Adventures in Digital Photography
So I have 15,000 bookmarks for In Twilight's Shadow. Most of them will be headed to bookstores and readers' groups, but if you'd like one for yourself--or bookmarks for any of my other books--I'll be happy to get it/them out to you.
Send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to:
* * *
Adventures in Photography
I might have mentioned here that I gave my parents a digital camera for Christmas. They're always so hard to buy for and this seemed like such an ideal gift. Never mind that neither my mom nor my dad can manage to turn the computer on without me--how annoying could it be to download the pictures off their camera occassionally?
As it turned out, fairly annoying.
My parents returned last Friday from visiting my brother. On Sunday evening, I uploaded the pictures off their camera to the computer for them and my dad--the man who has left film sitting undeveloped for a year or longer--wants me to immediately order him prints of the digital pictures.
Actually, his first statement was that he would print them out on his all-in-one Epson. I was like, uh, no, you don't have a photo printer. You don't want to know how long it took before he understood that he wasn't going to get a quality photo off a cheap inkjet printer. It was after this when we got into the discussion about immediately getting him prints.
So Wednesday I went over to my parents' house and this was the day I was going to take care of it all for them. First up was getting them an email account. Yep, they didn't have email. Next, I signed them up for an online photo service. Third on the list was getting them to pick out which photos they wanted printed.
"All of them," my dad said.
"You don't want to pay to print 70 shots when some of them are blurred, or have people's heads cut off, or are duplicates of other shots," I explained.
Now my real ordeal began. I set up the computer to run all 70 shots as slideshow. All they had to do was look at the picture, decide whether or not they wanted it, and write down the photo number. I might as well have asked them to build a rocket ship, so that I could visit the International Space Station. :-)
OMG! They watched the slideshow three times without reaching any decisions. I finally had to take charge. I would stop each image and ask, "Do you want this one?" Or if they said they wanted one, I would say, "Are you sure? It's out of focus." Then they'd rethink their decision. After a torturous length of time, they decided on 30 photos they wanted. (All I have to say is I don't understand why they wanted some of them, but whatever. At least we'd finished.)
Then there was more fun. Their photo software that came with the camera doesn't have editing capability! ::head-desk:: I uploaded the shots to the photo site anyway, planning to download them at my house, edit them and reload them, but as it turned out, the photo site lets people do simple editing. So I did. I cropped the pictures that needed cropping, placed their order, and booted down the machine.
Hurrah!
I ended up spending much longer at their house than I expected and most of that can be attributed to the length of time they spent dithering on which pictures they wanted. If I'd had any premonition that this is what my future would hold when I bought them that camera, I would have rethought my choice of Christmas gift. Argh! And just think, I'll have to go through this every time they take pictures. Sigh.
Send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to:
Patti O'Shea
PO Box 1365
Minnetonka, MN 55345
Adventures in Photography
I might have mentioned here that I gave my parents a digital camera for Christmas. They're always so hard to buy for and this seemed like such an ideal gift. Never mind that neither my mom nor my dad can manage to turn the computer on without me--how annoying could it be to download the pictures off their camera occassionally?
As it turned out, fairly annoying.
My parents returned last Friday from visiting my brother. On Sunday evening, I uploaded the pictures off their camera to the computer for them and my dad--the man who has left film sitting undeveloped for a year or longer--wants me to immediately order him prints of the digital pictures.
Actually, his first statement was that he would print them out on his all-in-one Epson. I was like, uh, no, you don't have a photo printer. You don't want to know how long it took before he understood that he wasn't going to get a quality photo off a cheap inkjet printer. It was after this when we got into the discussion about immediately getting him prints.
So Wednesday I went over to my parents' house and this was the day I was going to take care of it all for them. First up was getting them an email account. Yep, they didn't have email. Next, I signed them up for an online photo service. Third on the list was getting them to pick out which photos they wanted printed.
"All of them," my dad said.
"You don't want to pay to print 70 shots when some of them are blurred, or have people's heads cut off, or are duplicates of other shots," I explained.
Now my real ordeal began. I set up the computer to run all 70 shots as slideshow. All they had to do was look at the picture, decide whether or not they wanted it, and write down the photo number. I might as well have asked them to build a rocket ship, so that I could visit the International Space Station. :-)
OMG! They watched the slideshow three times without reaching any decisions. I finally had to take charge. I would stop each image and ask, "Do you want this one?" Or if they said they wanted one, I would say, "Are you sure? It's out of focus." Then they'd rethink their decision. After a torturous length of time, they decided on 30 photos they wanted. (All I have to say is I don't understand why they wanted some of them, but whatever. At least we'd finished.)
Then there was more fun. Their photo software that came with the camera doesn't have editing capability! ::head-desk:: I uploaded the shots to the photo site anyway, planning to download them at my house, edit them and reload them, but as it turned out, the photo site lets people do simple editing. So I did. I cropped the pictures that needed cropping, placed their order, and booted down the machine.
Hurrah!
I ended up spending much longer at their house than I expected and most of that can be attributed to the length of time they spent dithering on which pictures they wanted. If I'd had any premonition that this is what my future would hold when I bought them that camera, I would have rethought my choice of Christmas gift. Argh! And just think, I'll have to go through this every time they take pictures. Sigh.
Labels: adventures, parents, pictures
posted by Patti O'Shea at 7:01 AM
Just out of curiosity, who did you use to print the bookmarks? VistaPrint?
LOL! That story reminds me of when I set my dad up with a credit card to earn frequent flier miles.
I suggest after they take pictures, confiscate the camera, print out the photos you like, and present them as a gift. It'll make everyone happy.
My dh won't use a computer. He's proud of that fact. It's also impossible to buy gifts for him. I've thought of giving him a digital camera but after hearing your story I think I can cross that idea out!
Laura,
I used Getz Color Graphics. They've got good prices and good quality.
Patti
Laura,
That wouldn't be a bad idea except for one thing: All I'd hear was why didn't we get this picture? We took a picture of it. And on and on in that vein. Next time, though, I'll have start running the slide show, go home, and then come back in a couple of hours. And hope they managed a decision by then.
What happened with your dad?
Patti
Joyce,
I'd definitely recommend skipping the digital camera then. If I knew then what I know now....
Patti
What happened with my dad?
It started when I used my credit card miles to book my honeymoon flight to Hawaii. I've been saving miles for years - hotels, credit cards, rental cars - any rewards program went to my United account.
My dad was impressed I managed to get two free tickets so he asked me how to do it. He recently moved to North Carolina, but since the rest of our family is in Philadelphia, he travels back and forth a lot.
I sent him a link for a credit card offer for Spirit air because it has direct flights between Philadelphia and Wilmington. You open the account and get 15,000 bonus miles.
Getting the credit account wasn't so bad. I think it is his first credit card, and he did it on his own. The problem arose when TWO cards came in the mail - one for his wallet and one for my mother's.
I get a phone call at work when the first statement came in. Together they spend $247 dollars. It went something like this:
"How does this work? We don't get 247 miles, right?" he asks.
"Of course you do. It's a one-to-one ratio. The miles won't get posted to your Spirit account for another 4-6 weeks though."
"Spirit account?"
This is when I start to realize we might have a bigger problem. "You did make an account with Spirit and get a frequent flier number?"
"Yes, but your mother didn't."
"That's okay. You can only earn miles to one Spirit account. So whatever you charge to the card will get posted to your miles account. It doesn't matter who uses the card, it will go to the same miles account."
"But what if we buy two round tickets to Philadelphia? Do we earn double miles?"
"Only if Mom opens a frequent flier account in her name."
"But has her own card."
"No, she doesn't. She has an extra card on your account. Any of her purchases goes to your account."
"All right, I have to go think about this," he said with no small amount of irritation.
HA! If he's irritated now, wait until he tries to redeem his miles.
Oh, Laura, you poor thing. I didn't think of the conversation you're going to have to have with him when he tries to redeem his miles until you mentioned it, but I bet you're right. I can imagine how frustrating it would be with my dad, so all I can do is wish you good luck when that day comes.
Patti
Post a Comment
<< Home