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March 25, 2008

[ THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ... ]

HERE’S A LITTLE KNOWN FACT TO CHEER YOUR DAY. While it is true that most software for digi-snappers costs at least an arm, and sometimes also a leg, it is also true that the single most useful digital imaging application is absolutely free. Not only that, it should be on every photographer’s computer.

The application is question is Irfanview. This is an image viewer with some image editing functions. It can also convert an image from one format to another and can do it in batches. It is lightning fast. Double click on any image associated with Irfanview and it will open in a nonce – unless it is really large, then it will take two nonces.

Irfanview [Win only] is the creation of Bosnian, Irfan Skiljan. It is available in 28 languages, including Esperanto. It will open files that even Adobe Camera RAW can’t handle, such as RAW files from the newest cameras. It will also open mpg and video files, although it is not the best application for that use.

We have Irfanview installed on the Imaging computers and associated with all picture file types. We couldn’t live without it, and we regularly check www.irfanview.com for updates. Even if it cost money we would buy it.

Xnview  [Win and Mac] is similar to Irfanview. It has more advanced editing functions but it doesn’t open as quickly. However, if we were to restrict ourselves to one fairly comprehensive picture viewer and editor on a laptop then this is the one we would choose.

Our indispensable audio editing program is Audacity [Win, Mac, Linux]. Combined with the LAME mp3 encoder this setup gives real audio editing power. The graphical interface is intuitive and editing controls are much like word processing – select, copy, cut, paste. We use Audacity to create edited sound tracks for slide shows for display on television. We like to control sound duration rather than let the slideshow creator crash out when the pictures stop.

Nero 8 is a great suite of programs, but it is not free and for simple CD/DVD burning of data it is overkill. AmoK [Win] boasts that: “AmoK CD/DVD Burning does not have a media centre, wave editor or cover designer and cannot create videos. AmoK CD/DVD Burning burns CDs and DVDs and offers all options you need – not more and not less.” And it does it well. It is particularly useful with Windows Vista which has taken the elegant CD/DVD burning function of Windows XP and turned it into a monster that insists on formatting blank discs before it will do anything.

High dynamic range (HDR) photo processing is one of the most discussed concepts in digital photography these days. This is where you recover all the tones in a scene by taking three or more photos at different exposures and then blend and process them either in Photoshop CS3 or in a purpose-built commercial program like Photomatix. If you simply want to get a feel for what all the fuss is about you can try HDR with Picturenaut [Win] This is donation-ware – it is free, but if you like it a donation through PayPal is a way of saying thank you. This program doesn’t know about RAW files but it handles jpegs nicely.

Why are creators so generous? In the words of HDRLabs: “Picturenaut is released as freeware, because we believe in open access and good karma.” Take note, Mr Gates.

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Posted by terry at March 25, 2008 01:01 AM

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Posted by: Dave at March 25, 2008 01:30 AM

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