You might already have PDF or JPG copies of non-digital photos on your computer (or tablet). They might have been created by a scan of a card photo done by you in the past or you might have had them produced by a processing lab from the negative. Please send the PDFs/JPGs to me inside a ZIP file.
If you want to comment on a non-digital photo you send me, for example to make clear what it is a photo of, or to point out why it is significant, or to comment on probable date (e.g. We erected a new replacement shed in the summer of 1998 so this photo, which shows the old shed, must have been taken before then) don't rename the PDF/JPG file you made in the past but send it with its original filename in a 7-ZIP, ZIP, or RAR file as an attachment to an email and make your comments in the email. It is best if the PDF/JPG file is the only one sent with that email so that it is clear exactly what photo your comments relate to.
Each non digital photo in card form which has not already been scanned in should be scanned in as a separate PDF file and sent as an email attachment.
When scanning select "portrait" A4 and make sure the photo is the right way up (not at 90 degrees).
Before scanning in, have a look at the reverse side of the photo and see if there is any relevant information there. Typically when a non-digital photo was printed on card, information would have been printed on the back to help the processing lab reproduce an identical print if the customer came back and asked for another copy. So coded information on the back will typically represent lightness/darkness corrections and colour corrections applied when the film was printed so that the lab could use the same corrections if a further print was requested. There may also be codes indicating the particular machine used for the print and the manufacturer and speed (ISO number) of the film. These details are not usually of interest but occasionally you may find that one of the codes printed on the back is the month and year - e.g. APR96. If there is a month and year like this, it indicates the month and year that the print was made, not necessarilly when the photo was actually taken. However it is still of some value in dating the photo because, for example, it tells you that the photo cannot have been taken later than the month/year shown.
If the back of the photo print does contain the month/year or some other relevant information you should scan both sides as a two-page PDF. If the back is blank or only contains colour/brightness correction codes and other irrelevant technical information about the printing process then there is no need to scan both sides - scan the face only. If in doubt scan both sides.
Give the PDF a name which includes the date it was taken in d MMM yyyy format - e.g. Photo of garden taken on 7 Sep 1997
Often you won't know the exact date that a non-digital photo was taken. If you only know the month and year just give that - Photo taken in Sep 1997 - or just use the year if that is all you are sure of - Photo taken in 1997
If you only know the approximate year use the abbreviation for circa - Photo taken c. 1997
If all you know is that the photo must have been taken in or around a certain decade, name it e.g. Photo taken c. 1990s. If you have no idea at all even what decade a photo might have been taken in, name it e.g. Photo - date NK
Don't make any markings on photos which are not already there - scan them in as you have them. If you have information that you want to tell me about a photo e.g:-
We erected a new replacement shed in the summer of 2000 so this photo, which shows the old shed, must have been taken before then
or
This is our daughter Jane's 6th birthday party. She was born on 15th June 1998 so I know that this photo, which shows the disputed land in the background, must have been taken in June 2004
send the information to me in an email with the photo attached.
If you have the negative for a photo you don't need to pay a processing lab to create JPGs from it at this stage (unless the negative is all you have and you have no card copy). Just send me a PDF scan of the card photo and if, later on, having considered the PDF scan copy which you have sent me, I think that some fine detail of a particular photo is significant, I can always ask you to send me a better copy created from the negative then.
But if you do decide that you would prefer to get a lab to create JPGs from the negatives anyway (e.g. because you have more money than time, or because you were thinking of having the negatives digitised as some point anyway) you should, as well as sending the JPGs from the lab to me:
send to me a double-sided PDF scan of any photos where the reverse side contains any relevant information such a month and year. It may be useful in establishing the date of the original photo because the photo obviously must have been taken before the date of the print.
if there will be a delay before you send me the JPGs from the lab (labs can take several weeks) send me promptly a representative sample of the card photos by scanning some of them in as PDFs while you are waiting to receive all the JPGs from the lab.
Create ZIP (or RAR) archive files containing the videos and send the archive files to me. Do this on the phone where the original videos are so that the copy of the JPG within each archive file will have file-system metadata which is, so far as possible, unchanged. In the case of any SDCards, insert them in any convenient device in order to create the archive. The phone may have a built-in facility to create archives but the built in facility may not allow you to create an archive in multiple files each one small enough to be emailed (this is normally needed for video files which tend to be large). You can instead install the RAR app and use the "split to volumes size" option to create the archive in a number of files, each one just under the email size limit, ready to be sent to me by email. Make sure that it is clear how many emails you have sent.
This information page is designed to be used only by clients of John Antell who have entered into an agreement for the provision of legal services. The information in it is necessarily of a general nature and will not be applicable to every case: it is intended to be used only in conjunction with more specific advice to the individual client about the individual case. This information page should not be used by, or relied on, by anyone else.
The information on this page about specific computer techniques is provided for information purposes only. Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that the information is accurate and up to date at the time it was written but no responsibility for its accuracy, or for any consequences of relying on it, is assumed by me. You should satisfy yourself, before using any of the techniques, software or services described, that the techniques are appropriate for your purposes and that the software or service is reliable.
This page was lasted updated in September 2024. Disclaimer