Scribbles and Snaps

Need to quickly geotag a bunch of photos taken at a specific location? ExifTool is your friend. Using this powerful command-line tool, you can geotag multiple photos with a single command. Before you proceed, make sure that ExifTool is installed on your machine. To install ExifTool on Ubuntu, execute the sudo apt-get install libimage-exiftool-perl command. Next, you have to obtain the longitude and latitude of the desired geographical location, and feed the coordinates to ExifTool as follows:

exiftool -GPSLongitudeRef=E -GPSLongitude=139.7513889 -GPSLatitudeRef=N -GPSLatitude=35.685 *.jpg

This command will geotag all JPEG images in the current directory. If you are running Windows, download the latest version of the ExifTool executable and rename it as in the example below:

exiftool (-GPSLongitudeRef=E -GPSLongitude=139.7513889 -GPSLatitudeRef=N -GPSLatitude=35.685).exe

Drag and drop the photos you want to geotag onto the executable and ExifTools will do the rest. Besides GPSLongitudeRef, GPSLongitude, GPSLatitudeRef, and GPSLatitude, ExifTools supports a number of other tags. Check the GPS Tags page for further info.

Inside each digital photo hides metadata in the EXIF, IPTC, or XMP formats, and digiKam provides tools for viewing and editing this useful information.

For starters, digiKam’s main window features the dedicated Metadata sidebar which lets you view EXIF, Makernote, IPTC, and XMP metadata. You can switch between concise and full views as well as print the metadata, save them as a file, and copy them into the clipboard.

You can use the Caption/Tags sidebar to edit basic metadata such as caption (i.e., the photo’s title), author, date and time as well as assign the photo ratings and tags. The Information section of the sidebar allows you to enter additional information about the photo such as licensing terms, location, and contact info. Since digiKam supports templates, you don’t have to enter this information manually. You can apply an existing template to the photo by selecting it from the Template drop-down list. To create a template on the fly, press the Edit button next to the drop-down list.

digiKam offers metadata editing tools, too. To edit, for example, EXIF metadata, choose Image » Metadata » Edit EXIF. The metadata editor conveniently organizes all metadata into sections, making it easier to find and edit specific entries. For example, to edit hardware-related information, switch to the Device section. Here you can modify device manufacturer, device model, exposure-related settings, and other information.

Using the Image » Metadata » Import EXIF command, you can copy EXIF metadata from one photo to another. This feature can come in handy when you use an image editing application that strips all metadata from the edited photo. If you keep the original photo, you can easily copy the EXIF metadata from it into the tweaked photo.

Want to strip all EXIF metadata off the photo? digiKam’s got you covered: choose the Image » Metadata » Remove EXIF command, and digiKam scrubs the metadata off the photo.

In addition to EXIF, digiKam supports the IPTC and XMP formats, so you can perform the described actions on metadata stored in these formats.

The life expectancy of a DSLR camera is usually measured in shutter actuations. For example, Nikon D5000 is good for about 100,000 shutter clicks. That doesn’t mean that your camera dies the day it exceeds its shutter actuation limit, but the shutter count provides a good indication of the camera’s condition.

While none of the major camera manufacturers provide an in-camera feature for checking the shutter count value, you can use digiKam to do that. Double-click on the most recent photo taken with your camera to open it in the preview pane. Press the Metadata button on the right side of the main window to show the Metadata sidebar. Click on the Makernote tab, and press the Full List button. Scroll down the list to locate the Shutter Count entry and its value. Keep in mind, though, that Shutter Count is a proprietary tag, so it may or may not be supported by your specific camera model.

By the way, if you are curious about the real life expectancy of your particular camera model, check the excellent Camera Shutter Life Expectancy Database resource.