Why You Should Consider Safety When Digitizing Memories

Why You Should Consider Safety When Digitizing Memories

 

 

Digitizing memories have become increasingly popular, with many converting old family photos, home movies, and other precious memorabilia into digital formats. While this process can provide several benefits, such as making it easier to preserve and share memories, it is important to consider safety when digitizing memories.

Memories are precious, and the loss or damage of physical copies can be devastating. Digitizing memories can help protect against these risks, but it is important to ensure that your originals are kept safe during the process. Some companies will have you box up and ship out your photographs and heirlooms. Shipping originals can carry several risks, including; loss or damage, inaccurate handling, and delays. Older photos and memorabilia can be dry and brittle. Attempting to pack these into a box can cause damage to your originals. Packages travel through many locations and environments. The box can get wet or crushed, risking damage or loss of your precious memories.

 

You can avoid these risks by working with a local expert. We’re right here in your neighborhood, making it easy to drop off and pick up your memorabilia. This eliminates the hassle of packing and shipping your originals and worrying about loss or damage in transit. We will handle your precious memories with care and store them in a safe and secure environment during the scanning process.

Our lab is owned and operated by individuals who are passionate about photography and knowledgeable about scanning and archiving. We use professional equipment to ensure the highest quality scans from your originals. Our team has experience working with all types of photographs, negatives, slides, and documents. We know how to safely handle each type of material and achieve the best possible scan. Because you’re working directly with our team, we can handle any special requests, answer questions and offer guidance on your project. You can also avoid transit times and shipping delays, speeding up the overall turn-around time.

Once your memories are scanned, you’ll also want to ensure that the digital copies are kept safe. This may include making backup copies of files and storing them in a secure location, such as on an external hard drive or in cloud storage. Just ask for a second copy of your files on a USB or hard drive at the time of scanning to store separately or share with family or friends.

Get started digitizing your precious memories before they fade or become damaged. Our team is ready to help with personalized service, high-quality results, and peace of mind knowing that your originals are in good hands.

RESTORATION + FINE ART PRINTS

What is fine art reproduction?
Paintings, prints, and one-of-a-kind artwork are professionally scanned and digitized. Meaning the art piece is converted to a digital file where it can be enhanced if necessary. We often work with artists, printmakers and photographers who want to sell copies of their work. We can also produce stunning replicas in nearly any size – on various specialty papers and substrates.
 

STEP 1: Remove artwork from any frames, albums or protective coverings.

STEP 2: We’ll scan your memorabilia and work digital magic by restoring color, fixing tears + cracks, and removing all imperfections.
STEP 3: Once the art file is ready, the image can be printed in any size and on any surface. Put your art on a coffee mug or on a set of notecards! Or enlarge the piece to print in a wide format size as wall décor!
Your original artwork will be returned to you unharmed and saved in a digital file format for safe, long-term storage.
TIP: We never recommend shipping away family archives, treasured photos, and irreplaceable artwork.
Whether it’s custom artwork or a one-of-a-kind creation, we can preserve it for a lifetime and beyond! Our archiving services aren’t just limited to protecting photos + videos; we can also digitize paintings, drawings, documents, prints, and so much more!

 

Holiday Order Schedule & Special Hours Christmas 2021

Here are the answers to the holiday’s most pressing questions including: When do I have to place my order to get it by Christmas? 

To receive gift items, books, metal prints, canvas wraps etc. by Christmas with Standard Shipping, place your order by December 8th. Beginning December 9th and continuing through the 14th, choose expedited shipping to receive your order by Christmas.   The F-11 Photo elves are doing everything humanly possible to get your orders out and shipped on time.  Production is running very well and shipping times are as expected; remember that shippers have waived on time delivery guarantees back in October so we’re doing everything we can.  Package tracking is live on the website for all shipped orders–check your order confirmation for the tracking link. Can we ship your gift directly to the lucky recipient?  Yes, we’d love to. 

As many of you know, our office is located inside Regus which will be closed December 23, 24 and 31.  Because there will be no access to the office on those dates, the office will also be closed.  The final local production day for Christmas 2021 is December 21st with pickup on the 22nd no later than 5 pm.   Regular pickup is available at the reception desk on the second floor of the 5 West Mendenhall building weekdays from 8:30 – 5. 

Holiday 2021 Calendar:

December 8, 2021:  Last day to order with standard shipping for Christmas arrival.

December 14, 2021:  Last day to order with expedited shipping for Christmas arrival.

December 21, 2021:  Last day to order local prints and pickup before Christmas.

December 22, 2021:  Final pickup day before Christmas—Reception open 8:30 – 5.

December 23 – 24, 2021: Closed.  No production or pickup.

December 31, 2021:  Closed.  No production or pickup.

Celebrate a life with photos + memorabilia!

Celebrate a life with photos + memorabilia! Reminisce and remember loved ones – we’re here to help.

Nostalgic memories make for a meaningful memorial celebration!

Planning a memorial service can be emotional and overwhelming, however, the silver lining can often be found in reminiscing over photographs, memorabilia, and even home movies.

For a truly personal and custom celebration of life event – consider creating a collection of keepsakes for family members or honoring the deceased in more unique ways. This can happen during a memorial service or afterward.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FAVORITE MEMORIAL PRODUCT: A PHOTO BOOK

Photo books are one of the most popular ways to memorialize a loved one. Gather a few of your favorite images or drop off a box full – we’d be happy to digitize the photos and help you create a stunning book.

Believe it or not, we often see customers creating their own “life story” photo books that will eventually be gifted to family and friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CREATE A “LIFE HISTORY” VIDEO MONTAGE

Old home tapes and movies can be combined into a moving video production. We’ll add music, text, and any other special touches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DISPLAYS AND KEEPSAKES

Photographs are often displayed on poster boards and easels during a memorial. Instead, consider building a printed collage or enlarging a few extra special images.

Send special guests and close family a keepsake featuring a favorite photo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

SHARE A PRINT OR TWO

Printed photos can be fun to flip through and even easy to send guests home with. After we digitize your vintage photographs, we can make prints in any size or quantity to share

Homepage Featured Products

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Bring back the 80’s + 90’s and protect those priceless home movies!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TIME IS RUNNING OUT!

Because of environmental factors, VHS tapes are literally deteriorating and degrading as we speak. Not to mention the fact that VCRs are virtually non-existent for viewing them. If you wait too long to digitize home movies, there might be nothing there to capture or view.

YOUR KIDS WANT TO WATCH

Trust us – your kids and grandkids WILL want to watch these… if not today, someday.

FAMILY HISTORY

As the family historian, it’s your duty to preserve the family legacy (a.k.a. memorabilia). Once you have a home movie digitized, it becomes a file that is easily shared with other members of your family.

 

 

 

 

 

Keep your memorabilia local – here’s why:

Who wouldn’t be devastated if suddenly their priceless home movies were lost in the mail, misplaced or damaged by a shipping carrier?

Sentimental irreplaceable possessions like photos, videos and home movies should NEVER be shipped away to an unknown location or service provider. It’s just too risky! Things could get lost, damaged or never find their way back to you.

Instead, talk to a professional archiving expert (like us). You need someone who really gets it. Our shop is full of dedicated people who care about your life being documented. We stake our reputation on it. Best of all – money spent locally stays local. Let us handle your photo life so you can get back to real life!

MacBook Air Update Features Magic Keyboard, iPad Pro Gets a Trackpad

In a widely expected update, Apple has introduced a new MacBook Air that replaces the much-maligned butterfly keyboard with the new Magic Keyboard. The MacBook Air also gains faster processors, enhanced graphics, and more storage options, all for $200 less than before.

Apple also threw back the curtains on an updated iPad Pro that will be compatible with a new iPad Pro-specific Magic Keyboard that includes a trackpad. The iPad Pro is available now, but the Magic Keyboard won’t ship until May.

MacBook Air Gains Magic Keyboard, Faster Performance, and Other Enhancements

In an effort to eliminate the hated butterfly keyboard from the Mac line, Apple has released an updated MacBook Air that features the scissor-key Magic Keyboard introduced last year in the 16-inch MacBook Pro. That keyboard has received highly positive reviews, and we’re happy to see it appear in the MacBook Air. (Look for a new model to replace the current 13-inch MacBook Pro soon as well.) The Magic Keyboard includes 12 function keys as well as a Touch ID sensor, but no Touch Bar.

Apple significantly improved the MacBook Air’s performance by providing a choice of 10th-generation Intel Core processors, including the model’s first quad-core processor option. The base level 1.1 GHz dual-core Intel Core i3 is probably pretty slow, but upgrading to a 1.1 GHz quad-core i5 is only $100 and a 1.2 GHz quad-core i7 is just $250.

Graphics should be noticeably speedier as well, thanks to the switch to Intel Iris Plus Graphics. The MacBook Air can now drive a 6K display too, if you have a Pro Display XDR.

Apple also doubled the base level of storage to 256 GB, and you can increase that to 512 GB ($200), 1 TB ($400), or 2 TB ($800).

Minor enhancements include True Tone technology for more natural images on the 13-inch Retina display, “wide stereo sound” for the speakers, and support for Bluetooth 5.0.

As welcome as all these changes are, the best news is that Apple simultaneously dropped the MacBook Air’s price. The entry-level model now starts at $999, and it’s available to the education market for just $899.

iPad Pro

We were waiting for the Magic Keyboard to come to the MacBook Air, but we had no inkling that Apple was going to add a trackpad option to the iPad Pro. It will come in the form of the new Magic Keyboard, due in May, and will require iPadOS 13.4, slated for late March. Apple says it will be easy to use, with the pointer transforming to highlight user elements appropriately as the user moves their finger across the trackpad. What it won’t be is cheap, at $299 for the 11-inch model and $349 for the 12.9-inch model. (The second-generation Apple Pencil and an updated Smart Keyboard Folio remain available.)

The other unexpected change in the new iPad Pro is the addition of the new LiDAR Scanner. LiDAR (light detection and ranging) is a way of measuring distance with reflected laser light. It’s commonly used in self-driving cars, but Apple is instead using it to beef up the iPad Pro’s augmented reality (AR) capabilities. It offers existing ARKit apps instant AR placement, improved motion capture, and people occlusion. Apple also uses it to improve the Measure app. We can’t help but think Apple is testing the technology for future AR goggles.

Less surprising improvements include a new processor—Apple’s custom A12Z Bionic chip—and a dual-camera system that combines a 12-megapixel wide camera and a 10-megapixel ultra-wide camera that zooms out two times to capture a much wider field of view. The iPad Pro also now boasts five microphones for capturing audio and four speakers that automatically adjust to any orientation.

Pricing for the iPad Pro itself hasn’t changed. The 11-inch model starts at $799, with the 12.9-inch model at $999. Both come with 128 GB of flash storage, up from 64 GB in the previous models, and you can buy more storage: 256 GB (add $100), 512 GB ($300), or 1 TB ($500). Cellular connectivity costs an extra $150.

Mac mini

Last and indeed least, Apple announced that the standard configurations of the Mac mini now have twice as much storage as before. That means the $799 configuration comes with 256 GB and the $1099 configuration comes with 512 GB. 1 TB and 2TB configurations remain available, and there are no other changes.

(Featured image by Apple)


Social Media: Here’s some good news! Apple has introduced a new MacBook Air with a better keyboard and faster processor for $200 less. And there’s a new iPad Pro with trackpad support. Seriously! Check out the news at:

 

Use macOS’s Guest Account to Protect Your Privacy from Temporary Users

We’ve all had it happen. “Can I use your Mac for a minute to check my email?” The answer can be “Yes,” but to keep people from poking around on your Mac, have your visitor log in as Guest. To enable the Guest account, go to System Preferences > Users & Groups. If the lock at the bottom left is closed, click it and enter your admin credentials. Then click Guest User in the list, and select “Allow guests to log in to this computer.” To switch to the Guest account, go to the Apple menu and choose Log Out YourAccountName to access the login screen. Your guest can then click the Guest User icon, at which point they’ll have a clean account to work in. When they log out, the account—including any files they created or downloaded—will be deleted, thus protecting their privacy as well.

(Featured image by Apple)

Apple Issues Voluntary Recall for Certain 2015 15-inch MacBook Pro Units

Heads up! If you’re using an older 15-inch MacBook Pro—the version with lots of ports that predates the current Thunderbolt 3 models—Apple has started a recall program to replace batteries that could explode and catch on fire. (We’re not kidding.) The affected MacBook Pro models were sold primarily between September 2015 and February 2017. To find out if your 15-inch MacBook Pro is affected, enter its serial number into Apple’s recall page. If it is included in the recall, shut it down and stop using it immediately! Contact Apple for a free battery replacement, and if you need any assistance, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.

(Image courtesy of Apple)

8 Steps To Save Old Family Albums

I’ve heard one too many stories of people bagging up their old family photos and albums and tossing them to the curb. It hurts my heart to see the years of family history and knowledge that these photos provide in the mix with old coffee grounds, rotting roses or last week’s tuna casserole.

The myth that future generations won’t care about these old photos prompted the mass disposal of truly invaluable family photo albums. However, in the ever-evolving digital age, old printed photos of our ancestors or relatives have become a prized treasure in the lives of young people. Photographs tell us where we came from and help give many a sense of identity. To best preserve your family’s history, here are eight ways to take care of those images and keep them out of the trash.

 

 

Store Safely

1. Store Safely. To start, I highly recommend simply placing your photo albums in archival-safe plastic bags so that the natural elements, most commonly dust and sunlight, don’t get to your photos. (More on the further organization of your photo albums later.)

If your photos already rest inside photo-safe plastic sleeves or are stuck to acid-free scrapbook paper, you don’t need to worry about taking them out of these albums. They are safe, and these plastic bags provide additional protection to your albums when they’re stored.

 

Beware of old albums
2. Beware of old albums. If your photos are in so-called magnetic albums, take them out as soon as possible! The chemicals used in these albums are highly detrimental to photos. These albums, in fact, are not magnetic but instead use an adhesive on a page in which you sandwich a photo between a sticky coating and a plastic sheet. The culprit of destruction is the highly acidic glue, which causes photos to yellow and makes them very difficult to remove.

 

Remove stuck photos (if you can

 

3. Remove stuck photos (if you can). So how do you get these photos out of the dreaded magnetic album? First, I don’t recommend using anything resembling a knife. This practice risks further damage since just one slip could slice through an entire photo.

Instead, use dental floss. Just lift one corner of your photo and gently saw the dental floss back and forth underneath until it becomes unglued. If a photo is especially difficult to peel off the sticky paper, you can use a hair dryer to heat up the glue and melt it into compliance.

Keep in mind that if the photos in these albums are more than 60 years old, the damage has likely already been done and taking them out could cause even more irreparable harm. Consider the magnetic album to be the final resting place for antique photos.

 

Jot down details
4. Jot down details. Preserving the written knowledge is just as important as preserving the actual photos. Make sure to note dates and corresponding info as you peel photos out of albums. It’s important to know the timeline of these photos as well as who or what the subjects are.

You can use index cards to record this information until you can provide a new home for your photos, or use an archival pencil to write information on the back of the photos themselves. If you find additional documents that are crucial to the story behind a photo, like notes, birth certificates or newspaper clippings, keep them with the photo so that you can place them side by side in the new album.

 

Create a digital backup.

 

5. Create a digital backup. Before putting your photos in a new nonmagnetic photo album, consider scanning them. Doing so will guarantee access to your history should an accident or the natural progression of time destroy the original prints. Once they’re scanned, you have the option to create digital scrapbooks that you can share with family and friends.

 

Compile your photos in a safe album

6. Compile your photos in a safe album. Today you have many choices for photo albums. You can still purchase traditional styles that allow you to place the actual photo in a photo-safe sleeve or a scrapbook album. If you have digitized, you photos you can easily create a digital photobook.

 

7. Make albums accessible. If you’re someone who prefers to flip through photo albums often, you can always display them around the house. Consider making a digital photo album with the scans and storing the original photos in a safe place. Bookshelves are common places to store your albums. If they’re in sight, I can guarantee that family members will find them and crowd around the photos to laugh and revel in a shared history.

 

Frame a few
8. Frame a few. Don’t forget to display some of your favorite photos! You can them hang in frames around the house, and they will undoubtedly become a favorite conversation starter. I recommend printing out the scanned version of these photos and then keeping the originals stored safely in a photo album. Poisonous UV rays are likely to creep through windows and shine upon the photos you have on display, so keep the originals safe.

If you take the steps necessary to properly preserve your family history today, future generations will also be able to take part in the joy and revelation that comes with untangling the mysteries of the past. Not only is it amusing to look back on the ludicrous trends and hairstyles, but these photos also provide a sense of connection to our past and our future. Our personal family histories connect us to the people who came before us and make sense of the world we are living in now.

 

Bio: Cathi Nelson, author of Photo Organizing Made Easy; Going from Overwhelmed to Overjoyed, is the founder of APPO (Association of Personal Photo Organizers), a membership organization dedicated to helping thousands of entrepreneurs from around the globe build successful photo preservation and organizing businesses.