The following is a Plus Edition article written by and copyright by Dick Eastman. 

If you have a digital camera with advanced features, and if you have a photo editing program with advanced features, and if you have plenty of disk space on your hard drive, I'd suggest that you create your photos in RAW format.

What is RAW?

This is one time in technology when a 3-letter term is not an abbreviation or acronym for three words. In this case, RAW is just that: raw, unprocessed, unrefined, unchanged, original. In this case, RAW means that the image is just as the camera saw it; the picture has not yet been processed by the camera.

Most digital camera owners do not realize that, when they push the shutter, the camera takes the picture, PROCESSES IT, and then stores the processed image in the camera's internal memory card or whatever media is used. The picture stored inside the camera is actually quite different from what the camera saw and, for simpler applications, that is a good thing.

When you push the shutter on your digital camera, a lot of things happen very quickly. The lens opens, and the image sensor is exposed to light. The image sensor is a device that converts an optical image to an electric signal. The sensor captures light and converts it into electrical signals. 

The interesting thing is that the image sensor doesn't see light in the same way that you and I do. That is, an image sensor doesn't see bright greens as greens and pinks as pinks. In addition, the brightness may not be the same to an image sensor as it is to a human eye. A section of the photograph may seem brighter or darker to an image sensor than it does to us humans.

The default setting on most digital cameras is to send the newly-captured signal through some electronics to convert the image to something close to what the human eye sees, then save the output of that conversion process. A very complex process called demosaicing (explained at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demosaicing) first determines the color of each pixel. The resulting color image is then adjusted in various ways, including being white balanced to compensate for the type of light you were shooting in. Then the image is sharpened, compressed so that it doesn’t take up as much space, and finally stored on your memory card. Most of today's digital cameras will store the image in JPEG (or JPG) format, which has already been compressed and (sometimes) has already lost a bit of the original sharpness. 

NOTE: More expensive digital cameras typically add more options, including the ability to store photos in TIFF format, non-compressed JPEG format, or in unprocessed RAW format. Saving images in a raw format allows the user to demosaic the image(s)  using software, rather than using the camera's built-in firmware.

TIFF and non-compressed JPEG formats are great for maintaining crystal clear, uncompressed images. However, both TIFF and non-compressed JPEG pictures have already been processed to some degree by the electronics in the computer. As a result, the camera has already converted the RAW image into what the camera's designers hope is a proper rendition of the image for the human eye. Colors have already been changed, and brightness has already been adjusted. The result most times is a close approximation of what the human eye sees. The key words in that sentence are "most times."

In fact, no camera electronics or any other automated method of converting RAW images into TIFF or JPEG is ever perfect. As good as these conversion processes are, they are never flawless in all conditions. A picture taken in the shade may not properly convert the one bright spot in the corner. A picture of red flowers may not properly interpret the green leaves or the yellow ribbon used to tie the flowers together. Many digital cameras struggle to get white balance properly adjusted. 

Again, all of this takes place inside your camera. You, as the human photographer, have no control over this conversion process UNLESS YOU SHOOT RAW.

Another issue is the number of pixels stored – in other words, the clarity. RAW files allow for much more editing than JPEG files. Your camera probably captures RAW images with 12 to 14 bits of data per pixel, but a JPEG file can only hold eight bits of data per pixel. This means that, when you shoot in JPEG mode, one of the first things your camera does is throw out a bunch of data that it captured. Most of the time, this data loss doesn’t matter as you still get an image that has the full range of tone and color that your camera can yield. But if you like to edit a lot, or if you plan on adjusting the contrast and color to extreme degrees, then this loss of data could mean trouble. RAW gives you more options.

A RAW image is just that: raw, unprocessed, unrefined, unchanged, original. In this case, RAW means that the image is just as the camera's image sensor saw it; the picture has not been processed by the camera. If you change the settings in your camera to store pictures in RAW format, the camera bypasses the conversion process. Whatever the image sensor saw is stored directly into the memory card with no conversion whatsoever. 

The problem is that the image sensor didn't see what the human eye would have seen. The RAW image stored in the memory card will actually look much worse to the human eye than a normal processed TIFF or JPEG image. That's where software comes in.

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The Tucson City Council unanimously approved the process to begin returning 10.6 acres of ancestral land to the Tohono O’odham Nation.

Council Member Lane Santa Cruz headed the initiative to return land on Sentinel Peak back to the tribe.

“We don’t honor and revere our indigenous people, the people who made this city possible,” Santa Cruz said. “The relationship that indigenous people have with the land is what we need to pay attention to and listen to.”

The foot of Sentinel Peak is widely considered to be the birthplace of Tucson. But before the city became what it is now, it was home to ancestors of the Tohono O’odham and Hohokam tribes for 4,500 years. The city’s Spanish name even came from the O’odham village name S-cuk Son, meaning “at the base of the black hill.”

You can read more in an article by Paola Rodriguez published in the azpm.org web site at: https://tinyurl.com/mr2kzvh9.

The Iowa County Genealogy Society has moved from its previous home in North English. The genealogy library is now located at the west end of the former school building in Millersburg. The public is invited to come see what the group has to offer.

Genealogy is the study of your family history. We have a library where you can do research. You do not have to be a member, but membership is welcomed. Books cannot be checked out. They need to be available for research and are difficult to replace if damaged or not returned.

The collection concentrates on Iowa County, as there would not be enough room for other counties and states. Most counties have their own collections. There are a few items from other areas, mostly those that are our neighbors.

You would be surprised at how much you can find in one room. There are thousands of obituaries that are user friendly. Newspapers going back to the 1800s are available on microfilm. Census records for Iowa County are on microfilm also. There are family histories, cemetery records, town histories, county histories, church histories, atlases and much more.

The society is a nonprofit, volunteer organization. We survive on donations and some money from the county. There is a copier for patrons’ use and we would like a donation for copies.

An open house from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 6, will celebrate the new location. Door prizes will be given.

The Iowa County Genealogy Society  web page may be found at: https://iagenweb.org/iowa/research/ICGS.htm. 

The following announcement was written by Findmypast:

Ireland, Diocese of Dublin Marriage Licenses, 1638-1858 

Over 98,000 records have been added to this existing collection, perfect if you have ancestors who may have lived in the Diocese of Dublin. You’ll typically find the date of registration, both spouses’ names, and sometimes occupations and residences.  

Ireland, Diocese of Dublin Wills & Grants, 1270-1858 

This existing collection has been bolstered by an additional 34,450 records. These records are from index books that were published in the 1890s, covering wills, grants of probate, or administrations recorded by the Anglican Diocese of Dublin between 1270 and 1858. 

Newspapers 

Two new titles from London, one from Guernsey, and updates to a further 17 make up this week’s newspaper releases. 

New titles: 

·         Eastern Post, 1868-1921 

·         Guernsey Evening Press and Star, 1897-1898, 1900-1909, 1911-1916 

·         Richmond and Twickenham Times, 1873-1879, 1894-1904 

Updated titles: 

·         Bexhill-on-Sea Chronicle, 1887-1889, 1896-1897, 1912 

·         Billericay Gazette, 1987 

·         Brighton Argus, 1911 

·         Brighton Gazette, 1913 

·         Brighton Herald, 1886 

·         Callander Advertiser, 1888 

·         Essex & Herts Mercury, 1833 

·         Greenford & Northolt Gazette, 1992 

·         Gwent Gazette, 1971 

·         Liverpool Daily Post (Welsh Edition), 1990 

·         Manchester Evening News, 1929-1930, 1932-1933, 1956-1957, 1959, 1989 

·         New Observer (Bristol), 1987 

·         Rutherglen Reformer, 1890 

·         St. Ives Weekly Summary, 1899, 1914 

·         Stratford-upon-Avon Herald, 1880 

·         Weekly Examiner (Belfast), 1886 

·         Wembley Observer, 1986 

The following announcement was written by the folks at TheGenealogist:

Researchers using TheGenealogist will now have access to the highest resolution and quality 1851, 1861 & 1871 census images for England and Wales ever seen online with vastly improved readability revealing even faint writing in pencil.

Building on the success of their previously upgraded 1891 census image release, TheGenealogist has now significantly improved the image quality of all its 1851,1861 and 1871 census images as well.

Clearer Images of the 1861 census finds Charles Dickens and family

TheGenealogist’s new images can really make a difference - Comparison of Old and New

Replacing the old bitonal images with high-resolution greyscale census images reveals  the details in the census columns or margins and where previously faint writing, shadows or pencil marks could render an image unreadable. 

Mark Bayley, Head of Development at TheGenealogist said:

“We’re extremely proud to announce this tremendous leap forward in clarity and readability. Thanks to the latest technology and many years of hard work, we now have the best possible images for the 1851, 1861, 1871 and 1891 census for England and Wales. It’s remarkable just how much extra detail you can see in these images.”

TheGenealogist’s “Deep Zoom” images have over 5 times the resolution of previous images and yet are still fast to view, thanks to the technology used in their image interface. Writing appears sharper on the new images and allows you to zoom in to reveal what would otherwise be illegible words on other sites. In addition TheGenealogist has the benefit of searchable occupations and addresses on their census transcripts, making them quicker and easier to find.

Read TheGenealogist’s article:  Murder in the margin! https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2023/murder-in-the-margin-1688/ 

About TheGenealogist

TheGenealogist is an award-winning online family history website, who put a wealth of information at the fingertips of family historians. Their approach is to bring hard to use physical records to life online with easy to use interfaces such as their Tithe and newly released Lloyd George Domesday collections. 

TheGenealogist’s innovative SmartSearch technology links records together to help you find your ancestors more easily. TheGenealogist is one of the leading providers of online family history records. Along with the standard Birth, Marriage, Death and Census records, they also have significant collections of Parish and Nonconformist records, PCC Will Records, Irish Records, Military records, Occupations, Newspaper record collections amongst many others.

TheGenealogist uses the latest technology to help you bring your family history to life. Use TheGenealogist to find your ancestors today!

NOTE: This article is not about any of the "normal" topics of this newsletter: genealogy, history, current affairs, DNA, and related topics. However, I will suggest that all computer users should use a password manager that encrypts all of your stored password data (many password managers DO NOT encrypt all your data.) I use several other Proton products (Proton VPN, Proton Mail, Proton Drive, and Proton Calendar) and I plan to use Proton Pass as soon as it opens up to usage by the general public.

The following was written by Andy Yen, the founder and CEO of Proton:

Today, we’re happy to announce another significant milestone in the growth of the Proton ecosystem with the launch of the Proton Pass beta for Lifetime and Visionary users. Invites will roll out over the next week, and you’ll receive an email from us at your Proton Mail email address when you’re eligible.

A password manager has been one of the most common requests from the Proton community ever since we first launched Proton Mail. However, while Proton Pass uses end-to-end encryption to protect your login credentials, it will be much more than a standard-issue password manager. This will become clear over the next weeks and months as we prepare Proton Pass for a public launch later this year.

Learn what a password manager is and why you need one

In 2022, Proton joined forces with SimpleLogin to bring millions of Proton users advanced Hide-my-email Aliases. Making logins more secure, more private, and easier was a core part of the original vision of SimpleLogin. In fact, Son Nguyen Kim, the founder of SimpleLogin, picked the name SimpleLogin for precisely this reason.

The merger united two organizations with a shared interest in tackling this problem. That’s why the SimpleLogin team, joined by a few engineers from Proton, spearheaded work on Proton Pass.

We’re launching Proton Pass now for two primary reasons. First, joining with SimpleLogin increased our ability to develop a new password manager without impacting efforts on other Proton services. Second, passwords are such sensitive information that an insecure password manager is a risk to the Proton community. 

If an attacker obtains your password (be it through a data breach or hacking your password manager), they can essentially bypass all of Proton Mail’s advanced encryption. Protecting your passwords properly requires a high level of competence with encryption and security, which few organizations have. We’ve always been worried about the risk posed by a major password manager breach, which unfortunately became a reality with the recent hack of LastPass(new window).

Raising the bar on security

Proton Pass is not just another password manager. It’s perhaps the first one built by a dedicated encryption and privacy company, leading to tangible differences in security. For example, while many other password managers only encrypt the password field, Proton Pass uses end-to-end encryption on all fields (including the username, web address, and more).

This is important because seemingly innocuous bits of information (such as saved URLs, which many other password managers don’t encrypt) can be used to create a highly detailed profile on you. For example, if an attacker can see that you have passwords saved for an account with Grindr, gop.com, or even a manga fan site, they’ll know a lot about you as a person, even if they can’t actually access your accounts. 

Cryptographic details matter, and Proton Pass uses a strong bcrypt password hashing implementation (weak PBKDF2 implementations have made other password managers vulnerable) and a hardened implementation of Secure Remote Password (SRP) for authentication. Proton Pass is also one of the first password managers to include a fully integrated two-factor authenticator (2FA) and supports 2FA autofill. This is meant to make it easier to use 2FA everywhere since it’s one of the most effective safeguards for your online accounts.

Read the Proton Pass security model

You can read more about Proton Pass at: https://proton.me/blog/proton-pass-beta. 

A note from Dick Eastman: I am not compensated in any way for publishing this article. The article does not contain any affiliate links or other forms of compensation. I am simply a very satisfied user of Proton’s other products and plan to switch to Proton Pass as soon as it becomes available. I decided to share the news about Proton’s latest addition with the readers of this newsletter.

From the MyHeritage Blog:

Anzac Day offers a powerful opportunity to honor the legacies of our Australian and New Zealander relatives who fought for freedom. To help make this Anzac Day even more meaningful, MyHeritage will be providing free access to all 120 million records from Australia and New Zealand, between April 20–25, 2023.

Search free Australian and New Zealand records on MyHeritage

Since last Anzac Day, MyHeritage has added around 25 million historical records from Australia and New Zealand, including a number of fascinating and valuable collections, such as New South Wales Gaol Inmates & Photos. MyHeritage is also home to important military collections such as the Anzac Memorial records, the Australian World War II Nominal Roll, 1939–1945, and more. Additional documents, such as vital records, newspapers, and government records, can help fill in more details to paint a complete picture of your relatives’ lives.

MyHeritage can help you discover and preserve the stories of your Australian and New Zealander relatives who fought for freedom, or any of your relatives from the region – so seize this excellent research opportunity when the records are free of charge. Usually, a Complete or Data plan is required to view these records, but for a limited time only, you can search and view them for free.

Note that you’ll be asked to create a free MyHeritage account to access these free records.

Search free Australian and New Zealand records on MyHeritage

Who are the heroes in your family? Whether you already remember their names at a dawn service or you have yet to learn their identities, MyHeritage can help you discover and preserve the stories of your Australian and New Zealander relatives who fought for freedom.

Lest we forget.

That's right: this lady's name is Bailey Bailey. How did that happen?

The answer is obvious but still rather unique. The lady explains, "My first name is Bailey, my husband's last name is Bailey and so in 2020, when we got married, I became Bailey Bailey.

"I thought, oh you know what, this is cool - it's the same name twice but it's unique, you don't hear of people with double names often," she said. "Nobody pressured me into doing it, it's not seeking attention, it's just cute, it's cool, it's just the way things played out."

You can read more at: https://tinyurl.com/5f43s7tk.

Lindsayanne Brenner has written an article that I might suggest should be required reading for all new genealogists. Using Google Photo’s Facial Recognition to Identify Old Family Photos describes methods to both use old-fashioned methods ("ask your older relatives to identify people in old photos") as well as the newest high-tech techniques ("Google photos began identifying faces of my ancestors, identifying individuals despite their changes over a lifetime").

You can find this interesting article at: https://www.hawk-hill.com/old-photos-facial-recognition/.

The following announcement was written by the Council of the Irish Genealogical Research Society:

The Council of the Irish Genealogical Research Society is pleased to announce that the latest recipient of the Wallace Clare Award is Dr Jennifer Harrison, a genealogist and historian from Queensland, Australia, where she is an honorary research fellow in history at the University of Queensland.

Dr Harrison’s contribution to the study of Irish genealogy and history in the Australian state of Queensland is unrivalled. Over decades she has conducted in-depth research on original material in Ireland and Australia to expand the understanding of migration from Ireland to Queensland of convicts, free settlers and members of the colonial administration. Her experience as a genealogist and an academic historian has given her the skills to research and interpret the available records and to enrich the understanding of early European settlement in the colony.

Dr Harrison has been involved in genealogy for over four decades. She is an academic historian with wide ranging interests, primarily in relation to European migration to what became the state of Queensland, Australia. Her work has been acknowledged with the Fellowships of the Federation of Australian Historical Societies and the Royal Historical Society of Queensland. Her study of Irish migration to the state has resulted in an extensive body of published work in the form of books, chapters in edited works and articles in academic journals. In addition, since the foundation of the quarterly magazine Irish Roots in 1992, her regular column on the Australian connection had appeared in every single issue.

In accepting the award, Dr Harrison said "I am overwhelmed to be the recipient of the Wallace Clare Award, particularly when I think of so many potential candidates all around the world. With my dear friend Dr Perry McIntyre, we have been fortunate enough to have visited Ireland very regularly over the years and in our travels and during our research we have been blessed to participate in many conferences and seminars. Additionally, so many opportunities to contribute to events and to write papers and give presentations over the years have been offered.

"Also we have availed ourselves unceasingly of the irresistible treasures available at various repositories all over the beautiful island of Ireland. In the course of our sojourns, and return visits to Australia by several of the inspirational people we have encountered, we have developed many close attachments to people and places. I am so glad that William Butler Yeats has already expressed my heartfelt appreciation so effectively for me: “Think where man’s glory most begins and ends, and say my glory was I had such friends.” Because every time I think of a library, centre, archives or site, it is inevitably connected with some very treasured person. In Ireland, I have had the very best of support and friendship in all my academic and family history endeavours.

"I am particularly grateful to Tony McCarthy of Cork who in 1992 not only proffered friendship but also the prospect of writing for the new magazine he was about to found, Irish Roots. Who would have thought 31 years later that Julie and Maureen Phibbs (who now publish the magazine) would still be wholeheartedly supporting the Australian column for which have I enjoyed submitting stories for more than 120 issues."

IGRS Chairman Steven Smyrl said "Dr Harrison's contribution to the study of the Irish in Queensland, and by extension Australia, is unparalleled. Her ability to successfully link the often limited surviving sources in Ireland with records and material in Australia has more than amply demonstrated the considerable impact that the Irish have made to the development of both Queensland and wider Australia over the past 235 years. Her output is prolific: two books, eight book chapters, innumerable journal articles and many conference papers. Her regular column in the quarterly magazine Irish Roots has helped to demystify genealogical research for both the amateur and the seasoned professional alike. I have met Jennifer many times over the years during her trips to Ireland and can say that her knowledge of Ireland, its history and the sources for it, is expansive, and she is a most worthy recipient of this Award."

The Wallace Clare Award is named in honour of Rev. Wallace Clare (1895-1963), a Catholic priest and keen academic who founded the IGRS in 1936. This was as a response to the great conflagration of 1922, which consumed almost the entire contents of Ireland’s Public Record Office. Fr. Clare initiated the Society's core policy of maintaining a library which 87 years later holds an invaluable collection of transcripts and abstracts compiled from documents subsequently destroyed in the fire. He was the author of the first ever book on Irish ancestral research, A Simple Guide to Irish Genealogy, published in 1937. Unsurprisingly, Fr. Clare was the first individual to be elected a Fellow of the IGRS in 1937.