Archive for June 2012
Export Photos to Wikimedia Commons with digiKam
Sharing is caring, and there is probably no better way to share your photographic masterpieces with the world than adding them to the Wikimedia Commons pool. While the project’s website features its own tool for uploading photos, digiKam’s Wikimedia Export Kipi plugin can come in rather handy when you need to export multiple photos in one fell swoop without leaving the convenience of your favorite photo management application.
Using the Wikimedia Commons Kipi plugin
The plugin can be evoked by choosing the Tools → Export to Wikimedia Commons command. If you don’t see the command in the menu, then you are either using an older version of digiKam (the plugin has been introduced in version 2.6) or the plugin has not been enabled. In the latter case, you can activate the plugin by choosing Settings → Configure digiKam. Switch then to the Kipi Plugins section and enable the Wikimedia Export plugin. Before you start using the plugin, you should also create an account with Wikimedia Commons.
Using the plugin to upload photos to Wikimedia Commons couldn’t be easier. Select one or several photos in a digiKam album and choose Tools → Export to Wikimedia Commons. This opens the export dialog window. In the Wiki field, type the URL of Wikimedia Commons API (http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/api.php). Enter then your user name and password in the appropriate fields and press Log In. In the Information section, specify the author’s name and choose a license. If you want to resize photos before uploading them to Wikimedia Commons, check the Resize photos before uploading check box, and adjust the quality and size settings. Hit the Start Upload button, and the plugin takes care of the rest.
digiKam Recipes 3.9.35 Released
A new version of the digiKam Recipes ebook is available for your reading pleasure. Besides a handful of minor tweaks, the new version of the digiKam Recipes ebook includes the following new material:
- Export Photos to Wikimedia Commons
- digiKam Housekeeping with the Maintenance Tool
digiKam Recipes in FBReader for Android
Readers who already purchased the book will receive the new version free of charge. If you haven’t received your copy, please send your order confirmation as proof of purchase to dmpop@linux.com, and I’ll email you the latest version of the book.
Happy reading!
Camera FV-5: Android Camera App for Serious Photographers
The Camera FV-5 app is designed for serious photographers, and as such, it lacks fancy trimmings like scene modes, effects, and sharing capabilities. Instead, it puts all essential controls at your fingertips, and offers a handful of genuinely useful features. Camera FV-5′s interface resembles that of a DSLR camera, so photographers will feel right at home using the app. The main screen provides quick access to key settings, such as focusing mode, metering mode, White Balance, ISO settings, and exposure compensation. The dedicated Menu button lets you configure the exposure bracketing feature and intervalometer. The latter tool can come in rather useful for time-lapse photography. The Program button can be used to switch between two modes: Program (automatic exposure) and Speed priority (manual exposure). You can use the pinch gesture to zoom in and out. The app also allows you to use volume hardware keys for zooming.
Camera FV-5
Besides the efficient interface, Camera FV-5 boasts several unique features. For starters, the Camera FV-5 can save captured photos in the lossless PNG format. This is a real boon if you plan to post-process photos using your photo processing software of choice. The app can write metadata into the photos or separate XML sidecar files (or both). Saving captured photos in the PNG format is a resource-intensive task but the app processes the images in the background without affecting Camera FV-5′s overall performance. The app also sports long exposure functionality (which does have certain limitations), which is perfect for low-light and night photography.
In short, Camera FV-5 is a perfect camera app for Android-totting enthusiasts or serious photographers. A free version of the app is available on the Google Play Store, so you can give Camera FV-5 a try and see whether it fits your needs.
Instant Web Galleries on Your Server with Bizou
So, you just got back from a trip, and you have tons of photos you want to share with the world. While there are dozens of photo sharing services to choose from, uploading megabytes of photos doesn’t sound like a fun pastime. And why bother with a third-party service if you already have a Linux-based server? In this case, consider using Bizou.
