How to Include a Picture When Recording Voices in Ponga

Sometimes, the loved ones whose stories you cherish the most are themselves too elderly or fragile to organize a narrative. Their stories about a watch, a suitcase, or an old photograph can carry the legacy of a family. Capturing their stories, just as they tell them, preserves the full richness of the moment.

Today’s elderly, however, born long before computers and worldwide networks, may be put off by the complexity of a computer. Here’s a simple solution: Sit with them the old-fashioned way, and let them tell their tales. Bring a laptop and explore old pictures on Ponga. It won’t take long for the computer to disappear as the pictures illustrate the conversation.

Tip: Capture the speaker with a photo

To quickly reference who the speaker is in a recording, take a moment to snap a picture with the laptop camera at the start of the session, then add that picture to the selection just before you click the record button in Ponga.

Using the camera on a computer or laptop to take a picture

Most people think of the camera on their laptop as a webcam, it turns out you can use it to take still images too! Both MacOS and Windows PCs have camera apps built in which make it super easy to add a picture of your speaker.

Here are the instructions for each:

From a MacOS device

Open the Photobooth app included with your MacBook laptop or Macintosh desktop computer.

1. Check the settings. Choose your built-in camera. Select the camera icon (not video if it’s available).
2. Press the button (camera icon.) Wait for a count-down and the camera snaps the picture.
3. Select the picture you like best from the resulting tiles at the bottom, and right-click to choose “Export.” Save the image.

Note: As of Spring 2022, Ponga does not currently support HEIC a high-efficiency format supported on Macintosh and iPhone devices. Use "Compatible mode" in the camera app configurations or convert the file using Apple's Preview app or an online tool like cloudconvert.com/heic-to-png.

From a Windows 10 device

Open the Camera app included with your Windows system by selecting it from the Start menu list of apps. For more, see the Microsoft instructions.

1. Check the settings. You want to be sure you have the built-in camera or an external webcam selected.
2. Select Photo (camera icon), then select it again to take a picture.
3. Select the image you just took from the Pictures folder to add to your Ponga picture selection below.

Add the image first, then click record

Add your image to your Ponga picture selection by clicking on the picture icon in the comment window, or just dragging and dropping the image. The key is to include the image first, then add your voice recording.

Where, when, and how you capture your loved one’s voice is up to you. This tip gives you one simple way to combine media to capture the moment as it happens.