​Funerals in America have gradually transformed from solemn gatherings to more personalized celebrations of life. In earlier times, funerals were deeply rooted in religious customs, emphasizing mourning and a focus on the afterlife. However, the 20th century brought about significant changes, with the rise of funeral homes, new embalming techniques, and an increasingly secular society.
​
The shift toward celebrating life instead of focusing solely on death began as people desired more personalized ceremonies, commemorating their loved ones through memories, hobbies, and passions. This move was fueled by the increasing secularization of society and the emphasis on individualism. As people sought to honor their loved ones in ways that reflected their unique lives, celebrations of life gained popularity. Today, these events are often lighter, with uplifting music, favorite photos, and stories shared by family and friends. Much like the services we offer here at Memorial-Videos.com!

The wake was traditionally a meeting of friends and family the night before a burial to make sure that the deceased did not awaken. The term ‘wake’ came literally from the practice of confirming that the person did not wake up! It was often accompanied by plenty of food and drink.

In the 19th century, the funeral industry begun to expand as towns grew into cities, and local cemeteries ran out of burial space. When Abraham Lincoln was killed and his body was taken on a two-week long procession, his body was embalmed for preservation along the trip. Embalming soon became a common practice, and the care of the deceased became a proper industry, with many seeking to become licensed undertakers. Funeral protection laws were subsequently enacted to protect from families from misleading practices such as requiring itemized lists.

Modern funeral services offer greater flexibility, allowing people to incorporate elements that celebrate the deceased's personality and achievements. Although some critics worry this trend downplays the importance of grieving, many families find comfort in remembering their loved ones with joy rather than sorrow.
In essence, celebrations of life reflect society’s evolving approach to death, focusing not just on loss but on honoring a life well-lived. This modern approach helps families cope with grief while cherishing positive memories.
Read more about the evolution of American funeral customs on this blog by the Library of Congress here: https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2022/09/evolution-of-american-funerary-customs-and-laws/
And contact us here https://www.memorial-videos.com/contact.html to begin your video project today!

Nothing makes a memorial video or a personal history project come alive better than photographs. In this blog I am going to tell you how to scan them and how to fix them so they'll sparkle in your work.

First, a warning. Never, ever take photos out of their albums. Albums do more than keep them protected. They provide contextual information. If you are having trouble dating a particular image, the chances are that the nearby images were pasted in at around the same time - so you can look for clues there. Also, grandma sometimes wrote captions on the pages and that information will be lost forever once the image goes.

Scanning. It can be confusing. All those settings. High resolution sounds good but it's slow and takes up disk space. Low resolution is quick, the files are lean and Emailable, and the result looks good enough on the screen. Right? Well, maybe. Here are the rules you should follow:


If you are ever going to print the images, even maybe, then set the scanner at a minimum 300 dpi (dots per inch). 300 dpi is a good resolution for printing. For smaller photos, use 400 or even 600 dpi. For slides and negatives, use a minimum of 1200 dpi (I use 2400)

If you are only want to use the image on screens and in emails, iPods, phones etc, scan at 72 dpi. TVs and computers operate at 72 dots per inch (and on them it looks good). But here's the thing. Can you ever rule out printing the image? I doubt it. Given the effort to get the image to the glass, you are better off getting it right first time.

So, always scan at a minimum of 300 dpi. Too large to email? Cut it down later. Files too large to store? Hmm. Have you seen the price of external hard drives lately? They are cheap. (Last time I checked you could get 500GB for just over $100.)

And clean the scanner glass first, then blow the dust off the glass and then the image with a can of "Dust Off". This is especially important for slides and negatives. Itsy bitsy dust is all but invisible - but once you see the image in close-up, that dust mote will look like a boulder!

What about that "descreening" button? Only use it for newspaper, magazine or book images (halftones) or images printed on textured paper. Color restoration? Backlight correction? Sharpening? Experiment. (Although I prefer not to check any of those boxes and instead use my photo editing software.)

Alright. You have a scanned image. You open it up on your computer. Chances are it looks ...OK. Do you need to learn Photoshop to fix it? No. There are five main fixes that you can make on almost any came-with-the-computer program (like Microsoft Office Picture Manager) or simple programs like Google's Picasa. If you are careful, you can make the scanned image look better than the original!

Here are my five steps to fix photos: 1. Rotate (by degrees): Straighten those crooked horizons. 2. Crop. Cut out all that unnecessary sky or that garbage can or other useless background (or the white of the scanner lid). Let's get up close with the action. 3. Adjust color tone: maybe the image looks too washed out so boost saturation; maybe there's an unwelcome color tint - so adjust "hue". Then: 4. Correct for red eye (pets included).

Now here comes the most important one: 5. Fix contrast. The reason that a lot of images look terrible is that they don't have a full tonal range - they look "flat" or muddy. Once you boost the contrast so the blacks are black (not dark grey) and the whites are white (and not milky) - the image will really "pop". Play around with the "auto correct" or "I feel lucky" buttons to get the contrast working for you.

And always save the result under a different file name. You will want to keep your original scanned copies in case you change your mind later about your improvements.


Learn more about what to include in your Memorial Video: Memorial Video Advice