Your FAVORITE FreeWare

[private]

Wow - there is soo much awesome stuff out there - I need a new computer so I can get it all...

Thanks for ALL of the information.

[IcyMirage]

is there a good freeware program that could help me organise my pictures? they're all in different folders and I want them to be tagged and in logical folders, but going through them all one by one would take till next year

[private]

Icy - I too would like to know if there is such a thing - I have that task ahead of me, but I started organizing this year (I take one folder a day and put ot where I think it should be) Although, I prob should tag them using Elements, I just have not done that yet...

[ribott]

Originally Posted by IcyMirage

is there a good freeware program that could help me organise my pictures? they're all in different folders and I want them to be tagged and in logical folders, but going through them all one by one would take till next year

If you're running Linux, either DIGICAM or F-SPOT would help you do this.

(They're two of my "freeware" suggestions... three if you count the Linux Operating System - which I strongly recommend. There are versions (usually known as 'distributions') that have been put together for general use - like Ubuntu - with others that have been put together for specific use - like grafpup which was created for photographers and graphic designers. I haven't had a chance to play with that one yet, though!)

If I absolutely have to work on a MS-Windows system (like at work), I really like paint.net for photo manipulation... *grin* or I run The GIMP.

[Dizzle]

www.meebo.com - online IM

I used to use Trillian, but always hated when I was away from my PC...with meebo I hit a website, log in and all my IM buddies are right there...no matter if I am on my PC, the library or wherever.

If you have two IM names (say one for work and one for personal) on the same network (AOL, yahoo...) you can log in to both at the same time.

[Iguanasan]

Originally Posted by IcyMirage

is there a good freeware program that could help me organise my pictures? they're all in different folders and I want them to be tagged and in logical folders, but going through them all one by one would take till next year

Picasa, http://www.google.com/picasa/, will help with some of this as it works without rearranging your existing folder structure but lets you move images into albums, etc. and it has some image recognition things too such as the ability to search for colours or faces. Also, you can put descriptions on the folder or album level which are easily searched (it is from Google after all).

It's quite fast with the 16,000+ photo library that I have and works on Windows though I noticed they just released a Mac version. Not sure if it has all the same features or not though.

Regards, Iguanasan

[Iguanasan]

1) Picasa - I love it!
2) GIMP - Excellent photo editor
3) Chrome - Google's browser. Still young but nice.

[vandergus]

Hugin. Damn fine pano stitcher.

Absolutely. I think Hugin has made pano heads practically obsolete. I do all my pano's handheld know and Hugin magically makes sense of it all. Take this shot. Lots of foreground elements to create parallax errors, people moving between shots (I did at least take the time to lock exposure and focus, though). I give it all to Hugin and with very little input on my part I get this back.



Damn, I wish I had a wider angle lens. I guess I'll just try stitching 3 together.


Man I wish I had a fisheye right now. Oh well.


Stitching shouldn't be this easy.

[inkista]

Originally Posted by vandergus

... I think Hugin has made pano heads practically obsolete.

Well, unless you're doing equirectangulars with a fisheye, particularly of tiny spaces (claustropanos). Then you still need a panohead. I've gotten away with doing a few 360x180s handheld, but you tend to patch a lot of the zenith and nadir. And you can always end up with something like this by accident:


Canon XT, Sigma 8mm f/3.5 Circular Fisheye. Four handheld shots, not quite rotated at 90°, rough stitch in PTMac.

[SNOOPY]

far out!!! amazing suggestions thanks from a newbie....

any chance of moderators making this a sticky?????