Parenting advice from an Apple-centric internet forum. Really??Thank you everybody for giving me your input!! I feel more confident in what I am going to do
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Taking so many photos/videos of your kids: is it worth it in the long run?
- Thread starter edavt04
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Good advice above, but also think about the future. Will your kid's kids like the photos, how about their grandchildren and future generations? How do you want them to be depicted? You know that even relatives do not want to look at hundreds of photos, nobody does, so pick the ones that are actually good photos or are representative of periods of development and what their talents are (when they are older and have a talent or interest).
MOST IMPORTANT: print them out, and better yet assemble printed albums that each can take with them as they leave the fold. At least one album might survive who knows how many years or even centuries. You can back up digital stuff a million times but it will not survive. People will be lazy and won't copy it over to each new storage technology, something that could change dozens of times. An album is hard to throw away and will survive even if neglected and thrown in the attic where it will eventually be discovered by someone who will find it interesting.
Add identifications and comments that you feel will stand the test of time. Make sure your name is there, and photos of the parents and other relatives so people can put this all together in 100 years and know who is who in the family history.
If you have a drawer full of old photos, scan them and print them out in album form as well. Do this now before something happens.
Make sure they know that carrying on the tradition is important and hope that at least one of them does.
I followed my own advice and when my kids had to evacuate due to a fire, they grabbed the dog and cat and the albums.
My albums were assembled and printed out via Aperture. Terrific. Sorry All-So-Connected Apple hot shots: Quitting Aperture was a nasty thing to do. Be thin and streaming while twittering if you must, but leave good stuff alone.
MOST IMPORTANT: print them out, and better yet assemble printed albums that each can take with them as they leave the fold. At least one album might survive who knows how many years or even centuries. You can back up digital stuff a million times but it will not survive. People will be lazy and won't copy it over to each new storage technology, something that could change dozens of times. An album is hard to throw away and will survive even if neglected and thrown in the attic where it will eventually be discovered by someone who will find it interesting.
Add identifications and comments that you feel will stand the test of time. Make sure your name is there, and photos of the parents and other relatives so people can put this all together in 100 years and know who is who in the family history.
If you have a drawer full of old photos, scan them and print them out in album form as well. Do this now before something happens.
Make sure they know that carrying on the tradition is important and hope that at least one of them does.
I followed my own advice and when my kids had to evacuate due to a fire, they grabbed the dog and cat and the albums.
My albums were assembled and printed out via Aperture. Terrific. Sorry All-So-Connected Apple hot shots: Quitting Aperture was a nasty thing to do. Be thin and streaming while twittering if you must, but leave good stuff alone.
Is it worth it?
Yes.
Do you need to document everything?
No.
While you may TAKE 200 pictures a month, you should really pare down the list unless your wife has some kind of near religious intolerance of deleting anything for any reason, in which case you should set her up with her own album on her own hard drive and delete anyway. (Not that I have any such experience).
Then put together books or whatever: Baby girl year 1, and so on.
No one really wants to sift through 2400 pictures of baby's first year. Lots of family wouldn't mind looking over a coffee table book from time to time.
Yes.
Do you need to document everything?
No.
While you may TAKE 200 pictures a month, you should really pare down the list unless your wife has some kind of near religious intolerance of deleting anything for any reason, in which case you should set her up with her own album on her own hard drive and delete anyway. (Not that I have any such experience).
Then put together books or whatever: Baby girl year 1, and so on.
No one really wants to sift through 2400 pictures of baby's first year. Lots of family wouldn't mind looking over a coffee table book from time to time.
I don't know how many photos I take a month but the amount has slowed down.
My son is turning 7 this year and my daughter will be 4. With my son, I took a lot more photos (with DSLR) taking it out at least once a week to shoot him and his neighbor friends. (It was also a nice new upgrade from previous DLSR) I make a DVD movie (photos, video, and music) each year at their birthday to play during the party and give to grandparents.
By the time my daughter came along I was shooting a little less with the DLSR and more with iPhones. And then when she became mobile and the take off in different directions it got even harder to shoot them. Each yearly movie for each kid runs around 28-35 minutes.
I have the movies in iTunes and sometimes we watch them on the AppleTV Or we throw in a DVD. My kids like to watch then and it is neat to watch them grow. Especially that first year
My son is turning 7 this year and my daughter will be 4. With my son, I took a lot more photos (with DSLR) taking it out at least once a week to shoot him and his neighbor friends. (It was also a nice new upgrade from previous DLSR) I make a DVD movie (photos, video, and music) each year at their birthday to play during the party and give to grandparents.
By the time my daughter came along I was shooting a little less with the DLSR and more with iPhones. And then when she became mobile and the take off in different directions it got even harder to shoot them. Each yearly movie for each kid runs around 28-35 minutes.
I have the movies in iTunes and sometimes we watch them on the AppleTV Or we throw in a DVD. My kids like to watch then and it is neat to watch them grow. Especially that first year
I can give a look back here. I'm organizing a 10 year celebration for our priest, so went thru the past 10 years of ALL my libraries and photos.
A) good photo management made this task doable
B) I also realized how my photography skills in composition and exposure and post processing improved over time
C) also see many pictures that I'd not keep now,
So, lesson learned upon taking delete in camera before downloading,then delete in computer before doing any post processing, then challenge yourself to only keep 20% max.
A) good photo management made this task doable
B) I also realized how my photography skills in composition and exposure and post processing improved over time
C) also see many pictures that I'd not keep now,
So, lesson learned upon taking delete in camera before downloading,then delete in computer before doing any post processing, then challenge yourself to only keep 20% max.
I don't have kids, but I do have a couple nephews, so this will be from an uncle's perspective. I like seeing pictures of my nephews, but not hundreds and hundreds. I like seeing important moments, funny moments, and most importantly, photos that incorporate their parents because it tells a family's story, not just a child's. So I like seeing the top 10-12 photos of the year from my brother. It really tells a story. I can look back over the last few years and not be overwhelmed with a deluge of photographs, but I can legitimately see their growth.
Don't make it a chore. Enjoy the journey, documents the interesting and personally important bits, and remember to live in the moments first are foremost, and document them second.
Since this thread got bumped, will add another reply with an example.
Especially as kiddos move out of the "slug" stage (meaning they start to move around more and develop a personality), take *many* photos each time you shoot. It's easy to fall into the snapshot mode of "I took a pic, therefore I'm done." Sometimes you'll "nail" the snapshot, often you won't. For moments that seem photogenic, "work" the scene as if it's the most important thing you have ever photographed or will ever photograph. Take many, many pics. Kiddo expressions change moment-by-moment, almost faster than you can trip the shutter and the "perfect" moment is sometimes a product of "spray and pray" or just plain luck. After it's all done, delete all the misses (which will likely be most of what you've shot). But hopefully you will end up with a keeper that will have some meaning for you and family.
"Nana's" birthday party. Had around 10 shots that I thought might turn out to be interesting when I shot them. Ended up liking this and deleting the rest. Family loved this shot. Ended up being a birthday present for Nana.
Especially as kiddos move out of the "slug" stage (meaning they start to move around more and develop a personality), take *many* photos each time you shoot. It's easy to fall into the snapshot mode of "I took a pic, therefore I'm done." Sometimes you'll "nail" the snapshot, often you won't. For moments that seem photogenic, "work" the scene as if it's the most important thing you have ever photographed or will ever photograph. Take many, many pics. Kiddo expressions change moment-by-moment, almost faster than you can trip the shutter and the "perfect" moment is sometimes a product of "spray and pray" or just plain luck. After it's all done, delete all the misses (which will likely be most of what you've shot). But hopefully you will end up with a keeper that will have some meaning for you and family.
"Nana's" birthday party. Had around 10 shots that I thought might turn out to be interesting when I shot them. Ended up liking this and deleting the rest. Family loved this shot. Ended up being a birthday present for Nana.
That's a great photo and great advice, thanks!
Kids move fast and the burst mode comes in really useful, only have to choose the one(s) you like.