How to Prepare Digital Photos for a Wake

Use a flatbed scanner to digitize your paper photos.

A digital presentation is an effective way to display photos of the deceased during a wake or memorial service. Digital frames and laptops have a relatively small footprint and permit the display of seemingly unlimited images, music and videos. Due to the time crunch involved in putting together a presentation for a wake, consider asking someone who is not an immediate family member to prepare the photos.

Things You'll Need

• Digital photo frame
• Computer
• Flatbed scanner
• Photo-editing software

Instructions

1. Make digital copies of paper photos using a flatbed scanner. Save the digital files to your computer.

2. Prepare photos for enhancement by using photo-editing software, such as Photoshop or Gimp. Auto-adjust features can improve color, contrast and quality. Red-eye reduction will correct eye discoloration.

3. Crop the photos as needed. Cut out unnecessary background images, like former spouses and messy floors. For laptop displays, use different shapes for the body of the picture, like ovals, stars and circles. For digital frames, prepare smaller photos by morphing them into 4-by-6-inch montages; otherwise they may be stretched or distorted.

4. Use the editing software to add borders, captions and comments. Allow mourners to get a deeper glimpse of the moment in each shot by providing a date and place for each photograph. If it was taken just before or just after a particularly interesting moment, add a one-line comment.

5. Repeat steps 2 through 4 for photographs taken with a digital camera. Before you edit a file, save a copy of the original for safekeeping.

6. Choose music to play during the slide show. Prepare a loop of music using instrumental versions of three or four songs that the deceased enjoyed. Low-key music is most appropriate during a wake or memorial service.

7. Save the photo and music files into a single directory on your computer's hard drive. This is where the slide show will play from. If you are using one or more digital frames, copy the music and image files to one memory stick for each frame. Test the memory stick in the frame.

Tips & Warnings

• If digital videos are available, consider using them on one of the photo stations. Do not run music if the video has sound.

References

• Memory Magic: Choosing Memorial Photographs

Resources

• Gimp: GNU Image Manipulation Program