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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 ...

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 ...

Image post-processing: the bit depth issue

Bruce — Sun, 22 May 2005 09:59:47 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net :

Up to this point, because I didn't know better, I've done my image post-processing in 8-bit mode. What does this mean, and how does it affect the quality of the image? What software do I need to edit in a 16-bit workspace? Here are the results of my investigation of these questions... Bit depth Apparently most digital cameras (and scanners) use 12-bit analog to digital converters, giving you the potential of 12-bits per channel raw (various proprietary formats e.g. NEF), 8-bit JPEG, or 8 or 12-bit TIFF as a starting point. Software for image editing, like Photoshop, can work in 8-bit or 16-bit mode. You print or save for online viewing as JPEG using 8 bits per channel (24-bit colour). More bits equals more image data: 8 bits produce 256 tones; 3 channels = 24-bit image 12 bits produce 4096 tones; 3 channels = 36-bit image 16 bits produce 65,536 tones; 3 channels = 48-bit image Bottom line: We want to start out with as much image data as possible, so shoot raw if possible. Raw conversion Adobe Camera raw gives you the option of opening your converter image in an 8-bit or 16-bit workspace. More details here. Bottom line: We want to minimise image degradation during the editing process, so open images a 16-bit workspace. Editing in a 16-bit workspace Opening a 12-bit raw file in an 8-bit workspace involves some loss of data as there are fewer bits to contain data describing tones etc, as the data are effectively rounded to fit into a smaller space. This also ...

Raw conversion: ACR 3.1 in PSE 3 vs. CS2

Bruce — Mon, 16 May 2005 20:02:48 +0000

From http://www.bioneural.net :

A review of Photoshop Elements 3 on dpreview.com suggested that the Camera Raw plug-in in Elements was feature-limited relative to Camera Raw 2.3 as shipped with Photoshop CS. Since, however, Photoshop CS2 has been released as has Camera Raw 3.1, which requires either CS2 or Elements 3. So if it's the same plug-in, does it have the same functionality when used with Elements as it does with CS2? Once my Nikon D70 arrives I plan to start shooting raw images. Unfortunately Adobe's Camera Raw 3.1 plug-in is not compatible with my older Photoshop version 7. However, Adobe offer a 30-day trial of Photoshop CS2 here. Using a sample raw file I resolved to determine if the options available to the user differed between the two programs. Photoshop 7 Firstly, here's what dear old Photoshop 7 makes of NEF (Nikon raw): Adobe did sell a US$99 add-on raw plug-in for Photoshop 7. However, you can download a Nikon NEF Plugin for PS7 as part of Nikon View. This offers very limited adjustment options (sample NEF here) but does open the image in 16-bit mode: Another option for older versions of Photoshop is PictureProject, described by Nikon as "next generation" software (superseding Nikon View?): When installing PictureProject, the Nikon NEF Plug-in is also installed. The Nikon NEF Plug-in allows raw images captured with Nikon digital cameras to be opened in 8-bit image data in Adobe Photoshop 6.0 or later. To open raw images in 16-bit image data, please use Nikon Capture 4 version 4.1 or later. Interestingly, the Nikon ...

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 ...