Learning: Wired
Picture Perfect Project

Dear Web Editor,

My students are working with iMovie(r) on iMac(r) computers. I gave them a project in which they used disposable cameras to take pictures of an assigned subject. How should I prepare my students' photos for use in an iMovie?

Should I get the pictures on a disk or CD-ROM, or should I have them developed as prints and then scan them into the computer? Should I have the developer put them on the Web so I can download them?

Gracie Oviedo
Fourth-grade teacher
San Antonio, Texas

It sounds like you're really engaging students by using technology in fun project-based activities. You certainly seem to understand all of your options for transforming filmed images into digital files. But choosing between these options isn't easy because each option has benefits and drawbacks. I'll try to help you better understand which method will best suit your needs.

Let me start by talking a little bit about the software you're using, in case some readers are unfamiliar with it. Apple's iMovie is the latest software designed primarily for editing digital video on a computer. iMovie makes it easy to combine images, sounds, music, and narration into a single, finished multimedia production. Simply connect your video camera or digital still camera to your Apple computer using a special cable and your images, sound, and video will "spill" directly into the program. Then you can click and drag them into whatever sequence you want. You also can use the cut and paste editing functions.

iMovie currently is available for only the Apple Macintosh computer. For more information about working with iMovie, visit www.apple.com/imovie/edit.html.

Now, back to your question. Through most photo shops you can request traditional negatives and contact sheets for each set of pictures, regardless of how you will receive your final images. Then you can process the film negatives if you or your students want prints of the pictures.

Traditional processing and scanning probably will cost you the most, both in cash and in time. Unless you are a pro at scanning, you probably will spend lots of time adjusting scanner attributes and image quality to capture the best possible scan for each picture. But on the bright side you have the original photograph and you can control the scan by adjusting the image.

Receiving images on a disk or CD-ROM definitely is convenient, but you still will need to transfer the images from the disk to your students' computers. If you don't mind the necessary investment of time, or if students will perform this task, putting your photographs on recordable media is smart. The media lasts longer and allows you to manipulate images both for printing and for screen display. You also can access images stored on a disk or CD-ROM more readily than those stored on the Web.

Most shops provide either high or low resolution images on a disk. Some shops will even give you both. You will need the low resolution images for your project.

If you have a reliable and speedy Internet connection, downloading the photos from a shop's website probably is your best option. Your photographs already are optimized for screen display, adjusted to their best color and contrast, and formatted to the best image size for efficient processing. Plus, you and your students can access the images from any computer with Internet access. Then if you decide you want one or more images in another format, you can submit a request through the website. The length of time images remain on the Web varies among developers.

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