simply to insert the CD and watch the show, without having to download or update a player.

PhotoParade requires a PC to create the show, so I moved the photos from Mac to PC with a 256 MB mini-USB drive.

Creating the photo slideshow is as easy as arranging photos on the storyboard, adding voice or text captions, a theme and music.

I omitted captions, picked the plain theme with black background, and a Mozart piano concerto from the music library on my PC. Then I burned it on a CD, actually eight CDs, to send to relatives.

By the time I delivered all this to the post office I was ready to move from vacation mode back to the real world.

However, my sister called a few days later to request printed photos of her favorites — a reminder that I can't forget the standard 4x6-inch pictures that fit so nicely in family albums.

Still, if you've never made a single- or double-sided photo collage, and you have access to page-layout software, try it. Compared with individual snapshots, a collage tells a more complete and interesting story.

Write Linda Knapp at lknapp@seattletimes.com. To read other Getting Started columns organized by topic, go to www.gettingstartedremix.net.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company