Hi,

My wife just gave birth to identical twins. Of course I'm taking pictures of these cuties, but just realized that I am having a hard time identifying the twins afterwards To make things a bit harder, were staying at the in-laws so my main computer is at home, preventing downloads of the pics and organizing them while it's still fresh in my memory.

I have a D300 which doesn't have any memo capabilities. Are there any suggestions on how to organize/note which kid I'm taking a picture of. My initial thought was to just an index card with the names of each kid and take a picture of it after I'm done with each child, but it becomes annoying when I'm switching between the two frequently. Any suggestions welcome

Thanks,
Charley

I suppose a dab of easily cloned out paint is out of the question

Congratulations on your twins

Steve

A 5 year tattoo on a noticeable body part....?

Again, Congrats.

Regards
Rowan

Haha, we kept their hospital tags on for almost a week so we don't confuse them. In person, we can ID them, but in pictures it gets quite hard.

I found the image comment capability on the D300, but that only works before you take the picture, not after... I'm looking for something after I take the pictures.

My twins are now 6, for the first year and 1/2 we painted there nails a different color to keep them strait. One Pink and one Purple, thanks god my wife remembers which one was which..

Congrats on the twins!

Make it up as you go along, they'll never know!

You could use a different folder for each child, it's quick and easy to switch between active folders on the D300. If you want them all in the same folder just take a picture of your hand after you finish shooting each child and choose a suitable hand sign to denote each.

Have fun.

dye one blue. rename 'smurfkid'

haha definitely the best idea so far!

My twins were mirror images - one had a small birthmark on the right thigh, the other on the left. Still, when we started going through images it became VERY difficult to tell the two apart. My wife did something smart - Brady was always in BLUE. Doesn't help much when they're naked or wrapped in blankets, but it sure helped the rest of the time! I still wonder if maybe we switched them at one point...

Duct Tape

Oh. Congrats...

craigbess wrote:
...thanks god my wife remembers which one was which..

Congrats on the twins!

Are you sure?

shoot a frame of the floor before you shoot kid A, the ceiling before you shoot kid B! The only problem is that it requires a lot of discipline, and you'll run out of card space sooner.

you could try buying some bracelets for them. My son uses a golden chain in his arm. If you have those in different color or material, like gold and Silver you can identify easy. If you had girls you can just paint the nails in different color, as long as you always use the same color on the same girl.

Thanks for all the suggestions... I like the idea using hand guesture rather than index cards as it's much more readily available. As for bracelets and finger nail painting, they are good ideas. The problem is now all frames will have the bracelet or finger nails in it.

How do you change folders? Can you do that after a pic has been taken?

I used a sharpie on our twin boys!!

You should just get comfortable with the fact that you will not always be able to tell them apart. My wife likes to dress our boys the same, except for the shoes. Will has brown and Nate has blue, as long as you can see the shoes your golden.

We have found that you need to tag the photos shortly after they are taken, we are both in love with the keywording in Lightroom. If you come back two or three months later you will not be able to figure it out.

Have fun!!!
Kevin

1) Just resist the urge to dress them identically and only ever change one diaper at a time

2) If you can't tell the difference does it really matter how the photos are labeled?

While they are identical, as Rob001 pointed out they are mirror images of each other not exact copies. Its unlikely that the right and left sides of each one is perfectly symmetrical. Few faces are. So try this:

Shoot a full face version of each one. Open each photo in Photoshop, select half the face, copy, paste then edit transform horizontal. Do that on both sides of the face and you will wind up with three layers. By moving and then toggling the two upper layers you can view the right side mirrored, then the left side mirror. It will reveal any asymmetry in each face and if there are any minor differences you can't spot by eye looking at them normally. My guess is that the right side mirrored on one will match the left side mirrored on the other, and vis a versa. Once you spot any differences between them in the mirrored versions it will be easier to spot the specific difference when looking at them in person or photos.

When shooting portraits most photographers will not notice slight asymmetry in a face that could be hidden with the simple expedient of shooting an oblique view from the opposite sides. Our brains do very interesting stuff with facial recognition. The more familiar a face becomes the less we actually rely on looking at it carefully to indentify it. Instead we just recognizing the person from shape or body language and that triggers a stored memory of what the person looks like. The same is true for objects. Ever look in vain for your car keys only to find them right under your nose but turned at some odd angle? Your eyes saw the keys, but your brain didn't associate the pattern with your stored memory of what the the keys looked like. So the more familiar the face, the less critically you will tend to actually look at it. Because your brain tells you they are perfectly identical the less you will be inclined to notice the differences than a stranger seeing their photos and not knowing they were twins (if they are not dressed identically). A stranger will look at the faces more critically, trying to decide if they are identical twins or not.

I've trained my eye to look for asymmetry when I evaluate a face prior to shooting or when critiquing a photo because it is the key element in finding the most flattering camera angle. I suggest that mirroring exercise in my tutorials as a way to train the eye to spot asymmetry. There are several sets of twins in my wife's extended family and after studying their faces I have no trouble telling them apart based on asymmetry and the fact they are mirror images not replicants. Most in the family gave up long ago and just call them Kalua (twin in Visayan).

Chuck

Are you sure?

Not really, I just take her word for it.. If it were up to me I still get them confused from time to time..

What a problem.

I can imagine the fun those kids will have later (think the "Parent Trap" scenario).

Identical Twins are a true special subject.

I liked the "painted finger nails" solution. Seems long lasting and easy to remember and probably very "unobtrusive" to practical living.

Good luck and have fun.

My mother painted my big toenail red (Ted Red) to keep us straight. But I look at photos she took of us when we were young and, at least for me, it's easy to figure out.

http://www.pbase.com/turnert/stu_and_ted_circa_1967

~Ted

I think you should just not take any pictures! HAHA Tough situation good luck solving the problem. Actually raising twins should be slightly harder I think!
Congrats
Doug

Congrats on the twins, mine are 12 now and I do recall those times What worked for us was color codes, it is a lot easier with boys I have to admit. We never had much trouble telling them apart (unless they were asleep), but looking back at those photos, I can figure out how we did tell them apart if it wasn't for their clothes colros.

MCM

Tag their ears.

Nose ring for sure.

Mr New dad, keeping the photos straight will be the least of your worries as soon as the little ones start being a bit cranky!!

Congrats!