Author Archives: Brian Kilpatrick

Organize your Photos with software

Crescent Beach Photo Club Posted on by

Software tip for managing out of control photo collections.

This is just a tip for those who are trying to make sense out of a mixed up collection of photos on your PC or Mac.  You know you have lots of photos on your machine but you also know that you have a lot of duplicates.  Web versions, slideshow versions etc. as well as your full sized out of the camera JPG or RAW files.

Here are links to some software that may help tame the mess.

NUMBER ONE THING,    BACKUP.

Be sure you have a complete backup of your photos before attempting to clean them up.  Hard drives are cheap and  a good backup can prevent a lot of hair pulling and teeth grinding.

Duplicate finders

Windows  

Best one that I have used is a free one (donations welcome.

Visipics   http://www.fosshub.com/VisiPics.html

Sorts and finds duplicates, easy to use and has Autoselect to choose duplicates with an easy to use slider to determine how exact the match is.  Not fast but very accurate.
I found it so good that I went to the trouble of copying all my images from Mac to a
Windows Fat 32 formatted hard drive so I could run this program. After sorting I will copy them back to the Mac and update Lightroom catalogs.

Mac

Several good ones but all of the Mac versions tend to find duplicates that are not really duplicates, eg: multi frame shots where the image only changes by a fraction etc.  You have to go through and check the found set to ensure there are no errors.  Easy to do as they display images side by side and one click can cancel the marking.

Unik  https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/unik-duplicate-image-finder/id431820180?mt=12
Photo Sweeper   https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/photosweeper/id463362050?mt=12

Photo sorters, File sorters

Mac

File sorter
Big Mean Folder Machine  http://www.publicspace.net/BigMeanFolderMachine/

Will sort from multiple folders to single folder or from single folder to a folder structure based on size, name, etc.  Can rename or just add a series letter or number when encountering duplicate file names.

Beautiful Backup   http://www.beautifulbackup.com/

Will sort your photos based on the metadata within as well as videos.  It can create any kind of folder structure you wish based on templates.  It can also be set to filter out small images (you decide on size) and place them in a separate folder on your destination.

I use this one to collect images into Year/Year/Month/Day format and then read them directly into Lightroom.

Windows

I know there are some out there.  Send me some links if you have used them and I will add them to the list.

Remember rule number one,   BACKUP

AGM – President’s Report

Crescent Beach Photo Club Posted on by

President’s Report 2013-2014 Year

We had a full and varied program this year with a number of excellent external speakers including Nick Didlick (twice), on news and Olympic photography, and video; John Gordon, on bird photography; Allen Bargen on the philosophy of judging; Francois Cleroux on the history of photography; Rick Church on aerial photography; Adam Gibbs on landscape photography; and Ursula Easterbrook on her trip across Canada. In addition we had presentations by members, including Lynne Kelman on Topaz; Karen Kroeker on embroidered photos; Brian Palmer on video; and Thomas Dethlefsen on his trip to Tanzania.

We had outings, field trips or workshops by Deb Reny to Granville Island and Downtown Christmas lights; an inter-club trip to Point Roberts to photograph eagles, arranged by John Ostaf of the Delta club; and a landscape workshop to Golden Ears Park with landscape photography professional Adam Gibbs. I have been personally disappointed by a relatively low level of member participation in these excellent opportunities and hope to encourage more members to participate next year.

We entered many external competitions, both local and CAPA arranged, and hosted the fall 2013 CAPA Print Competition. And we had a successful Black and White Print Competition, something for which our club is well known. Many members assisted with this to make the evening a success, and I thank them all. Thanks to digital chair Thomas Dethlefsen, print chair Geoff Hayes, and CAPA competitions chair Geoff Milne. Finally we had many intra-club theme competitions; thanks to Glenis Lyttek for looking after those.

 We also took part in an project and exhibition at the White Rock Museum, pairing member-taken photos with archival photos from the museum’s collection to create “Then and Now” pairs to be displayed and then sold to help the museum.

Thanks

Derek

Links of Interest

Crescent Beach Photo Club Posted on by

Some info that might be of interest to members, courtesy Sheldon:

How to Get the Most Out of a Travel Photography Location – check out this webpage

 Recover Images from a Damaged SD card – check out this webpage

Sweeten Your Photos by Shooting During the Blue Hour – check out this webpage

These Many Photography Links Will Overwhelm You – check out this webpage

Improve Your Backgrounds – Improve Your Photography – check out this webpage

10 Reasons Why You NEED to Learn Composition – check out this webpage

Finally, if you want to see an interesting night photograph technique, check out Robert Kawika Sheer’s website (www.spiritshadows.net).  Sheldon met Robert last year in Palm Springs and he explained his technique which is duplicated in the two videos on his website.  It may be a technique some of our club members may wish to try out.

And this one from Heather H.:

http://www.popphoto.com/how-to/2014/05/dramatic-storm-photography-mitch-dobrowner

Previous sites of Interest

Smithsonian Photo Contest 2014 finalists – in pictures – check out this webpage here

 2014 National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest – check out this webpage here

Incredible images showcase the very best in world photography – check out this webpage here

 35 Cityscape Images To Take Your Breath Away – check out this webpage here

 Quick Tip: 3 Ways to Master Your Use of Foregrounds  – check out this webpage here

 Tips on Using Circular Polarizing Filters – check out this webpage here

 Off Camera Flash for Your Travel Photography – check out this webpage here