by ottawafamilytree

Sharing pix .. but just for your close family

Social media can be great for reaching a large audience .. especially useful in family history research. A friend explained that setting up a Facebook account ended up putting her in touch with long lost cousins ..

But what if there are family pictures you’d just like to share with a more tight-knit group — whether that be family, or some friends ..?

Here are a few platforms/ways to do it:

— Cocoon is an app that looks like a message app, but actually combines the features of texting, social media, and archive into one .. you can read about features and pricing ..

— Family Album app is rich in features and focuses on the privacy concerns of photo sharing .. discover the details ..

— 23 Snaps is an alternative for sharing with others who may only be comfortable using email, and not apps and websites. Photos can be shared with others who don’t have an account, via email .. features and details ..

— A *free* family Google account gives you free space on GoogleDrive.. you can then share a link via email to photos you put in the cloud ..

by ottawafamilytree

Black & White, and Blurry — MyHeritage Can Fix That (And It’s *Free*!)

When MyHeritage.com introduced their colourizing technology for old photos it was an immediate hit, and gave them name recognition ..

(You can test it for yourself .. Colourize one of your old photos!)

But it seems that their latest free technology has gotten not nearly as much attention — though it is just as amazing and helpful.

There’s nothing more unfortunate than having found a new family photo .. but it’s fuzzy, and a bit washed out. It just doesn’t seem as worthy of keeping as the other clearly focused ones ..

And if it’s the only one you’ve got of that person, it’s disappointing .. that is, until now.

The new MyHeritage Photo Enhancer is almost like magic. Give it a try and you’ll be surprised!

by ottawafamilytree

Genealogy Outing … Visiting Cemeteries And Helping Other Family History Researchers!

Daniel Horowitz writes in his MyHeritage blog: “I believe that visiting a local cemetery could make a perfect family outing for the COVID-19 era. It’s all outdoors, it’s peaceful, there are no crowds, and you are guaranteed a six-foot social distance from all the people you are visiting! If your own ancestors are buried there, it’s a great opportunity to learn more about them and introduce their gravesites to your children. If not, it can still be fascinating to learn more about local history. And if you decide to document some of the stones, it would be an act of community service — providing descendants who live far away with access to priceless information about their ancestors.”

If you’ve never thought of making your visit a boon to other family history folks, consider helping to document the cemetery you visit ..

It’s as simple as putting the BillionGraves app on your phone, (*free*) .. and photographing and labeling perhaps a row (or section) of the cemetery while you’re there .. it’s something older kids can easily do, too.