#exiftool — Public Fediverse posts

@mailbox_org @fauntleroy

Update:

Dismissed all plans of synchronized #cloud #backup and have gone fully #local:

💾 bulk download w/ #Google #Takeout & restoring metadata w/ #exiftool
💾 delete my data from #Google
💾 frequent local phone-photos backup w/ #USB #OTG

#DigitalIndependence #DIDay #DIDit @tuxedocomputers #Linux #Android #UnplugBigTech

@mailbox_org @fauntleroy

Update:

Dismissed all plans of synchronized #cloud #backup and have gone fully #local:

💾 bulk download w/ #Google #Takeout & restoring metadata w/ #exiftool
💾 delete my data from #Google
💾 frequent local phone-photos backup w/ #USB #OTG

#DigitalIndependence #DIDay #DIDit @tuxedocomputers #Linux #Android #UnplugBigTech

Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) in Norman, Oklahoma, United States on April 3, 2026

Some of the camera settings and all of the edits I used to make this photo are at: https://www.rsok.com/~jrm/2026Apr30_birds_and_cats/IMG_5771c_2026apr03_titmouse.html

#birds #Debian #Linux #jpegli #wildlife #wildlifephotography #Oklahoma #photography #exiftool #graphicsmagick

Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) in Norman, Oklahoma, United States on April 3, 2026

Some of the camera settings and all of the edits I used to make this photo are at: https://www.rsok.com/~jrm/2026Apr30_birds_and_cats/IMG_5771c_2026apr03_titmouse.html

#birds #Debian #Linux #jpegli #wildlife #wildlifephotography #Oklahoma #photography #exiftool #graphicsmagick

Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) in Norman, Oklahoma, United States on April 3, 2026

Some of the camera settings and all of the edits I used to make this photo are at: https://www.rsok.com/~jrm/2026Apr30_birds_and_cats/IMG_5771c_2026apr03_titmouse.html

#birds #Debian #Linux #jpegli #wildlife #wildlifephotography #Oklahoma #photography #exiftool #graphicsmagick

Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) in Norman, Oklahoma, United States on April 3, 2026

Some of the camera settings and all of the edits I used to make this photo are at: https://www.rsok.com/~jrm/2026Apr30_birds_and_cats/IMG_5771c_2026apr03_titmouse.html

#birds #Debian #Linux #jpegli #wildlife #wildlifephotography #Oklahoma #photography #exiftool #graphicsmagick

Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) in Norman, Oklahoma, United States on April 3, 2026

Some of the camera settings and all of the edits I used to make this photo are at: https://www.rsok.com/~jrm/2026Apr30_birds_and_cats/IMG_5771c_2026apr03_titmouse.html

#birds #Debian #Linux #jpegli #wildlife #wildlifephotography #Oklahoma #photography #exiftool #graphicsmagick

@studi0

@tutorial @howto #audioVisual #metaData

Main metadata editor is probably #exifTool, a CLI aplication.

#ffmpeg has also something to say when it comes to embedded info of images, audio and video files.

The easiest way might be the #VLCplayer.

Even tho the standard this tool is setting, simply because of adaptation by the general public and OS systems might not be the correct one, here a simple short take on how to use it.

In this case just to have some notes about media at hand.

A photo made with old technology enhanced using #jpegli #graphicsmagick #exiftool #Debian

Glenveagh National Park on August 5, 2013

Some of the camera settings I used to make this photo are at: https://www.a-wee-bit-of-ireland.com/eire_2013/2013aug05_Glenveagh_IMG_4315.html

Also: https://1-john-moyer.pixels.com/featured/stairway-4315-john-moyer.html

#travel #Donegal #Ireland #landscapephotography #photography #stairway

A photo made with old technology enhanced using #jpegli #graphicsmagick #exiftool #Debian

Glenveagh National Park on August 5, 2013

Some of the camera settings I used to make this photo are at: https://www.a-wee-bit-of-ireland.com/eire_2013/2013aug05_Glenveagh_IMG_4315.html

Also: https://1-john-moyer.pixels.com/featured/stairway-4315-john-moyer.html

#travel #Donegal #Ireland #landscapephotography #photography #stairway

A photo made with old technology enhanced using #jpegli #graphicsmagick #exiftool #Debian

Glenveagh National Park on August 5, 2013

Some of the camera settings I used to make this photo are at: https://www.a-wee-bit-of-ireland.com/eire_2013/2013aug05_Glenveagh_IMG_4315.html

Also: https://1-john-moyer.pixels.com/featured/stairway-4315-john-moyer.html

#travel #Donegal #Ireland #landscapephotography #photography #stairway

A photo made with old technology enhanced using #jpegli #graphicsmagick #exiftool #Debian

Glenveagh National Park on August 5, 2013

Some of the camera settings I used to make this photo are at: https://www.a-wee-bit-of-ireland.com/eire_2013/2013aug05_Glenveagh_IMG_4315.html

Also: https://1-john-moyer.pixels.com/featured/stairway-4315-john-moyer.html

#travel #Donegal #Ireland #landscapephotography #photography #stairway

A photo made with old technology enhanced using #jpegli #graphicsmagick #exiftool #Debian

Glenveagh National Park on August 5, 2013

Some of the camera settings I used to make this photo are at: https://www.a-wee-bit-of-ireland.com/eire_2013/2013aug05_Glenveagh_IMG_4315.html

Also: https://1-john-moyer.pixels.com/featured/stairway-4315-john-moyer.html

#travel #Donegal #Ireland #landscapephotography #photography #stairway

A photo made with old technology enhanced using #jpegli #graphicsmagick #exiftool #Debian

Glenveagh National Park on August 5, 2013

Some of the camera settings I used to make this photo are at: https://www.a-wee-bit-of-ireland.com/eire_2013/2013aug05_Glenveagh_IMG_4316.html

Also: https://1-john-moyer.pixels.com/featured/glenveagh-national-park-4316-john-moyer.html

#travel #Donegal #Ireland #landscapephotography #photography #moss

A photo made with old technology enhanced using #jpegli #graphicsmagick #exiftool #Debian

Glenveagh National Park on August 5, 2013

Some of the camera settings I used to make this photo are at: https://www.a-wee-bit-of-ireland.com/eire_2013/2013aug05_Glenveagh_IMG_4316.html

Also: https://1-john-moyer.pixels.com/featured/glenveagh-national-park-4316-john-moyer.html

#travel #Donegal #Ireland #landscapephotography #photography #moss

A photo made with old technology enhanced using #jpegli #graphicsmagick #exiftool #Debian

Glenveagh National Park on August 5, 2013

Some of the camera settings I used to make this photo are at: https://www.a-wee-bit-of-ireland.com/eire_2013/2013aug05_Glenveagh_IMG_4316.html

Also: https://1-john-moyer.pixels.com/featured/glenveagh-national-park-4316-john-moyer.html

#travel #Donegal #Ireland #landscapephotography #photography #moss

A photo made with old technology enhanced using #jpegli #graphicsmagick #exiftool #Debian

Glenveagh National Park on August 5, 2013

Some of the camera settings I used to make this photo are at: https://www.a-wee-bit-of-ireland.com/eire_2013/2013aug05_Glenveagh_IMG_4316.html

Also: https://1-john-moyer.pixels.com/featured/glenveagh-national-park-4316-john-moyer.html

#travel #Donegal #Ireland #landscapephotography #photography #moss

A photo made with old technology enhanced using #jpegli #graphicsmagick #exiftool #Debian

Glenveagh National Park on August 5, 2013

Some of the camera settings I used to make this photo are at: https://www.a-wee-bit-of-ireland.com/eire_2013/2013aug05_Glenveagh_IMG_4316.html

Also: https://1-john-moyer.pixels.com/featured/glenveagh-national-park-4316-john-moyer.html

#travel #Donegal #Ireland #landscapephotography #photography #moss

A photo made with old technology enhanced using #jpegli #graphicsmagick #exiftool #Debian

Glenveagh National Park on August 5, 2013

Some of the camera settings I used to make this photo are at: https://www.a-wee-bit-of-ireland.com/eire_2013/2013aug05_Glenveagh_IMG_4312.html

Also: https://1-john-moyer.pixels.com/featured/glenveagh-castle-4312-john-moyer.html

#travel #Donegal #Ireland #landscapephotography #photography #castle

A photo made with old technology enhanced using #jpegli #graphicsmagick #exiftool #Debian

Glenveagh National Park on August 5, 2013

Some of the camera settings I used to make this photo are at: https://www.a-wee-bit-of-ireland.com/eire_2013/2013aug05_Glenveagh_IMG_4312.html

Also: https://1-john-moyer.pixels.com/featured/glenveagh-castle-4312-john-moyer.html

#travel #Donegal #Ireland #landscapephotography #photography #castle

A photo made with old technology enhanced using #jpegli #graphicsmagick #exiftool #Debian

Glenveagh National Park on August 5, 2013

Some of the camera settings I used to make this photo are at: https://www.a-wee-bit-of-ireland.com/eire_2013/2013aug05_Glenveagh_IMG_4312.html

Also: https://1-john-moyer.pixels.com/featured/glenveagh-castle-4312-john-moyer.html

#travel #Donegal #Ireland #landscapephotography #photography #castle

A photo made with old technology enhanced using #jpegli #graphicsmagick #exiftool #Debian

Glenveagh National Park on August 5, 2013

Some of the camera settings I used to make this photo are at: https://www.a-wee-bit-of-ireland.com/eire_2013/2013aug05_Glenveagh_IMG_4312.html

Also: https://1-john-moyer.pixels.com/featured/glenveagh-castle-4312-john-moyer.html

#travel #Donegal #Ireland #landscapephotography #photography #castle

A photo made with old technology enhanced using #jpegli #graphicsmagick #exiftool #Debian

Glenveagh National Park on August 5, 2013

Some of the camera settings I used to make this photo are at: https://www.a-wee-bit-of-ireland.com/eire_2013/2013aug05_Glenveagh_IMG_4312.html

Also: https://1-john-moyer.pixels.com/featured/glenveagh-castle-4312-john-moyer.html

#travel #Donegal #Ireland #landscapephotography #photography #castle

A photo made with old technology enhanced using #jpegli #graphicsmagick #exiftool #Debian

Glenveagh National Park on August 5, 2013

Some of the camera settings I used to make this photo are at: https://www.a-wee-bit-of-ireland.com/eire_2013/2013aug05_Glenveagh_IMG_4298.html

Also: https://1-john-moyer.pixels.com/featured/glenveagh-castle-gardens-4298-john-moyer.html

#travel #Donegal #Ireland #landscapephotography #photography #gardens

A photo made with old technology enhanced using #jpegli #graphicsmagick #exiftool #Debian

Glenveagh National Park on August 5, 2013

Some of the camera settings I used to make this photo are at: https://www.a-wee-bit-of-ireland.com/eire_2013/2013aug05_Glenveagh_IMG_4298.html

Also: https://1-john-moyer.pixels.com/featured/glenveagh-castle-gardens-4298-john-moyer.html

#travel #Donegal #Ireland #landscapephotography #photography #gardens

A photo made with old technology enhanced using #jpegli #graphicsmagick #exiftool #Debian

Glenveagh National Park on August 5, 2013

Some of the camera settings I used to make this photo are at: https://www.a-wee-bit-of-ireland.com/eire_2013/2013aug05_Glenveagh_IMG_4298.html

Also: https://1-john-moyer.pixels.com/featured/glenveagh-castle-gardens-4298-john-moyer.html

#travel #Donegal #Ireland #landscapephotography #photography #gardens

A photo made with old technology enhanced using #jpegli #graphicsmagick #exiftool #Debian

Glenveagh National Park on August 5, 2013

Some of the camera settings I used to make this photo are at: https://www.a-wee-bit-of-ireland.com/eire_2013/2013aug05_Glenveagh_IMG_4298.html

Also: https://1-john-moyer.pixels.com/featured/glenveagh-castle-gardens-4298-john-moyer.html

#travel #Donegal #Ireland #landscapephotography #photography #gardens

A photo made with old technology enhanced using #jpegli #graphicsmagick #exiftool #Debian

Glenveagh National Park on August 5, 2013

Some of the camera settings I used to make this photo are at: https://www.a-wee-bit-of-ireland.com/eire_2013/2013aug05_Glenveagh_IMG_4298.html

Also: https://1-john-moyer.pixels.com/featured/glenveagh-castle-gardens-4298-john-moyer.html

#travel #Donegal #Ireland #landscapephotography #photography #gardens

A photo made with old technology enhanced using #jpegli #graphicsmagick #exiftool #Debian

Glenveagh National Park on August 5, 2013

Some of the camera settings I used to make this photo are at: https://www.a-wee-bit-of-ireland.com/eire_2013/2013aug05_Glenveagh_IMG_4272.html

also: https://1-john-moyer.pixels.com/featured/glenveagh-castle-gardens-4272-john-moyer.html

#travel #Donegal #Ireland #landscapephotography #photography #gardens

A photo made with old technology enhanced using #jpegli #graphicsmagick #exiftool #Debian

Glenveagh National Park on August 5, 2013

Some of the camera settings I used to make this photo are at: https://www.a-wee-bit-of-ireland.com/eire_2013/2013aug05_Glenveagh_IMG_4272.html

also: https://1-john-moyer.pixels.com/featured/glenveagh-castle-gardens-4272-john-moyer.html

#travel #Donegal #Ireland #landscapephotography #photography #gardens

A photo made with old technology enhanced using #jpegli #graphicsmagick #exiftool #Debian

Glenveagh National Park on August 5, 2013

Some of the camera settings I used to make this photo are at: https://www.a-wee-bit-of-ireland.com/eire_2013/2013aug05_Glenveagh_IMG_4272.html

also: https://1-john-moyer.pixels.com/featured/glenveagh-castle-gardens-4272-john-moyer.html

#travel #Donegal #Ireland #landscapephotography #photography #gardens

A photo made with old technology enhanced using #jpegli #graphicsmagick #exiftool #Debian

Glenveagh National Park on August 5, 2013

Some of the camera settings I used to make this photo are at: https://www.a-wee-bit-of-ireland.com/eire_2013/2013aug05_Glenveagh_IMG_4272.html

also: https://1-john-moyer.pixels.com/featured/glenveagh-castle-gardens-4272-john-moyer.html

#travel #Donegal #Ireland #landscapephotography #photography #gardens

A photo made with old technology enhanced using #jpegli #graphicsmagick #exiftool #Debian

Glenveagh National Park on August 5, 2013

Some of the camera settings I used to make this photo are at: https://www.a-wee-bit-of-ireland.com/eire_2013/2013aug05_Glenveagh_IMG_4272.html

also: https://1-john-moyer.pixels.com/featured/glenveagh-castle-gardens-4272-john-moyer.html

#travel #Donegal #Ireland #landscapephotography #photography #gardens

I've put together what I need. Well, I'll probably add a couple more layouts, but these are now very simple.

I've written #Python that reads a #YAML configuration file, uses #exiftool to extract metadata from the images, #montage to render the slides and #ImageMagick to build a PDF from the slides. Inevitably, I got ambitious and decided to enhance it with the option of generating any of the constituent images from really basic #markdown. So now I have a subpath that uses the Python markdown library to generate #HTML, then #wkhtmltoimage and ImageMagick to turn the HTML into a PNG that feeds with the other images into montage.

It's general enough for what I need. I've attached my test YAML and the resulting slides. Now to write the actual presentation ...

I've put together what I need. Well, I'll probably add a couple more layouts, but these are now very simple.

I've written #Python that reads a #YAML configuration file, uses #exiftool to extract metadata from the images, #montage to render the slides and #ImageMagick to build a PDF from the slides. Inevitably, I got ambitious and decided to enhance it with the option of generating any of the constituent images from really basic #markdown. So now I have a subpath that uses the Python markdown library to generate #HTML, then #wkhtmltoimage and ImageMagick to turn the HTML into a PNG that feeds with the other images into montage.

It's general enough for what I need. I've attached my test YAML and the resulting slides. Now to write the actual presentation ...

I've put together what I need. Well, I'll probably add a couple more layouts, but these are now very simple.

I've written #Python that reads a #YAML configuration file, uses #exiftool to extract metadata from the images, #montage to render the slides and #ImageMagick to build a PDF from the slides. Inevitably, I got ambitious and decided to enhance it with the option of generating any of the constituent images from really basic #markdown. So now I have a subpath that uses the Python markdown library to generate #HTML, then #wkhtmltoimage and ImageMagick to turn the HTML into a PNG that feeds with the other images into montage.

It's general enough for what I need. I've attached my test YAML and the resulting slides. Now to write the actual presentation ...

I've put together what I need. Well, I'll probably add a couple more layouts, but these are now very simple.

I've written #Python that reads a #YAML configuration file, uses #exiftool to extract metadata from the images, #montage to render the slides and #ImageMagick to build a PDF from the slides. Inevitably, I got ambitious and decided to enhance it with the option of generating any of the constituent images from really basic #markdown. So now I have a subpath that uses the Python markdown library to generate #HTML, then #wkhtmltoimage and ImageMagick to turn the HTML into a PNG that feeds with the other images into montage.

It's general enough for what I need. I've attached my test YAML and the resulting slides. Now to write the actual presentation ...

I've put together what I need. Well, I'll probably add a couple more layouts, but these are now very simple.

I've written #Python that reads a #YAML configuration file, uses #exiftool to extract metadata from the images, #montage to render the slides and #ImageMagick to build a PDF from the slides. Inevitably, I got ambitious and decided to enhance it with the option of generating any of the constituent images from really basic #markdown. So now I have a subpath that uses the Python markdown library to generate #HTML, then #wkhtmltoimage and ImageMagick to turn the HTML into a PNG that feeds with the other images into montage.

It's general enough for what I need. I've attached my test YAML and the resulting slides. Now to write the actual presentation ...

Why is #JavaScript so popular? I hate everything about it.

I'm speaking at the #Canberra Field #Naturalists meeting at #ANU next month on #Malaise trapping and the #insects and other #invertebrates that surround us without our noticing them.

I expect most of my slides to be arrays of four or six #microscope images with a header (probably a family name in most cases) and captions for each image.

I don't want to lay out all these images in #LibreOffice (or any similar presentation tool) because I'm a perfectionist and getting it all tidy will take forever.

So, I decided to try out #Slidev, #Marp and other #Markdown-based presentation tools. The Markdown part is very appealing, but they all lean hard into JavaScript. That would be fine so long as I don't have to think about that side of things.

Slidev's AppleBasic theme seemed to be the best starting point, so I started hacking it to add som extra gridded image views. Plain image grids were not too challenging, but I really want captions for each image, so I started trying to understand how the templates use the forest of underlying JS libraries and CSS artefacts to produce the displayed slides.

Frankly, the whole thing is so opaque and would take me much longer to understand than preparing multiple presentations by hand would.

Then I realised I can use #montage on the command line to produce the kind of layouts I want, and I can script #exiftool to extract and prepare the captions which will save time.

So, my new plan is to write a #Python script that processes a #YAML file listing all the slides, titles and image paths. It can generate PNG images that are close to the target 1920*1080 size (give or take a little). I'll then use LibreOffice for a couple of more text-oriented or irregular slides, export those and combine all the images into a PDF.

I'm sure this will be way faster than battling Node.js. Not sure why I felt I had to write it up.

https://fieldnatsact.com/

Why is #JavaScript so popular? I hate everything about it.

I'm speaking at the #Canberra Field #Naturalists meeting at #ANU next month on #Malaise trapping and the #insects and other #invertebrates that surround us without our noticing them.

I expect most of my slides to be arrays of four or six #microscope images with a header (probably a family name in most cases) and captions for each image.

I don't want to lay out all these images in #LibreOffice (or any similar presentation tool) because I'm a perfectionist and getting it all tidy will take forever.

So, I decided to try out #Slidev, #Marp and other #Markdown-based presentation tools. The Markdown part is very appealing, but they all lean hard into JavaScript. That would be fine so long as I don't have to think about that side of things.

Slidev's AppleBasic theme seemed to be the best starting point, so I started hacking it to add som extra gridded image views. Plain image grids were not too challenging, but I really want captions for each image, so I started trying to understand how the templates use the forest of underlying JS libraries and CSS artefacts to produce the displayed slides.

Frankly, the whole thing is so opaque and would take me much longer to understand than preparing multiple presentations by hand would.

Then I realised I can use #montage on the command line to produce the kind of layouts I want, and I can script #exiftool to extract and prepare the captions which will save time.

So, my new plan is to write a #Python script that processes a #YAML file listing all the slides, titles and image paths. It can generate PNG images that are close to the target 1920*1080 size (give or take a little). I'll then use LibreOffice for a couple of more text-oriented or irregular slides, export those and combine all the images into a PDF.

I'm sure this will be way faster than battling Node.js. Not sure why I felt I had to write it up.

https://fieldnatsact.com/

Why is #JavaScript so popular? I hate everything about it.

I'm speaking at the #Canberra Field #Naturalists meeting at #ANU next month on #Malaise trapping and the #insects and other #invertebrates that surround us without our noticing them.

I expect most of my slides to be arrays of four or six #microscope images with a header (probably a family name in most cases) and captions for each image.

I don't want to lay out all these images in #LibreOffice (or any similar presentation tool) because I'm a perfectionist and getting it all tidy will take forever.

So, I decided to try out #Slidev, #Marp and other #Markdown-based presentation tools. The Markdown part is very appealing, but they all lean hard into JavaScript. That would be fine so long as I don't have to think about that side of things.

Slidev's AppleBasic theme seemed to be the best starting point, so I started hacking it to add som extra gridded image views. Plain image grids were not too challenging, but I really want captions for each image, so I started trying to understand how the templates use the forest of underlying JS libraries and CSS artefacts to produce the displayed slides.

Frankly, the whole thing is so opaque and would take me much longer to understand than preparing multiple presentations by hand would.

Then I realised I can use #montage on the command line to produce the kind of layouts I want, and I can script #exiftool to extract and prepare the captions which will save time.

So, my new plan is to write a #Python script that processes a #YAML file listing all the slides, titles and image paths. It can generate PNG images that are close to the target 1920*1080 size (give or take a little). I'll then use LibreOffice for a couple of more text-oriented or irregular slides, export those and combine all the images into a PDF.

I'm sure this will be way faster than battling Node.js. Not sure why I felt I had to write it up.

https://fieldnatsact.com/

Why is #JavaScript so popular? I hate everything about it.

I'm speaking at the #Canberra Field #Naturalists meeting at #ANU next month on #Malaise trapping and the #insects and other #invertebrates that surround us without our noticing them.

I expect most of my slides to be arrays of four or six #microscope images with a header (probably a family name in most cases) and captions for each image.

I don't want to lay out all these images in #LibreOffice (or any similar presentation tool) because I'm a perfectionist and getting it all tidy will take forever.

So, I decided to try out #Slidev, #Marp and other #Markdown-based presentation tools. The Markdown part is very appealing, but they all lean hard into JavaScript. That would be fine so long as I don't have to think about that side of things.

Slidev's AppleBasic theme seemed to be the best starting point, so I started hacking it to add som extra gridded image views. Plain image grids were not too challenging, but I really want captions for each image, so I started trying to understand how the templates use the forest of underlying JS libraries and CSS artefacts to produce the displayed slides.

Frankly, the whole thing is so opaque and would take me much longer to understand than preparing multiple presentations by hand would.

Then I realised I can use #montage on the command line to produce the kind of layouts I want, and I can script #exiftool to extract and prepare the captions which will save time.

So, my new plan is to write a #Python script that processes a #YAML file listing all the slides, titles and image paths. It can generate PNG images that are close to the target 1920*1080 size (give or take a little). I'll then use LibreOffice for a couple of more text-oriented or irregular slides, export those and combine all the images into a PDF.

I'm sure this will be way faster than battling Node.js. Not sure why I felt I had to write it up.

https://fieldnatsact.com/

Why is #JavaScript so popular? I hate everything about it.

I'm speaking at the #Canberra Field #Naturalists meeting at #ANU next month on #Malaise trapping and the #insects and other #invertebrates that surround us without our noticing them.

I expect most of my slides to be arrays of four or six #microscope images with a header (probably a family name in most cases) and captions for each image.

I don't want to lay out all these images in #LibreOffice (or any similar presentation tool) because I'm a perfectionist and getting it all tidy will take forever.

So, I decided to try out #Slidev, #Marp and other #Markdown-based presentation tools. The Markdown part is very appealing, but they all lean hard into JavaScript. That would be fine so long as I don't have to think about that side of things.

Slidev's AppleBasic theme seemed to be the best starting point, so I started hacking it to add som extra gridded image views. Plain image grids were not too challenging, but I really want captions for each image, so I started trying to understand how the templates use the forest of underlying JS libraries and CSS artefacts to produce the displayed slides.

Frankly, the whole thing is so opaque and would take me much longer to understand than preparing multiple presentations by hand would.

Then I realised I can use #montage on the command line to produce the kind of layouts I want, and I can script #exiftool to extract and prepare the captions which will save time.

So, my new plan is to write a #Python script that processes a #YAML file listing all the slides, titles and image paths. It can generate PNG images that are close to the target 1920*1080 size (give or take a little). I'll then use LibreOffice for a couple of more text-oriented or irregular slides, export those and combine all the images into a PDF.

I'm sure this will be way faster than battling Node.js. Not sure why I felt I had to write it up.

https://fieldnatsact.com/

Migrating to kDrive from Flickr, Apple and Google Photo Clouds

As I write this my consolidated photo album is being uploaded to kDrive, to serve as an offsite backup but the journey to this point took about two weeks, due in part to experimentation and learning to use various tools.

Tools I used

• rsync
• Google Takeout
• Flickr Export
• jdupe
• Gemini
• Euria
• Le Chat, by Mistral

Work Flow

The first step is to request your data from Google Photos via the Google Takeout Tool, the Flickr Export tool for flickr, and to download all your photos locally from Apple Photos before disconnecting the local library from iCloud. Disconnecting Photos from iCloud gives you 30 days to realise you made a terrible mistake and fix it.

Export and organise

The next step is to unzip the Google Taekout files in one place, and the flickr export in another place. You want to keep the tree structure created by the zips for the next part.

Exiftool

Exiftools is a command line tool. Google Takeout and Flickr Export may detach metadata from your photos and add them to json files. Exiftools writes the exif data back into your photo files. If you ask Gemini or other AI solution for help it will provide you with the command you need to use. Request a dry run, and get the dry run to write to a text file to double check that it does what you expect.

Keep the zip files as they are. If you make a mistake it's good to have them on hand. Downloading 50 GB files from Google Takeout takes time.

With Flickr it's even more critical because Flickr generates 2gb files. I created a script to automatically download my 168 files.

Once you are happy that exiftool is behaving as expected you can run the command for real. Both of these steps take time so let them run in the background.

Google Takeout

Google takeout generates albums in three key ways, by individual names if you used face recognition, event name if you created an album, and by year, automatically. You will have two to three copies of some photos. In some directories you will only find json files.

When exiftool has run you can backup or delete the json files. If you have the zip files, then you're safe.

Flickr

When I expanded the Flickr zips it created a monoolithic directory with all the photos. I ran exiftools to marry json data with the photos.

Apple Photos

If you want to extract photos from Apple Photos quickly the quickest solution is to right click, show package contents, navigate to originals, and copy photos to another directory. You will need to use exiftool to create a directory where they are sorted by year, month day, and then you can run jdupe and add them to your main library.

Looking for Duplicates and Creating Chronological Libraries

With the data added by Exiftool we can now organise the photos chronologically. The issue is that we have event photos in albums, and the same event photos in the year folder. That's where jdupe comes in. It allows us to automatically compare photos within a directory before removing the duplicate copies.

Once this is done we can organise all the photos chronologically. This makes comparing photos much easier. It also adds a human accessible way of organising photos by year, month and day.

We repeat this step for Google Takeout and Flickr so that we end up with two clean chronological libraries.

The next step is to run jdupe again. This time we're comparing Flickr to Google Photos. The reason for this is that in an ideal world we have a perfect mirror, with both libraries being complete. In reality we might have interrupted payment to flickr, or Google photos so we have gaps. That's why we look for duplicates, before merging unique photos into our main photo library.

Tools such as rsync will help you merge the two libraries into the main library, as well as backup the clean library to a second hard drive on an external hard drive or on another device.

The kDrive migration

If you have not already done so, install the kDrive app and log in. Open the app and navigate to your library's folder and tell kdrive to sync the folder. It will then start copying the data to your cloud. Now you wait for it to be done.

Cleanup and Looking Forward

Once the main library is synced to kDrive I can delete two photos folders from kDrive and my local machine. I can tell kDrive on my phone to sync to the new library folder on kDrive.

That Synching Feeling

For now:

• Photosync adds photos to photoprism
• immich app adds photos to Immich
• kDrive app uploads to kDrive storage

Photoprism and Immich Watching

Both Photoprism and Immich allow you to watch an import folder(photoprism) or external library (immich). If you set the main library as a watch folder then new photos uploaded to kdrive will be added to the main library, and photoprism and Immich will add them to their own libraries. Unselect the "move" option to keep the chronological library intact.

And Finally

With jdupe, exiftool and rsync you can go from having three photo libraries wittled down to just one. You can then tell kdrive desktop to watch and sync that folder. You can use rsync to mirror the library to two or three other drives and filesystems. I have APFS, APFS (case sensitive) and ext4. I also have an offsite backup via kDrive.

Migrating to kDrive from Flickr, Apple and Google Photo Clouds

As I write this my consolidated photo album is being uploaded to kDrive, to serve as an offsite backup but the journey to this point took about two weeks, due in part to experimentation and learning to use various tools.

Tools I used

• rsync
• Google Takeout
• Flickr Export
• jdupe
• Gemini
• Euria
• Le Chat, by Mistral

Work Flow

The first step is to request your data from Google Photos via the Google Takeout Tool, the Flickr Export tool for flickr, and to download all your photos locally from Apple Photos before disconnecting the local library from iCloud. Disconnecting Photos from iCloud gives you 30 days to realise you made a terrible mistake and fix it.

Export and organise

The next step is to unzip the Google Taekout files in one place, and the flickr export in another place. You want to keep the tree structure created by the zips for the next part.

Exiftool

Exiftools is a command line tool. Google Takeout and Flickr Export may detach metadata from your photos and add them to json files. Exiftools writes the exif data back into your photo files. If you ask Gemini or other AI solution for help it will provide you with the command you need to use. Request a dry run, and get the dry run to write to a text file to double check that it does what you expect.

Keep the zip files as they are. If you make a mistake it's good to have them on hand. Downloading 50 GB files from Google Takeout takes time.

With Flickr it's even more critical because Flickr generates 2gb files. I created a script to automatically download my 168 files.

Once you are happy that exiftool is behaving as expected you can run the command for real. Both of these steps take time so let them run in the background.

Google Takeout

Google takeout generates albums in three key ways, by individual names if you used face recognition, event name if you created an album, and by year, automatically. You will have two to three copies of some photos. In some directories you will only find json files.

When exiftool has run you can backup or delete the json files. If you have the zip files, then you're safe.

Flickr

When I expanded the Flickr zips it created a monoolithic directory with all the photos. I ran exiftools to marry json data with the photos.

Apple Photos

If you want to extract photos from Apple Photos quickly the quickest solution is to right click, show package contents, navigate to originals, and copy photos to another directory. You will need to use exiftool to create a directory where they are sorted by year, month day, and then you can run jdupe and add them to your main library.

Looking for Duplicates and Creating Chronological Libraries

With the data added by Exiftool we can now organise the photos chronologically. The issue is that we have event photos in albums, and the same event photos in the year folder. That's where jdupe comes in. It allows us to automatically compare photos within a directory before removing the duplicate copies.

Once this is done we can organise all the photos chronologically. This makes comparing photos much easier. It also adds a human accessible way of organising photos by year, month and day.

We repeat this step for Google Takeout and Flickr so that we end up with two clean chronological libraries.

The next step is to run jdupe again. This time we're comparing Flickr to Google Photos. The reason for this is that in an ideal world we have a perfect mirror, with both libraries being complete. In reality we might have interrupted payment to flickr, or Google photos so we have gaps. That's why we look for duplicates, before merging unique photos into our main photo library.

Tools such as rsync will help you merge the two libraries into the main library, as well as backup the clean library to a second hard drive on an external hard drive or on another device.

The kDrive migration

If you have not already done so, install the kDrive app and log in. Open the app and navigate to your library's folder and tell kdrive to sync the folder. It will then start copying the data to your cloud. Now you wait for it to be done.

Cleanup and Looking Forward

Once the main library is synced to kDrive I can delete two photos folders from kDrive and my local machine. I can tell kDrive on my phone to sync to the new library folder on kDrive.

That Synching Feeling

For now:

• Photosync adds photos to photoprism
• immich app adds photos to Immich
• kDrive app uploads to kDrive storage

Photoprism and Immich Watching

Both Photoprism and Immich allow you to watch an import folder(photoprism) or external library (immich). If you set the main library as a watch folder then new photos uploaded to kdrive will be added to the main library, and photoprism and Immich will add them to their own libraries. Unselect the "move" option to keep the chronological library intact.

And Finally

With jdupe, exiftool and rsync you can go from having three photo libraries wittled down to just one. You can then tell kdrive desktop to watch and sync that folder. You can use rsync to mirror the library to two or three other drives and filesystems. I have APFS, APFS (case sensitive) and ext4. I also have an offsite backup via kDrive.

Flickr Backup Automation and Video Export

Let's begin by saying that Flickr is not intended for video. It's meant for photographers to backup and share their photos with like-minded individuals. When you use the Flickr app for iOS and Android it automatically backs up videos, and photos.

After some trial and error I was able to get the exif data attached to photos and then sorted chronologically into folders. In the process I noticed that almost 10,000 files were missing when the transfer was finished. The reason for this is that they were video files.

Quick Breakdown

When I tried to add exif data to these files, I failed. I sorted them into three categories instead:

• DV: 148
• HD: 9719
• 4K: 110

Scale of the Issue

Whatsapp, Flickr and other apps strip exif data from photos. The result is that, after many years of taking and sharing videos you end up with 9700 ghost or orphan files that have the day they were shared or an archive was created as their creation date. If I was to import these files I would have over 9000 video files for the day the archive was created.

Whilst this is a bug, it is also a feature. It's a bug because when I experimented with importing photos to Flickr from Google Photos I ended up with thousands of photos in a single day. Luckily it was easy to select and delete all of them.

The Alternative Solutions

When you use Google Takeout to export photos they might be missing their exif data but they are organised by year, month and day, so if you have difficulties with re-attaching exif data with the json files, which are stored along with the photos and videos, then you can use the folder hierarchy to roughly sort media assets ahead of being more thorough, weeks or months later.

And Finally

Getting data from JSON files to photo files was complicated but getting that JSON data to videos took an extra step. That extra step was to match the video file names to photo filenames, and then match the photo file names to JSON information, before moving the JSON data back to the video files.

Summary

• match video file names with photo filenames
• Check CSV file for relevant Exif data
• add Exif data to video files.

Conclusion

Whilst backing photos up from Android and iOS is automatic, don't rely on it for video. For video kDrive is better because it doesn't strip exif data. I would see Flickr as a backup backup for video. it's a backup solution on top of your primary offsite backup solution.

p.s. I'm not certain the solution worked, at the time of posting.

Vibe Coding a Flickr Export Tool with Google Gemini

Recently I decided that I would backup my Flickr library locally despite having over a year left on my pro account. In so doing, when the decision comes whether to dump, or keep using flickr, I will know that my data is safely backed up locally. Of course I decided to play with the archive but came upon a snag.

E6 Microdegrees

That snag is that Flickr uses the E6 Format, also known as Microdegrees. With Google Takeout, when I exported photoss I used the exiftool to add metadata to photos and it worked fine. Because it worked fine I then moved photos to Photoprism and Immich without issues. With Flickr photos using the E6 Microdegrees format photos displayed as being taken in the middle of the Atlantic near the coast of Africa rather than the canton de Vaud.

With a few iterations Gemini finally figured out the issue and divided exif data by a million. To correct this error Gemini and I exported the proper geodata to a CSV file, before then adding it to the exifdata of photographs.

Re-Use Flickr Metadata Added Over the Years

This morning I decided that I wanted to add the tags, titles, and other metadata back into the exif data so we created a new iteration of the CSV file.

Re-naming files With Their Creation Date

After several iterations I decided to rename files using their title when they had a human readable title, rather than the number given by Flickr's tools. I then decided that since we're renaming the files anyway we might as well add original creation date of the files to the filename. They now use the yyyy-mm-dd-filename.jpg convention.

A Folder Hierarchy

Since we've added the metadata to the photos, and renamed the files to display their creation date without opening individual files it made sense to go an extra step by creating a folder architecture by year/month/day. In so doing it becomes easy for an individual to look for, and find photos, without the use of a CMS.

TLDR of Steps According to Gemini

• Pair Flickr JSON metadata with original images.

• Extract and convert GPS from E6 to decimal.

• Sanitize titles into safe slugs using the re module.

• Build a hierarchical Year/Month/Day folder structure.

• Implement a 'Smart Migration' script with space checks and progress bars.

• Execute a bulk copy to rename and organize 78,000+ files.

• Verify integrity by matching file counts.

The Rational Behind Backing Up

Flickr is a great community for photographers to share beautiful photos but its free tier has shifted. It went from 200 public photos, up to 1TB, and then back down to 1000 photos max. the price per year went up so it became more interesting to pay for two years, rather than one at a time.

For a while I downgraded to the free tier, expecting that my photos would be deleted from flickr. They weren't. I stopped paying because I expected Flickr to be mothballed and eventually vanish. It currently looks alive and well. I believe that's why I decided to pay for another two years at the time.

An Export Worlflow and a Reason to Stick With Flickr

My experiment, over the last two days has strengthened the use case for Flickr Pro as a cloud backup solution. If like me, you have a work flow in place to download and process Flickr Export zip files, then within a day or two you can re-create your library locally.

A simple "for each loop" can download your zips in the background once the backup is ready.

And Finally

Years ago I exported photos from Google Photos via Takeout and from Flickr via Flickr Export but I didn't know how to re-combine the data from the json files into photo exif data. Over the last week, through experimentation. I have been able to export photos from Google Photos and Flickr, and recover them, for ingesting into Photoprism and Immich.

Without Gemini I would need to spend hours reading the documents and through trial, and error get it to do what I want. With Google Gemini it does the RTFM part (read the fabulous manual), and I ask it for help.

Now I'm on the cheapest iCloud tier, I can downgrade to a cheaper Google One tier, I can dump Swisscom MyCloud and I can re-think how I use Flickr.

I have been using Gemini as a tutor.

I wrote a web page about processing raw data from my camera to make an image for viewing on the web.

https://www.rsok.com/~jrm/2026jan07_cardinal/index.html

#birds #imageprocessing #photography #software #gimp #Debian #Linux #exiftool #jpegli #graphicsmagick #ksh #ICC #IPTC #ITU #MWG

I wrote a web page about processing raw data from my camera to make an image for viewing on the web.

https://www.rsok.com/~jrm/2026jan07_cardinal/index.html

#birds #imageprocessing #photography #software #gimp #Debian #Linux #exiftool #jpegli #graphicsmagick #ksh #ICC #IPTC #ITU #MWG

I wrote a web page about processing raw data from my camera to make an image for viewing on the web.

https://www.rsok.com/~jrm/2026jan07_cardinal/index.html

#birds #imageprocessing #photography #software #gimp #Debian #Linux #exiftool #jpegli #graphicsmagick #ksh #ICC #IPTC #ITU #MWG