Digital Camera Photography – Free Programs and Services
Starting Out : To make things easier WindowsXP and Vista are able to recognize most USB devices without installing special drivers,
and that includes being able to recognize and connect to digital cameras.
When a camera is connected to the computer
with a cable, and
the camera dial is turned to the Play position, a new window should appear, prompting the user
to choose any one of a number of previously installed software programs so you can
carry out the task of downloading the photos contained in the camera. If the
software that came with the camera has already been installed, it will
be one
of those
listed. After choosing the desired program, a prompt should appear, asking
the user to indicate a saving location for the photos.
However, if the camera’s software (or an alternate program) has not been installed,
the pre- installed Microsoft Scanner and Camera Wizard will do the job quite well. After
downloading the image files, with any program, Explorer (the Windows file viewer)
can even rotate images (when viewed as thumbnails) by
right-clicking. Explorer will also rotate and rename multiple images as a group.
Select them all first by holding the Ctrl key, or the Shift key. Right click
on one of the selected images to view the rotate and rename options.
Retail image editing programs, like PhotoShop Elements, Paint Shop Pro,
Serif PhotoPlus, Ulead PhotoImpact, ADCSee Photo Editor, PhotSuite, and others,
offer a lot of features and do an admirable job. Usually, one of the above,
in a “free” Lite
version, comes packaged with the camera.
Alternatively, free software can be just as feature-packed as the
pricey programs, having their own unique feature-set, and sometimes a
novel user interface. They perform
a wide range of
tasks -
from
downloading,
to editing,
to printing, to exporting, to online uploading. Some work entirely, or partly,
online, while others must be installed; able to perform all tasks directly on
the user's computer.
There are so many contenders in the free software field; it is difficult
to choose a winner - in the sense that a winner should be able to do all tasks
well.
Perhaps a comparison chart, for some of the editors below, will help in choosing
programs containing features considered essential by the user.
| Program Feature |
Cam 2PC |
Fast Stone |
Xn View |
Photo Filtre |
Picasa3 |
Piknic |
Paint. NET |
Photo! Editor |
Photo Meister |
Photo Scape |
| Aquires Images from Camera |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
| Custom Catalogue View |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
| File/Folder Renaming in Tree View |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
| Windows Explorer Tree View |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
| Add Photo Tag/Comment |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
| One-Click Fixing |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
| Manual Slider Image Fixing |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Live/Side-by-Side Change View |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
| Plays/Edits Video (p/e) |
Yes |
Yes p |
Yes |
No |
Yes p/e |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| Online Album/Photogallery Integration |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| HTML/Web Photogallery Maker |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
| Alternate Editor(s) Opener |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| EXIF- Display/Edit (d/e) |
Yes d |
Yes d |
Yes d/e |
Yes d |
Yes d |
No |
No |
No |
Yes d |
No |
| EXIF/Metadate Remover |
No |
Yes |
yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
| Change Timestamp on Image |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| Red-Eye Fix, Quality (1-5) |
No |
Yes 4 |
Yes 3 |
Yes 1 |
Yes 5 |
No |
Yes 3 |
Yes 4 |
Yes 3 |
Yes 1 |
| Batch Resize/Rename |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Batch Convert |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Handles RAW (with add-on) |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
| Rotate Photo/Video (p/v) |
Yes p |
Yes p |
Yes p |
Yes p |
Yes p/v |
Yes p |
Yes p |
Yes p |
Yes p |
Yes p |
| Rotate Automatically |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Straighten Tool |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
| Effects/Filters |
No |
Yes 8 |
Yes 42+ |
Yes 121+ |
Yes 12+ |
Yes 47+ |
Yes 38+ |
Yes 12+ |
Yes 15 + |
Yes 55+ |
| Add Text/Watermark (t/w) |
No |
Yes t/w |
Yes t/w |
Yes t |
Yes w |
Yes t |
No |
No |
No |
Yes t |
| Screen Capture |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
| Video Frame Capture |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| Set as Wallpaper or Screensaver |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
| Irregular Shape Cut Outs |
No |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
| Layers |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
| Slides Viewer with Music (m) |
Yes |
Yes m |
Yes m |
No |
Yes m |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
| Slides Viewer with Multiple Transitions |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
| Slide Viewer Export |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
| Makes Collages |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
| Print Sizing/Cropping |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Prints Contact Sheets |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
First, here's a look at free programs that link to free
online storage; most require installation on the user's computer:
Slides used in the DPCUC January 2009 presentation - click the image.
Picasa: [http://picasa.google.com/]
It now requires a Google ID for simply viewing online photos posted by others.
And, it installs a unique cataloguing system
on the user’s computer. Picasa
is a feature packed program and all edits are non-destructive. A Picasa movie/slide presentation may be scaled up to HD
quality - 1920x1080 pixels, yet maximum online photo dimensions have not (until
recently) exceeded 1600x1200 pixels. Picasa can also create gift photo CDs,
or movies posted directly to YouTube. Some digital camers have a movie setting. The most common digital camera movie file format
(.avi), is automatically converted to Windows Media format (.wmv). Oddly, Picasa's help
file seems to be hosted on MSN, which requires a Microsoft Live log-in. More
recently, photos as large as 20 megabytes each have been permitted, to a total
allowable online storage space of one gigabyte.
- Microsoft Photo Gallery: [http://live.com] Along with a Windows Live account,
comes the ability to upload photos using Microsoft’s free Photo Gallery software.
Image files are limited to 50 megabytes each, with a total storage space of 25 gigabytes (using up your SkyDrive space). Visitors do not need a Windows
Live login to either see or download your photo albums, as long as they are tagged
as “public”. Nor do you need to organize photos and upload them with the Photo
Gallery program itself because Microsoft provides a web page interface for uploading
directly from your computer. Photo Gallery is a very useful tool because
it contains editing features similar to Picasa. It also creates excellent panoramas from overlapping photos.
- Photo Story3: [http://www.microsoft.com/] is another free Microsoft photo
editing and presentation tool that burns images to a CD, or writes a DVD compatible file,
for
sharing with others on a TV or a computer screen. Music and spoken words may
be added to the resultant slide show movie. Photo Story3’s interface works
much like that of the free Windows Movie Maker program, allowing slides to
be edited and rearranged on the fly. Each slide may take advantage of variable
durations, effects and transitions. Individual photos are handled in a non-destructive
manner; however, results are viewable solely as a Windows Media Movie (.wmv)
file – similar to Picasa’s slide show movie maker.
- Flickr's Picnik: [http://www.picnik.com/] - This photo editor runs inside a web browser (not inside your computer) and hence, requires a high speed connection. In fact,
any uploading
and synchronizing of photos online requires a high speed (broadband) Internet connection. Picnik, in conjunction
with the online Flickr Organizer tool, works a lot like Picasa, and allows the storing
full resolution photos. Both Flickr and Picasa can Geotag your online photos;
i.e.; label each photo’s locations a map. Flickr even adds an online game for Geotagged
photos. The game presents an image at rendom and asks the viewer to guess where is was
taken. See how close you can come with your guess.
- Pho.to (new): [http://pho.to/] Here is a new, direct competitor to Picasa and
Flickr. This sophisticated, free software is available for either "anywhere" (online), or
"standalone" (offline), photo editing and gallery creation, including Flash 3D
albums, albums with sub-folders, and photo editing within its gallery creator.
(The developer’s web site is: http://www.vicman.net/) Photo Toolkit, the standalone
photo editor, has been renamed Photo! Editor: [http://www.photo-toolkit.com/].
This program is particularly adept at straightening, batch editing, blemish
removal, caricature morphing and automatic, large, red-eye fixing. This program
also integrates itself into the Context Menu, so that right clicking on a thumbnail
in Explorer brings up many of its editing choices.
Choices below do not link to online storage directly, and must be installed
on the user's computer. Comments focus on the noteworthy features of each.
- Photoscape: [http://www.photoscape.org/] Even with the free version, the designers
of Photoscape tried to add every feature possible, and make each work in an
easy-to-learn, almost intuitive manner. Curiously, the free version does not
offer a zoom level beyond 100%, which makes it difficult to select an area (
on smaller images) for automatic red-eye removal.
- XnView: [http://xnview.com/] In addition to its many editing features, XnView
makes web galleries with auto-created captions based on the image filenames.
There is no need to type captions for photos as long as the file names reflect
the content. New Flash templates are available for photogalleries. The viewer is able to play movie files without loading an external program. It's batch convertion ablilities are forbidable. This is the program I use the most.
- Paint.NET: [http://www.getpaint.net/] With its many drawing
and editing tools, Paint.NET's strength lies in its comparability
to high end graphics programs like Photoshop and PaintShop Pro - especially the ability to make layers.
- PhotoFiltre: [http://www.photofiltre.com/] This program provides many filters
and plug-ins. A support community of developers has created, and continues
to make, many of the downloadable plugins. A further free program at this site – Reflet - creates wave motion in the foreground of water photos. It’s a convincing
illusion.
- The Gimp: [http://www.gimp.org/] GIMP is a full featured photo retouching
and graphic art creation program, especially good for correcting perspective
distortion
and lens distortion, along with cloning an healing tools. Gimp also makes layers.
But, it is harder to learn.
- PhotoMeister: [http://www.photomeister.com/] This program is amazingly versatile
and easy to use. PhotoMeister's many the output formats make it a leader. Albums are exportable
as zip, pdf, contact sheet, slide show, web gallery, photo book or may be burned to
CD. Many templates are available for photo books (as PDF) and web galleries
(as HTML or Flash). Like XnView, each slide caption is identical to the file
name, minimizing further typing to label photos.
- Image Forge: [http://www.cursorarts.com/ca_imffw.html]
Image Forge’s strengths
are its ability to make animated GIFs and exportable slide shows. PhotoScape (top of this list)
also makes animated GIFs, which is a series of photos acting like one photo that plays a slide show in a web browser. The animation could be a series of different photos, or an image in which just parts of the image change with each slide. Moveable cartoon characters are created this way, as are titles with moving letters.
- Phototagger: [http://www.fototagger.com/] Phototagger is not a photo editor,
but it fills a need that other programs do not. Without damaging the original
file, it adds multiple textual tags to the image in order to identify people
and things in the picture. The tags look like little sticky notes on or near the photo, that users
can turn on and off. Phototagger will create an exportable web slide show with
"active" tags ("active"
in the sense that tags can be either on or off - visible or not visible).
And... as an afterthought...
It should be mentioned that many digital cameras
offer Panorama Mode, accompanied by panorama assist in the viewfinder - to
help make
adequate amounts of overlap
in the series of photos. The series of panoramic photos must then be stitched together
(post-processed) after downloading to your computer. This is accomplished with a stitching program, creating
the final, blended
panoramic image. The best free program to accomplish this job is Autostitch.
Because this
program, developed at the University of British Columbia, has been
licensed to other companies, the free version has been time-limited to thirty
days.
To overcome
this problem, just download and re-install whenever it is needed. (Or,
change the timestamp on the installer file.) [http://www.autostitch.net]
Also:
EXIF Information: Many image file formats contain extra information about the camera used to take the photo, particularly its settings, all kept in the EXIF portion of the image file. Cameras equiped with GPS will include the location where the photo was taken in this the EXIF or metadata section. Many photographers like to both edit and add to EXIF metadata, so that photos taken at a particular location, at a certain time, and labeled with a topic, can be found more easily.
For those who strongly wish to manipulate EXIF header data in jpeg files, a free command line program, jhead, is available. [http://www.sentex.net/~mwandel/jhead/] To change the date and time stamp on files and folders, other free programs (ntouch and dtouch) are available at: [http://www.flos-freeware.ch/archive.html]
However, XnView is able to do the job more easily. Some professionals are turning to Microsoft's free Pro Photo Tools 2. It handles EXIF edits in RAW format as well [http://www.microsoft.com/prophoto/downloads/tools.aspx].