video Archives - Save Your Photos

Jan 31 2018

Save Your Photos: Video Slideshows and Montages

When you combine photos, videos, oral narratives and music into a video slideshow or montage, you create a living album filled with emotion and fun.

Video slideshows or montages are a fun way to bring photos and videos together to create a compelling and emotional story. When you add music or oral narratives or both, the result is a living album filled with movement and sound that triggers your senses.

Slideshows are a great option for family gatherings, special events, and celebrations. And they can be a fun option to enjoy on family movie night. Popcorn, PJ’s and precious family memories, can it get any better than that?

There are online solutions that make it easy for you to create slideshows by uploading photos and video clips. Some online services offer royalty free music and templates that make it simple for you to render a studio quality production in a few clicks. If you prefer a hands-on approach, iMovie (Mac) or MovieMaker (PC) may work for you, or you can invest in software solutions that come with more tools, effects, and support.

Tips for Video Slideshow Success

The shorter, the better! Attention spans aren’t what they used to be, so keep your slideshow to less than 10 minutes or even shorter depending on the event.
Use a combination of short videos clips (10-15 seconds long) and a variety of still photos to create movement.
Keep the photos moving along at a quick pace. The difference between 10 seconds a photo and 5 seconds, is huge. Stick to 5 seconds per image or less depending on the music.
Music can make or break your video! Music should match the tone and theme of your photos. Choose royalty free music especially if you plan to share your completed slideshow online.
Add an oral narrative. Record Grandpa narrating the story of his mom and dad and layer this audio with the photos and background music. Please pass the kleenex!
Don’t go crazy with transitions. Keep it straightforward and consistent for the best viewing pleasure. The Ken Burns effect is still a classic and dramatic way to view slideshows.
Add your completed slideshow to your digital photo hub and back it up.

Pass the popcorn!

We also invite you to visit our sister blog The Photo Organizers for more tips and in-depth knowledge from some of the top photo organizing industry professionals. To find a photo organizer near you, visit the Association of Personal Photo Organizers.

Nov 01 2017

Save Your Photos: Prints, Home Movies and Keepsakes

Consider these goals as you work with your printed photos, home movies, and other tangible keepsakes. Reduce the clutter, organize and identify, digitize and backup and create a photo-safe archive.

Now that we’ve addressed your digital photos and videos, are you ready to tackle the rest of your memory collection?

Your other memory ‘assets’ are printed photos, photo albums, scrapbooks, slides, family artifacts, kids’ artwork, documents, home movies and any tangible item that contributes to your family story. We suggest you approach this next phase with four goals in mind.

Reduce the Clutter

Your boxes may be bulging with memories, but we know from experience that your collection is filled with stuff that can be tossed. Duplicate prints, memorabilia that has lost its significance, broken trophies and more. Let’s see if we can lose a few pounds in the sorting process!

Organize and Identify

Your memory collection will be easier to access, digitize and share when you create order and identify your most important photos, movies, and memorabilia.

Digitize and Backup

Your printed photos, home movies, treasures and memorabilia are just as vulnerable as your digital images that haven’t been backed up. Until you digitize your physical collection, these memories could be lost through fire, flood, natural disasters, human carelessness, natural decay and any unexpected tragedy.

Create a Safe Archive

Once you’ve identified the keepers in the collection and created digital copies, you’ll want to ensure that your originals are archived and stored in a photo-safe environment.

Sep 22 2017

Calling All Photo Organizers: What Type of Genealogist Are You?

Every one of us who is organizing and saving our photos is, in some sense, a genealogist. Which type are you? This post is sponsored by Vivid-Pix™, a proud sponsor of 2017 Save Your Photos Month.

Genealogists make a career capturing a story so that future generations can learn about us. Even though there may be photos that we don’t want to be remembered, those are the ones with the best stories to be told! Unfortunately, not every family has a genealogist, but every family wants to share their memories with generations to come.

Each One of Us Is A Genealogist

I never thought of myself as a genealogist, but in the world of old family photos, memorabilia, connecting with our past, and ensuring treasured memories are shared with future generations, we have all become “genealogists.” We all have a different perspective on how we will fulfill this responsibility. As we used to print everything, these prints and documents (news clippings, etc) are fading.

We need to scan and revive our history so that it will remain available in the digital world – and not fade to oblivion.

But, I’m not a professional, just your everyday member of a family, so the idea of tackling this task seems overwhelming and costly.

Awesome or Awful?

Completing this task doesn’t have to be awful – it can actually be a lot of fun. I’ve had a great time learning about my past and reliving the moments with loved ones. AND, easy-to-use technology is making it, well, easy to accomplish the scanning, restoring, and sharing of your precious memories and legacy.

A picture says a thousand words and video speaks at 30 frames per second. Enjoy these videos on how 4 types of “genealogists” are solving their journeys – and having fun!

The Family Historian

Every life is a story worth telling and remembering. It isn’t just history – it’s family.

Calling All Photo Organizers: What Type of Genealogist Are You? | SaveYourPhotos.org — Photo Credit: Vivid-Pix

The Creative

Explore and be creative with your craft or hobby.

The Memory Keeper

Be Prepared – Not Sorry. Disasters large and small happen anytime.

The Connector

Collect Memories. Connect Lives.

Enjoy!

Rick Voight is a lifelong snapshooter, who has been in the imaging business for a few decades. “Rick, Randy, and a few excellent people” created Vivid-Pix™ to make it easy for customers to get and share better photos. Vivid-Pix patented and proprietary software’s follow the slogan created a century ago – “you press the button, we do the rest”.

At HP, Rick helped create the Retail Publishing Solutions division – connecting home, store and online – delivering photos and gifts in minutes, in an hour, and in a few days. At Kodak, he enjoyed working with just about every class-of-trade, developed relations and promotions with local, regional, national, and international sporting teams, theme parks, and organizations; creating new technologies and revenues.

Rick is a volunteer and board member working with multiple non-profit organizations.