Making Digital Memories

Reconnecting with family and friends is part of the holiday season. You can maintain that connection, even with those who cannot join you this year, with several quick, easy and eco-friendly digital options.

Say Cheese

The digital revolution makes capturing those moments and minimizing your impact a breeze:

• Viewing images prior to printing saves paper because you choose which photos you want prints of; therefore, you are not left with a stack of prints you won’t use.
• Processing film introduces harmful chemicals into the environment, a hazard you avoid by going digital.
• Digital cameras are a great place to utilize rechargeable batteries, minimizing your battery waste.

Sharing Memories

E-mailing photos is pretty common these days, but with websites such as Snapfish and Kodak Gallery, you can create online photo albums and more. Considering the holidays are right around the corner, you can create a host of gifts for friends and family. Beyond calendars, photo books, frames, mugs and cards, you can make posters featuring your child and Hannah Montana, or books where your kids solve mysteries with Spongebob Squarepants. Depending on the site, you can have your personalized gifts sent to your home or (in some cases) printed the same day at neighborhood stores like Target.

Shutterfly offers a great tool called Share Sites for members. A Share Site allows you to create your own custom website where you can blog, share photos and news and post links. It’s great for families, especially with loved ones that are in college or in other states.

Flickr is another cool tool for sharing information. It too has many of the characteristics listed above, and it also allows dragging photos or videos onto a map so people can see where they were taken. Notes can be posted on photos and comments can be made for general discussions on the page.

Give the Gift of Digital

Digital picture frames are hot items this holiday season, but before buying one there are a few things to consider – including the intended recipient of your high-tech gift. Digital frames come with a host of options including audio and video features and Bluetooth and Wi-Fi capability. But if your gift recipient won’t use these features, you may end up overspending.

Also, for a quality frame, look for those with a resolution of at least 640×480 pixels and and aspect ratio of 4:3 for point-and-shoot cameras. Lower resolution pictures will look too pixelated, and the 15:9 aspect ratio gives a widescreen feel, which may crop your photos to fit the screen.

If your holidays are on a tighter budget this year, you may want to consider a KODAK Picture CD, which can hold up to 200 high-resolution pictures in albums with titles and captions. CDs can be purchased when you drop off film for processing or through their website.

By digitizing your holiday season, you can have fun creating memories your entire network of family and friends can enjoy. Even photos from this holiday season will make great New Year and birthday gifts in the months to come.