Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Identifying your travel photos when you return home - Part III

GPS device atop a DSLRThe Photo Identification series, discusses one of the most classic problems of the vacation photographer, identifying one's photographs after returning home. When people look at their photos weeks after making them, it can be difficult, if not impossible to remember where each one was made, and what each images' subject is.

In Part I, low-tech identification methods were discussed, such as written journals, marking maps with photo locations, and using identifier photographs. In Part II,  hi-tech identification methods which are automatic or close to it, such as using GPS technology was discussed.

In Part III, I conclude the series with a discussion of software to input missing GPS data, correct already embedded data, and locate GPS coordinates for input into image exif data, and using only manually collected information about one's photo locations.

Photography Exhibition: Philadelphia Museum of Art - Mark Cohen: Strange Evidence

Untitled, 1988, Mark CohenThe Philadelphia Museum of Art has become one of the foremost exhibitors of fine art photography in the nation. Mark Cohen: Strange Evidence looks to be a wonderful exhibition worthy of this great institution.

This exhibition will run from October 23, 2010 through February 28, 2011

Mark Cohen (born 1943) appeared on the American photography scene in the early 1970s and, in the ensuing decades, distinguished himself as one of the most original American street photographers. Working primarily in the small Rust Belt cities of Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where he lives, Cohen photographs people and places encountered at random.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Identifying your travel photos when you return home - Part II

GPS device atop a DSLRAs discussed in Part I of this Photo Identification series, one of the most classic problems of the vacation photographer is identifying one's photographs after returning home. Often when you look at your photos weeks after making them, it can be difficult to remember where you took them, and what each image's subject is.

The low-tech identification methods discussed in Part I, such as written journals, marking maps with photo locations, and using identifier photographs work, but many photographers consider them too tedious and time consuming. There are some hi-tech identification methods which are automatic or close to it, but I caution anyone who thinks they are foolproof, to think again.

Each of these hi-tech methods involve GPS (global-positioning system) technology. GPS devices typically identify their position by longitude, latitude, altitude and compass heading, plus date and time.

Today, some digital cameras have built-in GPS units, some cameras are GPS ready, and other cameras can have GPS information added to their photos' exif data, but don't have the capability to embed the information directly themselves. It must be added later, via a computer.

Photography Exhibition: Philadelphia Museum of Art - Philadelphia Museum of Art Photography Portfolio 2010

The Philadelphia Museum of Art has become one of the foremost exhibitors of fine art photography in the nation, especially since the completion of its Perelman Building. The Women’s Committee, Philadelphia Museum of Art 2010 Photography Portfolio Competition is a wonderful exhibition worthy of this great institution.

This exhibition will run from September 4, 2010 through September 19, 2010