How to add photo (exhibit) for person or group?

[strathglass 0]

I can't find an obvious way to add a photo for a person (that is not associated to some specific event like a wedding):

 

I see that you can't attach an exhibit to a Name-var tag.

So what tag should I use to add a person's photo?

Or do I have to make one up myself (strange that TMG7 wouldn't include a suitable tag, but I couldn't find one).

 

I'm talking about a general picture (not, for example, a birth announcement or wedding photo, which could obviously be added as an exhibit for the birth or marriage tags).

 

Also, how is it recommended to handle group photos such as family photos?

 

Finally, do images added to the database ever get exported in GEDCOM exports (I mean the photo info [like file name and path], since GEDCOM doesn't handle non-text data). (In my own simple test, I failed to find photo info in the GEDCOM export - maybe I can get it there somehow?)

 

Regards,

strathglass

[Michael Hannah 0]

I can't find an obvious way to add a photo for a person...So what tag should I use to add a person's photo?

Ummm... I think you are making this harder than it is. You don't use a tag. In the Person View if you click on the Exhibits button and click Add the exhibit attaches to the person. If you open a Tag and click on the Exhibits button in the Tag Entry screen and click Add it attaches to the tag. It is that simple.

Also, how is it recommended to handle group photos such as family photos?

That is a matter of taste. Some people attach the exhibit multiple times. Others create a custom tag, maybe called Marr-Img for marriage photos, attach the photo to the tag and link all appropriate people as Witnesses.

Finally, do images added to the database ever get exported in GEDCOM exports (I mean the photo info [like file name and path], since GEDCOM doesn't handle non-text data).

While the GEDCOM standard does include specifications for multimedia information, this is seldom handled or recognized by most programs that deal with GEDCOM. I have not exhaustively tried this, but doubt that TMG (like most genealogy programs) deals with such in GEDCOM. GEDCOM was intended as a means to communicate the bare genealogy data via a computer file. The standard has not been modified for several years, and some would claim that in the light of modern programs like TMG and GenBridge the standard is both obsolete and dead. I recommend that you not invest too much time or effort in working with GEDCOM if you can avoid it.

[strathglass 0]

Thanks Michael, that WAS easier than I was expecting (but I can blame my confusion on a slight inconsistency with exhibit handling paradigm though ).

 

Unfortunately, when I select the image Properties and go to the Description tab, I see that the IPTC caption info I've added to my pictures does NOT get read into TNG caption field. Too bad, as that is what the IPTC fields are designed for! I guess I will have to make a feature request for this.

 

By the way, does it make much difference if I use internal or external image formats?

What do people tend to prefer (trying to understand if there is an advantage to keeping images OUTSIDE of dataabase).

 

Thanks,

strathglass.

[Jim Byram 0]

Finally, do images added to the database ever get exported in GEDCOM exports (I mean the photo info [like file name and path], since GEDCOM doesn't handle non-text data). (In my own simple test, I failed to find photo info in the GEDCOM export - maybe I can get it there somehow?)

All exhibit links to external exhibits supported by the GEDCOM specs are exported to GEDCOM (as well as the appropriate exhibit data).

For example, a person image...
1 OBJE
2 FORM JPEG
2 TITL Alonzo Byram
2 FILE D:\WORK\TMG5\PICS\BYRA0032IND.JPG
2 NOTE Caption:Alonzo Byram(circa 1893);

By the way, does it make much difference if I use internal or external image formats?

There are advantages and tradeoffs to both.

Internal exhibits are convenient; however, they make your database larger and are not used for Second Site (any website would require image files).

External exhibits require some thought as to naming, organization, and maintenance. They do work with Second Site and other methods of creating web sites.

If you store your external exhibits in a single folder, you can back up and restore those files using TMG.

If you store your external exhibits in a folder tree, you can back them up with TMG but you can't restore them with TMG (without flattening the folder tree). However, it's simple to open the TMG backup file with a ZIP utility and drag and drop the exhibit folders to wherever you want them.

[strathglass 0]

Very valuable input Jim, thanks. I will switch to external exhibits in a flat folder.

 

-strathglass

[nbradley 0]

Strathglass

 

Everything Jim said is true (he is a very good source of info) but if you have good regular back-ups of you non TMG files (e.g. to an external drive or to cdrom etc) then Jim's point about backing up your exhibits when you back up TMG is a little less relevant.

 

Typically your TMG data will change frequently hence you need daily back-ups but your exhibits (after your initial power load) will be much more stable and require slightly less frequent back-ups. I have approx 2 gigabytes of exhibits and I never back them up when I back up TMG (for obvious time reasons). I rely on my nightly acronis back-up to an external drive to look after my exhibits.

 

Given that I have a lot of exhibits, the structured tree approach to storing them is (for me) the only sensible way to go. For Second Site, I use John's TMG utility to copy and re-size (images) all exhibits to a single folder before hitting the build button.

[Michael Hannah 0]

All exhibit links to external exhibits supported by the GEDCOM specs are exported to GEDCOM (as well as the appropriate exhibit data).

Well, Jim, I said I had not tried it . I still recommend avoiding GEDCOM if at all possible.