Digital Photography Update

By Rod Boyd

The announcement was made in January that there were new digital photography procedures for case history photos. These procedures were reviewed at both the English and Spanish SMP Seminars in February. In addition, cameras were distributed to each country. The Canon A630 is the recommended camera. The new photos have started to arrive to the sponsorship office. To date, the office has received between 20 and 25% of the anticipated photos. As a reminder, the deadline for submitting new photos to the LACC office is September 1st. However, we ask that all countries immediately send whatever new-style photos they have taken.

We are grateful for hard work of Glenn Ewing in implementing the new digital photography procedures. Glenn and Kathleen are missionary associates. Glenn serves as a technical advisor for LACC. Kathleen is heavily involved in medical missions. Glenn has been working with a number of countries to assist them in the transition. Please feel free to contact Glenn directly (glenn@lacc4hope.org) with any questions related to the new digital photography procedures.

Photography Tips. At the recent meetings of the Data System Commission, we discussed the experiences we have been having with various countries. We offer the following brief list of suggestions from things we've learned:

Read and carefully follow the New Digital Photography Procedures.
Learn the functions of the Canon A630 camera. Although the camera will take excellent photos on the automatic setting, this setting requires stricter lighting and scene conditions. It is important to know the exposure and fill flash controls for those times when optimal lighting and scene conditions are not available.
Take compelling snapshots of children and youth in their natural environment. It's important to remember that these photos are being taken for potential sponsors. A photo that reflects the natural environment of the student is better than a "staged" backdrop. Some things we've learned...
- For depth, look for a place that provides for an open area behind the student. If there is a backdrop directly behind the student, take photos at an angle, rather than perpendicular to backdrop.
- Look for contrast between the face and background.
- Use exposure control or fill flash to correct a darker setting or bright backdrop.
- Relaxed, natural poses are better than stiff and staged. The feet don't have to be together.
- Watch the distance from feet to edge (near but not touching) and head to edge (space equal to the height of the head).

Downloading Processed Photos for Use in SMP. The most significant advantages that the new procedures offer to the country offices is that all processing is done in the sponsorship care office. Glenn has invested dozens of hours in developing the software that automates this process. It has now been tested and is being implemented. The final step in the process is the generation of email messages that are sent to the country office email account at the laccoffice.org mail server. Each email represents a grouping of photos. Photos are first grouped by school. Where there are more that 50 photos per school, the photos are grouped as sets of 50. Therefore, each country office will receive multiple emails, often with multiple emails per school.

Each email will look like the image to the right. The email will contain two links: "head and shoulders" and "full body". Clicking on the links will open the "Save" dialogue box, allowing the user to download the file to the local hard drive. See Preparing for Process Photos below. The email is basically a report for the batch of photos processed. The report has four columns: Child Number, Comments, Photo Date and Result. The report is grouped by photos accepted and not accepted. Please pay careful attention to the comments, even for those photos that were accepted. The comments will help you take even better photos in the future.

Preparing for Processed Photos. We recommend that you follow this procedure.

Create folder "Downloaded Photos" in "c:\lacc"
Create folders "Head Shoulders" and "Full Body" in "c:\lacc\downloaded photos" (or similar network location).
Create folder "Archive" in both "c:\lacc\downloaded photos\head shoulders" and "c:\lacc\downloaded photos\full body".
From each photo email, click on the "Head and Shoulders" link and then "Save" to folder "c:\lacc\downloaded photos\head shoulders".
- Open the downloaded "head and shoulder" zip file(s) and extract to "c:\lacc\fotos".
- Move zip file(s) to "c:\lacc\downloaded photos\head shoulders\archive". This provides a backup of downloaded files.
From each photo email, click on the "Full Body" link and then "Save" to folder "c:\lacc\downloaded photos\full body".
- Open the downloaded "full body" zip file(s) and extract to "c:\lacc\fotosF"
- Move zip files(s) to "c:\lacc\downloaded photos\full body\archive". This provides a backup of downloaded files.
Open SMP and re-register photos to the "c:\lacc\fotos" (or similar network location)

New "Full Body" Project Report. You will also be able to register the "full body" photos for use by SMP. New version SMP2007D3 (available for download) includes a new photo project report that utilizes the "full body" photos. Of course, you'll want to wait until you've sent and then received by download all full body photos before using the new report.