Digital Pictures Done Right

Ask Juan - Question and Answer

Digital Pictures Done Right

Question:
I have been able to take pictures with a small digital Kodak and have the software in my PC with which to transfer and print my own pictures. Now all of the sudden it won't work, I get a message that says I may have moved, renamed or deleted these picture. I have not. They still show up when I go into the program whereby I used to print pictures but they won't print out. Any ideas?

Answer:
Usually digital picture programs work in a way that makes most sense for computers. Some of those programs are quite good as you will see below, and others are not so good.

What may be happening with your system could be described as WYSINWYG or “What you see is NOT what you get” (I made that up, can you tell?)

You may be looking at the thumbnail (a small picture representing the real photograph) but the actual digital photo is not present anymore. As the program says, you may have moved it or deleted it. How? We can only guess at this point.

I believe the best way to deal with digital pictures is to actually transfer them from your camera to a folder on your computer by using a memory stick or cable and using the file manager instead of the photo software that came with your camera.

Then, open your software and have it search your hard drive for the photos. This way, you have a copy of the photos and the software will build its own library of thumbnails that point to the folder in your hard drive.

Another solution, get a better software package and always make a backup of your pictures to a CD before you start playing with them. Picasa from Google is an excellent program for just this.