Technology Buzz: Downloading Digital Pictures
By Kalie Chamberlain
This is the first article in a three-part series that will help you download, organize, name, and locate your digital images. Remember, organizing your pictures can be a big project, especially for computer beginners, so take it slow, one step at a time. Also, the suggestions here are just that—suggestions. Choose the tips that fit your needs.
Let’s start with the good news: digital cameras allow you to take literally thousands of pictures and store them on your computer. This reduces costs of printing and allows you to keep digital records of your family’s treasured memories. And the bad news? Well, the bad news is this: digital cameras allow you to take literally thousands of pictures and store them on your computer. And then, you have the challenge of trying to find the one you need when you want it.
Many of us have had this experience. You took the perfect photo and stored it away, telling yourself, “I need to remember where I put this photo, so I can find it later.” And when later comes, you’re stymied! A few years ago, you could be frantically sorting through mountains of printed photos trying to find a certain one. But now, you’re still stumped when you open “My Pictures” on your computer and see hundreds of files entitled DCXO1887.jpeg. This looks even worse! Consequently, you consider returning to the shoebox method.
Digital Picture Basics
When you purchased your digital camera, it probably came with some software on a CD-ROM you installed on your computer. There are literally hundreds of digital camera software choices out there, ranging from the free to the very expensive. However, if you have a PC, most of what you need to organize your pictures is already installed with Windows. To organize your pictures, it may be easiest to use the My Pictures folder, found under the Start menu. In upcoming technology articles, I’ll suggest software for cropping, enhancing, and posting your pictures for family to see.
There are, however, a few terms you should know:
• Mac or PC: Most desktop computers, or PCs, run on Microsoft software and are available from companies such as Dell, HP, or Sony. If you have a Mac, you are using an Apple computer; they are great computers, but not as commonly used. For the purposes of keeping this article simple, we are giving instructions for PC or Microsoft users only.
• jpeg: The term jpeg is the filename extension added to most digital images saved on a PC. When you originally download a picture to your computer, the computer will randomly assign it a name ending in jpeg such as DCXO1887.jpg. Once you have renamed a picture of your grandson Jack’s birthday with key words, the whole filename would read Jack’s_Birthday.jpeg.
• folder: A folder on the computer works much the same way a regular file folder works—you use it to store smaller objects or files—in our case, pictures. Naming folders will be your first step in getting organized.
• digital image: The picture you see on your screen is the digital, or electronic, image. This image can be adjusted, stored, added to screen savers, or printed.
• USB cord: This cord connects from your camera to your computer. By connecting both, you begin moving or uploading your pictures from the camera to your computer.
• memory card: A memory card is a small piece of hardware, like a computer chip, inside your digital camera where the pictures are stored.
• Uploading and Naming Your Pictures
All digital cameras have a USB cord that connects the camera to the computer. When you connect the two, you trigger the computer to ask what you want to do with the images.*
To upload pictures to your computer, follow these steps:
1. Connect the camera and computer together using the USB cord.
2. After a brief pause, you will see a dialog box that asks, “What do you want to do with this device?” (This will happen whenever you connect a storage device of any kind to your computer.)*
3. From the options available in the dialog box, select “Copy pictures to a folder on my computer” and click OK. {perfect place for a screen shot. Rob, is that possible?} This will prompt a program called Picture Wizard to open; Picture Wizard walks you through the steps for downloading your pictures to your computer.
4. When the Picture Wizard opens, select Next. The Wizard then displays all the picture images (.jpeg files) saved on your camera’s memory card. Next to each picture is a small box with a green checkmark—all checked pictures will be moved onto your PC. Uncheck pictures you do not wish to download. When you download pictures to the computer, another copy remains on your camera’s memory card. Sometimes, the computer will ask you if you want to delete the pictures from your camera’s memory card after downloading. If you no longer want the pictures on your camera, go ahead and delete. Your only remaining copy will then be on your computer.
5. You need to give the pictures a folder. You can assign a group name at this point, if you’d like (eg., Jordan’s Eagle Court of Honor. This allows you to skip a step later, but it does mean that you initially give all the pictures in this folder the same individual name.)
6. In Picture Wizard, select location as My Pictures and then Click Browse.
7. Name your pictures with information about the event, as described in Step 6. Select the year the event falls into. Then, choose Make New Folder. Give the folder a group name that explains the event (see Step 5).
8. When the pictures are uploaded, select Next.
9. Finally, choose Finish.
*If when you connect your camera to the computer, the computer does not automatically trigger the dialog box that allows you to access the Picture Wizard, follow these steps:
1. Select My Computer from the Menu.
2. Finally, double click on the Removable Drive (sometimes it will have your camera name).
3. When the drive opens, you should see your pictures, and you can begin renaming them, or copy and paste them to a folder you’ve already created.
Uploading and naming is the first step in getting your digital pictures organized! For questions about digital picture organizing, or other technology-related questions, write to Senior Review’s technology guru, Kalie Chamberlain, at kalie.seniorreview@gmail.com.