2013-03-26

The Jimmy method of using camera files.

This will be a bit of a tutorial that shows my very simple method of processing photos from camera to computer to being ready to post. The only tool needed is the excellent free image viewer/editor Irfanview.
You should also download their addons as well as they really help.
Firstly remove card from camera
Place in card reader, then plug into a USB port in your computer.
Or if like this Samsung that uses the excellent but fiddly little TF cards you can plug in the supplied USB lead and plug into computer and switch on.
This will then show up as a drive on your computer, with a list of files that are the photos you've taken, I use a file manager to make my life easier but you can navigate with the clunky windows system as well.
It looks like this with windows.
Next open the first file using Irfanview and hit the B key, or if you're a true mouse lover use the drop down menu as shown.
This opens the batch conversion menu, a very handy part of Irfanview. All cameras produce generic file names, these will soon cause angst as duplication will abound, I use a file system and you could easily think of a better file system but mine works fine for me. In my case the first letter "T" is my year code for 2013, and "C" is code for march, I four digits afterwards for incrementing, I only take about a thousand pictures a month these days. Note the settings in the menu here and the fact I have a separate directory for each months photos. Hit the add all button.
This puts the files on the card to the ready to process area. You can process fewer files but in practice it seldom needs to be split. Hit the options button
In my case I had to reset the starting counter to 1088 as I have files up to 1087 already in the March directory. Hit OK and Start Batch.

Now you'll have the photos on your computer with a naming system that will at least have a little bit of logic.
But for posting, most photos are way too big and need re-sizing.
The 3968 pixels across in the original photo here is way to large for posting, plus there are dead areas that should be cropped out.
So using the mouse just draw a box around the area you wish to keep, and Ctrl +Y or crop selection.
2944 pixels across is still far to large for this photo so go to the Ctrl +R or resize menu.
1000 pixels across is ample for this photo, given the nature of it smaller would be fine too, some photos justify larger but with most monitors being 1920 pixels across there isn't much need to be larger.

And that's about the end of this little bit of fun. On a personal level I never use supplied camera software nor do I bother with fancy photo editing software, Irfanview has all the tools that I ever need plus is quick and free.

3 comments:

  1. Jim, how come the pictures don't come up in a light box any more?

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  2. You've lost me Ken, if you mean my light box? what I've been shooting lately doesn't need too much fancy treatment.
    There's another light box?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yeah. It is a web page term for when your pictures come up in their own window and the back window (where your comments are) goes dark. It used to happen on your older posts. Wonder if it is a Firefox thing, a Windows thing, or your blog doing it.

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