GPS in DAM

[John Rostron]

When I decided to ditch Lightroom, one thing that I looked for in a replacement was the ability to geolocate images. My two cameras both gave GPS built in, but I have many images where I want to add the GPS information.

 

In my search I ditched Perfect Browser 10. Although it claims to support entering GPS co-ordinates, this would not work in practice. I have to say that the OnOne help service did try to resolve this for me, but unsuccessfully.

 

I finally settled on ACDSee which allows selecting a location from a map to insert into the metadata. Not as slick as in Lightroom, but it works.

 

Please include this in your planned DAM. If you do, I promise to ditch ACDSee!

 

John

[smadell]

Take a look at Photo Supreme (for Windows and for Mac), if you are still in the market. It's a good catalogue, and doesn't add bloat by including RAW processing, pixel adjustment, etc. It also has nice geotagging capabilities. You can geotag using (i) a pin on a map; (ii) a lookup based on address, location name (e.g., Eiffel Tower), latitude & longitude values, etc; or (iii) a .gpx file (that you can output from your smartphone, your standalone GPS Device, etc.) What's more, Photo Supreme can use a Batch function to geotag multiple photos based on a single .gpx file, which is nice, precise, and saves boatloads of time!

[John Rostron]

Thanks for the suggestion. I will have a look at the trial. I would probably need to offer lot more than ACDSEE to pay $99 for it. Meanwhile, I'm not holding my breath waiting for the Affinity DAM.

 

John

[smadell]

John...

 

I'd be interested to hear what you think of Photo Supreme (as compared to ACDSee). I haven't tried the latter, and would appreciate your view on a comparison!

 

One thing that I really appreciate about Photo Supreme is that it has the option (which I take) to write its cataloguing data directly to the file itself rather than to sidecar files. It will write metadata directly to RAW files (which, for reasons I don't fully understand, is anathema to some). But (and this is the nice part) if and when I decide to leave Photo Supreme, I won't have to re-catalogue all of my files. I've also found that if I do my keywording, geotagging, etc. on the RAW files prior to any processing, I can ensure that the metadata moves forward into any subsequent files I create (TIFFs, JPEGs, Affinity Photo files, etc).

[hlarledge]

One thing that I really appreciate about Photo Supreme is that it has the option (which I take) to write its cataloguing data directly to the file itself rather than to sidecar files. It will write metadata directly to RAW files (which, for reasons I don't fully understand, is anathema to some). But (and this is the nice part) if and when I decide to leave Photo Supreme, I won't have to re-catalogue all of my files. I've also found that if I do my keywording, geotagging, etc. on the RAW files prior to any processing, I can ensure that the metadata moves forward into any subsequent files I create (TIFFs, JPEGs, Affinity Photo files, etc).

 

smadell,

I'm interested in your workflow. How do you use Affinity Photo with Photo Supreme? Will it open a file in a particular application based on file type?

[smadell]

Photo Supreme lets me set any application I want as an external editor. I can then choose an image (or many) inside of Photo Supreme and click the external application's icon in order to open those photos in the chosen application. I'm not sure what will happen if I attempt to open a photo in an incompatible application. Also, as far as I know, I can't set up Photo Supreme to "open any JPG in Preview, but open any TIFF in Affinity Photo" or some similar argument.

 

My workflow is a thing in progress. So far, here's what I do:

 

1) I transfer my RAW files (NEF from my Nikon D750) into a folder on my drive. I keep the folders organized by Year > Date > Subject Matter. So, for instance, I'll have a folder called "Feb 2 - Family Photos" inside the "2017" folder. Actually, each subject matter folder has a number of subfolders inside, including folders for RAW, TIFF, AFFINITY, and JPG versions.

2) First thing to do is Import these RAW files into Photo Supreme. From there, I apply keywords and GeoTag the photos. Since they are (presumably) related, they are really easy to keyword, since most of the keywords end up being the same for all of them.

3) I'll cull through the photos to decide which ones to work on. I'll mark them with "1 star."

4) Once I get through all of them, I apply a filter to show me only the 1-star photos (really easy to do) and I open all of these in DxO Optics Pro 11 - my Raw Converter of choice.

5) DxO Optics Pro opens (actually it opens the folder that all of the pictures are in) and the star ratings are carried over. Inside of Optics Pro, I can again limit my viewing to the 1-star photos. I develop those RAW files to TIFF and store them in the TIFF subfolder.

6) Normally, I only use the TIFF files temporarily so I don't bring them back into Photo Supreme.

7) Quitting DxO Optics Pro, I'll now open Affinity Photo to do any extra work on the TIFF files. I save these as "afphoto" files but also export them as JPG files (using the appropriate subfolders).

8) I re-enter Photo Supreme and import the JPG files. The star rating survives this process, as do the keywords and geotagging.

9) I don't (can't) bring the Affinity Photo files into Photo Supreme, since it doesn't seem to recognize the file type as one which it can catalogue. I usually trash the TIFF subfolder, since I can re-create the TIFF files exactly through Optics Pro, and because they take up an enormous amount of space.

 

The workflow may seem a bit convoluted. In fact, it seems a bit complex as I type it all out. However, I am a believer in using tools that do one thing well instead of looking for a tool that does everything. So, I have tried to incorporate different applications for the various steps in the process. It works for me.

 

 

EDIT - An update to all this. As it turns out, I can go into the Preferences of Photo Supreme and enter ".afphoto" as a file type. Photo Supreme will then recognize Affinity Photo files and will, in fact, create thumbnails for them and display it all in its catalogue. However, it cannot apply keywords or geotags to the Affinity Photo files (since these are proprietary formats over which, I assume, it cannot or will not exercise editing control). Also, if I bring ".afphoto" files into the Photo Supreme catalogue, double-clicking on them will open that file in Affinity Photo. It doesn't seem that Photo Supreme will attempt to use its internal viewer to look at the .afphoto file.

[hlarledge]

Photo Supreme lets me set any application I want as an external editor. I can then choose an image (or many) inside of Photo Supreme and click the external application's icon in order to open those photos in the chosen application. I'm not sure what will happen if I attempt to open a photo in an incompatible application. Also, as far as I know, I can't set up Photo Supreme to "open any JPG in Preview, but open any TIFF in Affinity Photo" or some similar argument.

 

My workflow is a thing in progress. So far, here's what I do:

 

1) I transfer my RAW files (NEF from my Nikon D750) into a folder on my drive. I keep the folders organized by Year > Date > Subject Matter. So, for instance, I'll have a folder called "Feb 2 - Family Photos" inside the "2017" folder. Actually, each subject matter folder has a number of subfolders inside, including folders for RAW, TIFF, AFFINITY, and JPG versions.

2) First thing to do is Import these RAW files into Photo Supreme. From there, I apply keywords and GeoTag the photos. Since they are (presumably) related, they are really easy to keyword, since most of the keywords end up being the same for all of them.

3) I'll cull through the photos to decide which ones to work on. I'll mark them with "1 star."

4) Once I get through all of them, I apply a filter to show me only the 1-star photos (really easy to do) and I open all of these in DxO Optics Pro 11 - my Raw Converter of choice.

5) DxO Optics Pro opens (actually it opens the folder that all of the pictures are in) and the star ratings are carried over. Inside of Optics Pro, I can again limit my viewing to the 1-star photos. I develop those RAW files to TIFF and store them in the TIFF subfolder.

6) Normally, I only use the TIFF files temporarily so I don't bring them back into Photo Supreme.

7) Quitting DxO Optics Pro, I'll now open Affinity Photo to do any extra work on the TIFF files. I save these as "afphoto" files but also export them as JPG files (using the appropriate subfolders).

8) I re-enter Photo Supreme and import the JPG files. The star rating survives this process, as do the keywords and geotagging.

9) I don't (can't) bring the Affinity Photo files into Photo Supreme, since it doesn't seem to recognize the file type as one which it can catalogue. I usually trash the TIFF subfolder, since I can re-create the TIFF files exactly through Optics Pro, and because they take up an enormous amount of space.

 

The workflow may seem a bit convoluted. In fact, it seems a bit complex as I type it all out. However, I am a believer in using tools that do one thing well instead of looking for a tool that does everything. So, I have tried to incorporate different applications for the various steps in the process. It works for me.

 

 

EDIT - An update to all this. As it turns out, I can go into the Preferences of Photo Supreme and enter ".afphoto" as a file type. Photo Supreme will then recognize Affinity Photo files and will, in fact, create thumbnails for them and display it all in its catalogue. However, it cannot apply keywords or geotags to the Affinity Photo files (since these are proprietary formats over which, I assume, it cannot or will not exercise editing control). Also, if I bring ".afphoto" files into the Photo Supreme catalogue, double-clicking on them will open that file in Affinity Photo. It doesn't seem that Photo Supreme will attempt to use its internal viewer to look at the .afphoto file.

 

This is great info, smadell. Thanks for your insight!

[smadell]

I'm not certain I would call it "insight" but, nonetheless, you're very welcome!

[John Rostron]

Smadell above notes that aphoto files do not incorporate metadata keywords or GPS. Given your plans for a DAM system, these should be included. I would expect then that any such metadata would be exported to files that support it.

 

John

[steves]

Moreover, consider open sourcing the afphoto file format so that third parties can integrate their tools with AP.

[smadell]

John (and steves)...

 

I did not mean to imply that Affinity Photo files do not contain metadata. In fact, the EXIF panel shows us that metadata is, indeed, inside the file. Additionally, if I add metadata to my NEF file with Photo Supreme, then use DxO Optics Pro and Affinity Photo to process it further, finally exporting a JPEG file from AP, the metadata placed into the original RAW file survives this process and shows up in the JPEG at the end.

 

What I said was that Photo Supreme cannot (or will not) add metadata to an Affinity Photo file. That having been said, I agree that any DAM worth its salt will have the ability to add and/or edit metadata in the files it handles natively. Presumably, an Affinity DAM should be able to manipulate metadata in an afphoto file.

[John Rostron]

John...

 

I'd be interested to hear what you think of Photo Supreme (as compared to ACDSee). I haven't tried the latter, and would appreciate your view on a comparison!

I have been trying out Photo Supreme for a few days. My first impression is that it does just what I would want it to. However is it worth paying out £80 for and ditching ACDSee? Perhaps I will know when the trial period ends.

 

John

[smadell]

John...

 

Like I said before, I haven't used ACDSee. I don't foresee using the trial, mostly because I am increasingly happy with Photo Supreme as I use it more and more. I WILL try the Affinity DAM when it comes out in beta, because keeping the DAM "in house" might be nice. However, switching to the Affinity product is not yet a fait accompli. Post an update when the Photo Supreme trial is over. I'm interested to hear what you decide!