Member pictures are more than just for badges. If you use the call-down list generator, the member picture appears next to the name on the sign up sheet. This provides an additional layer of security so that if your unit is called to serve out of town, even people unfamiliar with your unit will be able to identify your members. There are several issues related to inserting photos in the MRCDB. This FAQ will address known issues. The process for inserting a photo into the MRCDB is the same regardless of the camera you use to take the photo. However, you must be able to locate and identify the JPG files your camera produces. 

Taking the Photo: When you take a member’s photo, frame the picture so that the face and upper torso are centered. Use a neutral background that doesn’t contain visual clutter. Note where the photo is stored; it will be a JPG file.

Cropping the Photo: If your photo needs cropping (too much background, poorly centered, etc.) use your camera’s software to crop it until you have the photo the way you want it. The target ratio is 2:3, which means 2 inches wide by 3 inches tall, but this does not need to be exact, as the photo will be ‘stretched’ to fit the ratio. If your photo is way off (say a landscape photo that’s 3 wide by 2 high) then you’ll see distortion in the photo as it’s ‘squeezed’ into the right proportions.

Sizing the Photo: The photos taken by most (if not all) digital cameras have good resolution. This is great when we’re using the camera normally, since it lets us enlarge pictures without losing quality. However, for ID purposes, this high-resolution is not a good thing. The file sizes are huge and in many cases, shrinking the photo for a badge or report will actually cause it to degrade substantially (too much information for the printers to resolve). Ideally you want to store a compact picture that is sized properly for it’s use (remember, you’re not going to enlarge the photo to poster size!). In this process, you're going to shrink the picture to a usable size, and in the process, shrink the file size dramatically.

1. Open Microsoft’s Paint application. This is included in all Windows installations and can usually be found under “Accessories” from the Start menu.
2. From the Paint application, select File, then Open. Point the application to the photo. You may need to change the file type to JPG so it will look for the right file type. You can use thumbnails to ‘see’ the pictures before selecting the file.
3. The photo will open, and often, you won’t recognize it because it’s so very large you can only see the upper left corner. The picture is shown in actual size. To size the picture properly, you need to do a bit of guesswork. Sizing is done by percentage of the original; in other words, if your picture is close to the desired size (about two inches wide by three tall) then you'll want to use 80% or 90% of the original. If your picture is so big than an ear takes up half your screen, then you may need to use 10% to 15%.
4. From Paint's menu bar, select Image then select Stretch/Skew. The upper portion of the Stretch and Skew dialog box contains the horizontal and vertical values. They will be initially set at 100%. Change the values equally; if you choose to use 80% of the picture, enter 80 in both the horizontal and vertical boxes or else you will 'stretch' the picture and deform it. Click on the OK button to see the result.
   • Until you get the hang of estimating the stretching percentage, use 90% to 95% of the original. You can repeat the process if the picture is still too big.
   • The ‘target’ size doesn’t have to be exact, when in doubt, leave the photo just a little larger rather than shrinking it too much.
   • If you overdo the shrinking, you cannot make it bigger without losing quality. If you go overboard shrinking, close the file without saving and re-open it to give it another try.
5. Once your picture is sized properly, Paint automatically shrinks the file size for you. All you have to do now is to save the photo with the right file type.

• Select File then Save As.
• Under the File Type drop-down, select 24-Bit BMP file (you can select any of the BMP file types; 24 bit has the best quality).
• Make note of the name and location of this file, it will be the one you import into the MRCDB.

Importing to the MRCDB: The easiest part of the process is to import the picture file into the MRCDB.

1. Open the member’s record.
2. Select the picture area double click.
3. When the Access window appears, select the “Create from File” option.
4. Click the Browse button to locate your file. Remember that it will be the BMP file, not the original JPG file.
5. When you find your file, select OK.

Photo FAQs:

We took a lot of new pictures when badging. How do we get them into the database?

The process described in the Photo How To section explains how to import photos into the MRCDB. If you've got a folder full of pictures your biggest challenge will be sorting out which picture belongs to which member.

Should I keep the original photo on the drive after I've loaded it into the database?

Once the photo is loaded into the database, it doesn't have any relationship to the original or the cropped/sized version on your drive, so you can remove them if you want. Pictures can take up a lot of space, so it may be a good idea to write them onto a CD or a flash drive if disk space starts to be an issue for you.

The MRCDB is intended to be a portable database, so unlike a lot of other applications, it actually saves the picture inside the database instead of linking to the picture in the files. This way, if you plug your flash drive with the MRCDB into another machine you'll still be able to open and print a call-down list or any other member record that uses pictures.

I'm using Kodak Easyshare...

Kodak Easyshare's software is a bit of a tyrant; it likes to 'own' all the photo type files on your computer, including all the BMP files, JPG files, etc. Kodak's been working on this problem, since a lot of users have complained about it. If you're having trouble with pictures and you're running Kodak Easyshare, there's a few things to do:

1. Check the version of your Easyshare software. Very old versions (such as version 3.x or so) are more problematic than newer ones. You can update your version through the Kodak site, but please be aware that newer versions may not solve your problems.
2. Contact Kodak and explain the problems you're having. They've been working on many of the most common ones and they'll have the most up-to-date solution for you.

I can't find the pictures we took, is there a way for the database to locate them?

The database can't find the pictures for you, but here are a few tricks that may helpful.

• Open up My Computer and click on the Search icon.
• Search for files whose extension is JPG or JPEG by entering *.JPG, *.JPEG
• From the View menu, select Thumbnails so that you'll see the picture rather than just the filename.
• Chances are, you have pictures scattered all over your computer directories, so it's a good idea to create a directory just for MRC pictures and drag and drop the pictures you need into it.

Can a member e-mail me their picture?

Yes, but: If you (or your Ex Com) determines that eMailing pictures is OK, then there are a few things to keep in mind:

• The first question is pretty obvious: Does the picture look like the person? A shot taken a few years ago may not be the one you want to use for identification purposes, and most of us sure don't want to look like our driver's license picture!
• Is the background/setting appropriate and not distracting? A picture from that trip to Bermuda may make you look great, but an inappropriate background may cause the person checking the ID to wonder if it's legitimate.
• Is the member free to use the picture? This sounds crazy, but a photo taken by a professional sometimes may not be used (even by the subject) without permission/payment.
• How much time do you want to spend cropping and fixing a picture? If you don't have the time, you may want to consider providing guidelines to the members who want to take their own pictures and e-mail them to you.

One of my members' picture is awful, can I retouch it?

If you have the technology and the consent of the member, there's nothing wrong with a little retouching to 'fix' something you didn't catch when you took the picture. Remember though, there's a difference between 'can' you and 'should' you. Retouching pictures can be very time consuming. If you do decide to retouch a picture, avoid changing the nature of the picture. It's OK to remove clutter from a background or improve the contrast or exposure to eliminate shadows, but it's a slippery slope if you start changing the way the person looks. If the picture is really unusable, or if the member is really upset about the way they look, it's probably faster to take another one than to start retouching.

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