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An ABC of geotagging photos on the Mac

Bruce — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:30:54 +0000

This article considers geotagging photos from a Mac perspective, looking at automatic and manual methods, and explaining terms such as data loggers, track points, waypoints, and routes. It lists OS X software options for connecting to data loggers, converting track log formats, geo-locating photos, and writing that data to EXIF for both raw and JPEG images. It also covers the importance of time synchronization, what you can do with geotagged photos, workflow, choosing a data logger and controlling it from your Mac. Introduction With my blog articles geotagged and mapped, and the launch of geotagicons.com behind me, the next challenge was to consider geotagging my photos in future. Some time ago I blogged about doing this in iPhoto, and although workable for a small selection of images this manual/ best guess option doesn't scale well to 2-3 week vacations when you return with several hundred images and a poor recollection of what was taken exactly where. Before getting started on something (i.e. spending money!) I like to try and gain a reasonable overview of what I'm about to get into. What follows is a summary of my research into the terminology, technology, hardware and software that a budding Mac photo geotagger will want to get to grips with. If you also like to look before you leap then this article may be of service to you. Although written with fellow Mac users in mind, if you're afflicted with Windows much of the article is still relevant. What is geotagging? In a photographic context, geotagging ...

In the shadow of Mt. Doom

Bruce — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 08:38:13 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net :

We end this month in New Zealand with a sense of achievement: we walked the Tongariro Crossing without significant pain nor injury. We had good weather and got some great photos of the beautiful volcanic landscape. Our 18.6 km walk began early morning in the shadow of Mt. Doom, as Ngauruhoe is now popularly known following its role in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings. In the bright sunlight at altitude, capturing well-exposed images of the dark landscape required extra care to avoid blown highlights. Click thumbnail to enlarge image Mt. Ngauruhoe (a.k.a Mt. Doom) Getting good exposure I have the AE-L/AF-L button on my Nikon D70 set to AE Lock only, meaning exposure locks while the button is pressed but focus is unaffected. The default locks both exposure and focus: AE-L/AF-L settings (© Nikon) I've ignored this button until recently, perhaps because using it requires some dexterity and coordination: Zoom in and focus on a highlight—usually horizon sky (half-depress the trigger); Depress the AE-L/AF-L button; Keeping my thumb on the AE-L/AF-L button, release the trigger; Zoom in on the subject and half-depress the trigger to lock focus; Zoom out and recompose; Press the trigger; Release the AE-L/AF-L button! Fingers and thumbs (© Nikon) I recently tried this routine repeatedly on the Crossing and it soon became automatic, but granted it does seem cumbersome. Is there a better way to do this? After taking the shot I always check for over-exposed areas on the LCD, which I keep on Highlights display (the brightest areas flash; the less the better). Raw material The idea is to get ...

Clean up your image

Bruce — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 06:47:44 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net :

Every time you swap a lens you risk dust getting inside the body of your SLR. It can settle in front of the sensor and appear in every image that you take thereafter as an indistinct spot (dust on the lens apparently makes for a more defined dirty spec, although it depends on aperture). While many of these artifacts can be effectively dealt with using Photoshop's invaluable healing brush (working at 100% image size), sometimes they fall on an image zone that makes correction difficult. At some point they become to numerous to ignore; that's when I decided to get some CCD housekeeping organized. If you search the D70 manual for "cleaning", it refers to the mirror lock-up control and describes the protective role of the low pass filter—recommending that it be "cleaned only by Nikon-authorized service personnel". That's all I needed to know, although DIY instructions are given. Thom Hogan's Complete Guide to the Nikon D70 goes as far as including a specific disclaimer: In particular, the author and publisher shall not be responsible for any damage to the CCD of the camera of any reader who follows the cleaning instructions contained in this book. Using Nikon Capture (which I don't own) to create a "dust reference photo" is imperfect alternative option discussed by Thom. Lacking the experience, nerve, and equipment, I took my D70 into a local photographic store. WPS charged $NZ150 for a next-day cleaning service and provided before and after pictures to demonstrate its effectiveness. Click thumbnail ...

A horse of a lens

Bruce — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 09:35:10 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net :

The AF-S Zoom-Nikkor ED 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF DX VR is a great lens (if you can find one). This isn't a review (for that, see here or here), but I'd like to share one aspect of user experience with you. My Nikon D70 includes a shoulder strap. Worn over the shoulder the 18-200mm lens naturally points downward, and the movement of walking is enough to cause to zoom to creep. The following image (obtained under strict laboratory conditions) visually explains why I have dubbed my new lens "the horse". The horse is excited by walking

Nikon battery recall hitch

Bruce — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 13:24:20 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net :

On 1st November 2005 Nikon announced that some lot numbers of the EN-EL3 battery (as used in my D70) "may become defective, resulting in overheating during recharging". They went on to explain: When we receive your battery it will be inspected, verified and a replacement battery will posted to the address declared during registration. Your Nikon EN-EL3 battery will be replaced free of charge with a new EN-EL3a or a new EN-EL3e battery within approximately 5-10 working days of receipt. The EN-EL3a and the EN-EL3e may be freely substituted for the EN-EL3 in all cases. Please note that in the case of high demand, returns may take longer. Note that last word; it turns out to be the most important bit... The terms were that Nikon wouldn't send out a replacement battery until they received your old one to verify it was eligible (they evidently don't trust their customers). Hard luck if, like me, you only had one battery. After all, Nikon says it's good for 2,500 (no flash) shots, right? Well, I don't come close to shooting that many between recharges (although I do carry back-up CR2s). I figured an early application would result in an exchange before Christmas. I figured wrong: 09/11/2005: We acknowledge your request for a replacement EN-EL3 battery. 24/11/2005: We are pleased to inform you that a replacement battery is now available and we have shipped a pre-paid envelope... 28/11/2005: The envelope arrives; my old (only) battery is posted to Nikon. 06/12/2005: We would like to advise you that your battery has been replaced and ...

A prosumer digicam or a dSLR?

Bruce — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 18:10:02 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net :

Citing an article from the Digital Photography Blog, Engadget asks "Should you get a prosumer digicam or go for a DSLR?" What they came up with is a very succinct summary of the merits of each: So which is it gonna be? With prosumer EVF digicams hitting 9 megapixels (like the Fuji FinePix S9000, pictured) and prices for low-end DSLRs falling into the $600s, the two variations are competing for the wallets of well-heeled shooters ready to move beyond point-and-shoots. The typical advice is to go with a DSLR if you want complete control over your shots or have a collection of compatible lenses left from your film days, and to go with the EVF model if you want an easier-to-use camera with extra features like a VGA movie mode and an included super-zoom lens. However, Paul Watson makes a strong case for DSLRs that goes beyond common wisdom to focus on nuts-and-bolts issues like better high-ISO capabilities, superior auto-focus capabilities and, of course, optical viewfinders. The bottom line: if you want a camera that can grow with you, a DSLR is hard to beat. Having recently moved from a prosumer digicam (Sony DSC-F717) to a dSLR myself (Nikon D70) these are issues that drove my own decision to switch. It takes time to get comfortable with a new camera, however, and there are several things about the way the Sony handled that I miss: the live histogram; its ability to hang over the shoulder and sit comfortably under the arm; the swivel ...

A raw and CS2 workflow for dummies

Bruce — Sat, 04 Jun 2005 20:44:40 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net :

Well, not for dummies—but for non-professional photographers, amateurs, or prosumers (as you like). This article represents my evolving understanding of the options you have during raw conversion with ACR 3.1, and during post-processing in Photoshop CS2 (following nearly 3 years of shooting JPEG, ignoring colour management, and tinkering with Photoshop 7). I like a "one product does it all" solution. I descibe a workflow that will hopefully make sense for most images—assuming that like me you want to work on one at a time, to edit once, and your interest is in capturing what's there and not "faking it". I'll make changes as I discover what does or doesn't work, and acquire new knowledge (maybe even skill?). Your feedback and suggestions would be much appreciated. This is a fairly long article, but there's a graphic summary at the end! Capture and camera settings I decided on a Nikon D70 set to raw + JPEG basic, a SanDisk 1GB Extreme III Compact Flash card, and an iPod photo 60GB with iPod Camera Connector for in-the-field storage (also works with my wife's Olympus C-70Z and my old Sony DSC-F717). As with my previous camera, the only "rule" I try to adhere to when shooting is this one: ...correct exposure means keeping the highlights as close as possible to blowing out, without actually doing so. Some photographers refer to this concept as "Expose to the Right" because you want to make sure that your highlights fall as close to the right side of the histogram as ...

Photoshop CS2 vs. Nikon Capture 4.2

Bruce — Mon, 23 May 2005 07:06:52 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net :

I've already looked at raw ability in Photoshop CS2, together with image editing features for post-processing. The question is should I upgrade to CS2 (from Photoshop 7 and Elements 3) when my Nikon D70 arrives, or spend similar money on Nikon Capture instead. How do they broadly compare in terms of features? At this point I'm not interested in technical subtleties, just a broad feature run-down for Joe Average. Photoshop CS2 The full Photoshop CS2 package costs a whopping £523 from the European Adobe online store; to upgrade from Photoshop 7 costs £140 (including VAT) or £144 if you download it (yes, more , but missing media, printed manual, and Stock Art!). The same upgrade costs $US150 in the States—about £80. It looks like Adobe set their own exchange rate: remember to smile as you get ripped off... but honestly, a rather perplexing approach to pricing for a company concerned about software piracy. I sent a polite letter to Adobe (then an e-mail) asking them to explain the price difference, but they didn't even have the decency to reply to either. However, non-US upgrade price aside, CS2 has some great features for digital photographers: More options in the raw converter (compared to PSE3; see here); Filter for lens correction. As well as removing barrel distortion, there are controls for fixing chromatic aberration and vignetting (also for non-raw files), and perspective; Filter for noise reduction (also reduced JPEG artifacts; also in PSE3); Filter for smart sharpening, apparently more advanced than unsharp mask and can be selectively applied to ...

Mac OS X Tiger handles NEF (Nikon raw)

Bruce — Sun, 15 May 2005 06:44:59 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net :

I have a recently superseded Nikon D70 on order and have begun thinking about a workflow for handling raw images on the Mac. Another useful feature of Tiger (I've not seen it documented, or noticed it in Panther) is support for NEF right in the Finder itself. Furthermore, Preview can open and display the full-sized image. What is raw? I've read that raw can be thought of as a kind of "digital negative". According to Wikipedia: A camera raw image file contains the unprocessed data from the image sensor of a digital camera. Also called raw (although it is not an acronym) or CCD-raw (even for CMOS sensors), its format is proprietary and differs from one manufacturer to another, and sometimes between cameras made by one manufacturer. The image must be processed and converted to an RGB format such as TIFF or JPEG before it can be manipulated by a bitmap graphics editor, printed, or displayed by a typical web browser. Adobe is promoting the Digital Negative (.dng) as a universal archival format for raw images. What is NEF? NEF is an acronym for Nikon Electronic Format, Nikon's own version of raw with 12-bit lossless (see below) compression. As Nikon explain in a Nikon Capture-focussed press release: A NEF file from a Nikon digital SLR camera consists of three key components that include raw image data captured by the imaging sensor, thumbnail images of the raw data, and a unique instruction set that retains camera settings from the moment a picture was taken. During postproduction in Capture 4.0 ...