Beast is scanning his photos - now what to do with them

[beast66606]

Hopefully there is a poll attached to this topic for you to vote.

 

I will give it a couple of weeks and see what happens before deciding on the way forward.

 

I have a lot of photos, some not so good quality, from about 1976 onwards, they will be presented in the order in which they are scanned, unless it's easy to group together, otherwise I'll forget what I've posted.

 

I'm currently scanning photo number 1900 so there's plenty already done, I won't be sharing too many in each post, maybe up to half a dozen.

 

Your call.

[Andy Y]

I like the idea of a DaveF style approach Dave but maybe the best is to 3rd party host and use share settings which has BBcode which allows you to display on here at a size which suits better than conventional upload to RMweb? I know you keep (multiple) copies backed up anyway but if we ever had a major failure at this end it wouldn't disrupt an extensive archive displaying.

[TheSignalEngineer]

I think the 3rd party host with some samples here on a Dave F style thread would be a good idea. That would leave us the option of seeing more of a particular subject of interest to us.

Edited June 8, 2018 by TheSignalEngineer

[uax6]

From a personal point of view I'd like to see them here, I can't get to 3rd party sites...

 

Andy G

[PM47079]

Definitely a yes let's have some on here

[APOLLO]

I've put most of mine on my Flikr site (below), previously in a thread on here (also below). 

 

None of us is immortal and time marches on. If anyone can find use from my photos all well and good. If anyone wishes to publish them then just please acknowledge me as the photographer (though a lot were taken by my late father).

 

Is Flikr a trustworthy place in the long run after the recent shenanigans with photobucket ?. I honestly don't know.

 

All my photos are also backed up at home on multiple hard drives also.

 

Looking forward to seeing your photos Beast.

 

Brit15

[beast66606]

Test

 

DAS574403 by Dave Skipsey, on Flickr

test 2

 

DAS574403 by Dave Skipsey, on Flickr

[beast66606]

test 3 - edited link

 

 

DAS574403 by Dave Skipsey, on Flickr

[beast66606]

I like the idea of a DaveF style approach Dave but maybe the best is to 3rd party host and use share settings which has BBcode which allows you to display on here at a size which suits better than conventional upload to RMweb? I know you keep (multiple) copies backed up anyway but if we ever had a major failure at this end it wouldn't disrupt an extensive archive displaying.

 

That seems to work ok Andy - my ickle tests were successful, that's looking a good way to go as I can also share on some of the specialist Facebook groups I lurk about in.

 

Upload once, share many - I like it.

[beast66606]

From a personal point of view I'd like to see them here, I can't get to 3rd party sites...

 

Andy G

 

Is that while you're at work Andy ? or is your Internet as bad as ours ? unfortunately I may have to use Flickr as it seems the best solution at the moment which sadly means you won't be able to see the posts until you're at home.

 

As an side join Facebook if you're not already on it and then join the signalling and March/Kings Lynn area groups - you'll see some of my stuff there. I know this doesn't solve your problem for viewing at work but there's a lot of really good stuff on Facebook, despite what the nay-sayers would have you believe.

[uax6]

Indeed it is at work. So I can't even see your test photos. I'll have a butchers about of Farcebook and see if I can find the signalling groups. I'm not that good at driving the thing, as I don't find it very intuitive!

 

Andy G

[APOLLO]

Nice USA photos on your Flikr site Beast.

 

brit15

[Rivercider]

I have voted for a specific thread like Dave F.

Though I also think it useful to also occasionally add to other topics if appropriate,

 

cheers

[DaveF]

I've voted (as you might expect) for a thread like mine, but there is a lot to be said for sharing from (say) flickr instead.  It is also a good idea to post in relevant topics.

 

My solution was to post on here fairly randomly and to put the same images on flickr in albums by route/area.

 

Obviously I also have multiple backups.

 

David

[Classsix T]

Skip, there's no "have Dave plonk all the Class 56 images on a CD(s) and post them to me for inclusion in GRIDIRON for which he will receive a gratis copy of any mag featuring his work" option. But then, the C56G membership don't do that either...sigh.

 

I'll let you get on with your thread now Dave! C6T.

[The Border Reiver]

One thing that I can suggest is to catalogue the photos as you scan them, preferably in a searchable database of spreadsheet. Otherwise it it becomes very difficuly if you need to locate a certain photo in the future.

[owentherail]

I've got 35,000 colour slides from 1978 to 2013 to scan....... Can't be arsed to start, so good on anyone that does.

[Phil Bullock]

I voted or the Dave F option ....

 

Memories of photos on other external sites going AWOL, but understand Andy Y's thoughts too so maybe a combination?

 

Phil

[beast66606]

I voted or the Dave F option ....

 

Memories of photos on other external sites going AWOL, but understand Andy Y's thoughts too so maybe a combination?

 

Phil

 

Hi Phil,

 

I always back up several times, I never rely on anything on the Internet, be it here, Flickr or anywhere, they are a bonus but it wouldn't matter if the photos vanished off them overnight.

 

One thing that I can suggest is to catalogue the photos as you scan them, preferably in a searchable database of spreadsheet. Otherwise it it becomes very difficuly if you need to locate a certain photo in the future.

 

I use SQLite as the database and I've written my own data entry screen so the photos will be electronically catalogued as I go (currently 800 out of the 2000 have been "typed") - all photos have the information written on the back and for the last 10 years or so everything is documented in Excel spreadsheets, one per day of photography. The front end can read them and therefore that data will also go into the database - and it's searchable.

[beast66606]

I've got 35,000 colour slides from 1978 to 2013 to scan....... Can't be arsed to start, so good on anyone that does.

 

I've got an Epson scanner which can take 4 strips at once - the slide holder takes 16 - and I bought a couple of extra cassettes so I can preload. I'm stuck at my works computer (I work at home) anyway so I can start a batch and leave it scanning, as soon as the batch finishes I put a new cassette in, preview it while unloading the scanned cassette and then start the next batch - you fall into the method of working which suits fairly quickly but it's a big job. I've got arond 100,000 negs to scan.

I elected to scan at the highest quality, which takes longer and uses more storage but - hopefully - it means I won't be doing them again.

I also take a pragmatic view on quality, yes I could spend ages cleaning the negs and flattening them but I have so many to do I've decided they will be brushed (very soft, negative cleaning brush) clean and gently blown across if necessary and that's it. Anything extra special can be scanned on an individual basis in the future - for example if a publisher wanted to use a photo. Personally I think you have to take this approach otherwise you will hit the wall very quickly with all that effort required.

Each to their own of course.

[jonny777]

I am one of the two (so far) who voted for scatter them around the site in relevant threads option, mainly because I like to do that;  hopefully it will help those with specific requests for classes/liveries/timespans etc. 

 

I am a big fan of the DaveF thread, but am not sure I would have the time to view many more if everyone started their own photographic threads. After all, there are many threads already dedicated to individual loco classes and you could upload some to those. 

 

I will add another +1 for the various Facebook railway photo groups, although there are now so many that they are in danger of spreading the availability of images very thinly; or duplicating the subjects. 

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Some thoughts:

 

I voted for the DaveF approach as that's a very good example of how to do it well.

 

Don't just provide a link to another site, as I CBA to click it. I want to see picture HERE.

 

Go for quality rather than quantity.

 

Image details are vital, otherwise what's the point? Train description, working, maybe some more personal notes about the picture. Doubtless we'll have lots of really accurate headcodes too......   But don't overdo it with complete loco histories (unless it's a scrapped engine). Just the allocation at the time of the photo should suffice.

 

Put it on Flickr too, so it receives a wider audience and is searchable.

 

A variety of shots, not just the 3/4 front views in bright sunshine. Bad weather is good too.

[beast66606]

Hi Peter,

 

Some valid points there  ..

 

I'm (currently) proposing using Flickr but embedding the image, so it's visible on here - as per the 37 above. (I agree with not wanting to link chase)

 

My problem with quality vs quantity is I have a lot of negs and to discover the real quality takes almost as long as just doing it - yes, there are some where I could go back and remove more dust off the neg, maybe try and flatten the neg a bit more (to get sharper scans) but I've decided - rightly or wrongly - that I want to get everything digitised so I've compromised.

 

My train details for early stuff  are sketchy to say the least, unfortunately at the time I didn't want to know what the working was (a very big DOH) so little detail aside from when and where in a lot of cases, and one of the drivers to share is to elicit any further info people can add.

 

My shots are most definitely not in the "trains are only fun in the sun" category and there are lots of signalling and other infrastructure shots amongst them.

[PenrithBeacon]

The problem with putting photos up on Flickr is that eventually you get asked for dosh. This will mean that Beast is paying out for our pleasure.

Edited June 9, 2018 by PenrithBeacon

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Hi Peter,

 

Some valid points there  ..

 

I'm (currently) proposing using Flickr but embedding the image, so it's visible on here - as per the 37 above. (I agree with not wanting to link chase)

 

My problem with quality vs quantity is I have a lot of negs and to discover the real quality takes almost as long as just doing it - yes, there are some where I could go back and remove more dust off the neg, maybe try and flatten the neg a bit more (to get sharper scans) but I've decided - rightly or wrongly - that I want to get everything digitised so I've compromised.

 

My train details for early stuff  are sketchy to say the least, unfortunately at the time I didn't want to know what the working was (a very big DOH) so little detail aside from when and where in a lot of cases, and one of the drivers to share is to elicit any further info people can add.

 

My shots are most definitely not in the "trains are only fun in the sun" category and there are lots of signalling and other infrastructure shots amongst them.

 

I admire David F and Dave for their tenacity at doing these scans.

 

One day when (if) I retire I'll get round to doing mine. Trouble is, I start something with lots of enthusiasm, then lose interest.......

 

Dave, I've got a garage full of WTTs from the late 1960s until the early 1990s, so if you ever want details of a particular working, let me know. Sorting all these out is also on my "to do" list though........