Displaying photos without segregating by album

[BensonBear]

We have about 30,000 photos from ten cameras (four still active, some
occasionally used, some retired).   They are stored using one directory per
camera, with the exact file names and structure employed by each camera.  
However, we would like to organize and select by tags and date independent
of the camera, in other words, so that the photos from the different cameras
appear, not in separate albums, but mixed in together when sorted by time,
for example (as they often are about the same subject in time).

What is the best way to do this in digikam?  The only was I can see to do it
as a potential new user is to actually put all of the photos in the same
directory (and not even in subdirectories).  Otherwise the folder structure
appears to be mirrored in the album and  cannot be gotten rid of.

I don't really like the idea of putting 30,000 photos (and then more later
on) into one directory.   Also, in at least some cases the names will
overlap since they come from two identical phones.  
 
I was thinking of writing a python script to make new names for all the
files and store the old names in exif, with these names being links in a
new, single, directory (or maybe just renaming the files and moving to one
directory).  Something like YYYY-MM-DD-HH-MM-SS-CAMERA-VERSION (where
version will define photos that are derived from the original).

Is there some better way to do it?




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[AndriusWild]

Hello

There are numerous ways in digikam to do that - tags (keywords), pick labels, color labels, star rating.

You can just tag all the images with one of the above listed options and use digikam search tab in the left panel to find them all. You can also use the search in the right panel to narow down the results of the initial search (left panel)

You don't have to write a script to rename your images. Digikam import or batch processing tool can do that. So does Rapid Photo Downloader (another open source tool).

Probably the easiest way to add a tag to all images and rename files at the same time is to use Import tool in digikam.

I use RPD personally because it handles video files better.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

-------- Original message --------

From: BensonBear <[hidden email]>

Date: 2017-09-20 6:40 PM (GMT-07:00)

To: [hidden email]

Subject: Displaying photos without segregating by album

We have about 30,000 photos from ten cameras (four still active, some
occasionally used, some retired).   They are stored using one directory per
camera, with the exact file names and structure employed by each camera. 
However, we would like to organize and select by tags and date independent
of the camera, in other words, so that the photos from the different cameras
appear, not in separate albums, but mixed in together when sorted by time,
for example (as they often are about the same subject in time).

What is the best way to do this in digikam?  The only was I can see to do it
as a potential new user is to actually put all of the photos in the same
directory (and not even in subdirectories).  Otherwise the folder structure
appears to be mirrored in the album and  cannot be gotten rid of.

I don't really like the idea of putting 30,000 photos (and then more later
on) into one directory.   Also, in at least some cases the names will
overlap since they come from two identical phones. 

I was thinking of writing a python script to make new names for all the
files and store the old names in exif, with these names being links in a
new, single, directory (or maybe just renaming the files and moving to one
directory).  Something like YYYY-MM-DD-HH-MM-SS-CAMERA-VERSION (where
version will define photos that are derived from the original).

Is there some better way to do it?




--
Sent from: http://digikam.1695700.n4.nabble.com/digikam-users-f1735189.html

[BensonBear]

Thanks for your reply.  You state:

"There are numerous ways in digikam to do that - tags (keywords), pick
labels, color labels, star rating. You can just tag all the images with one
of the above listed options and use digikam search tab in the left panel to
find them all"

The problem when I do this, as far as I can see, as I have stated, is that
the photos are then segregated by "album" (i.e. directory of origin).  So
one camera's photos are shown first, then another camera's photos, etc.   We
want them all together, especially when sorted by date.  So if one views a
week of photos from multiple cameras, the photos are shown in order by date,
not grouped into separate sets for each camera.

Is there some option I am missing?

Ah, yes yes there is!  I looked around some more, there is under the "view"
menu an item "group images" and one can group them by "flat" which is what
is needed!  Okay that's a relief!

"You don't have to write a script to rename your images."

I am comfortable writing a script, but I will look into the powers of
digikam in this regard as well, thanks, although I think for now given the
above discovery it is moot.





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[AndriusWild]

Oh, I guess in your case photos from each camera have different extension e.g. some are DNG, some are CR2, some are PEF etc. If you group by type then each raw format  is probably grouped together. "Flat" cancels that grouping.

You might want to read DAM section of the digikam handbook. There are some good practices mentioned there including advantages of the DNG format, recommended folder structure, etc. 

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

-------- Original message --------

From: BensonBear <[hidden email]>

Date: 2017-09-20 8:02 PM (GMT-07:00)

To: [hidden email]

Subject: Re: Displaying photos without segregating by album

Thanks for your reply.  You state:

"There are numerous ways in digikam to do that - tags (keywords), pick
labels, color labels, star rating. You can just tag all the images with one
of the above listed options and use digikam search tab in the left panel to
find them all"

The problem when I do this, as far as I can see, as I have stated, is that
the photos are then segregated by "album" (i.e. directory of origin).  So
one camera's photos are shown first, then another camera's photos, etc.   We
want them all together, especially when sorted by date.  So if one views a
week of photos from multiple cameras, the photos are shown in order by date,
not grouped into separate sets for each camera.

Is there some option I am missing?

Ah, yes yes there is!  I looked around some more, there is under the "view"
menu an item "group images" and one can group them by "flat" which is what
is needed!  Okay that's a relief!

"You don't have to write a script to rename your images."

I am comfortable writing a script, but I will look into the powers of
digikam in this regard as well, thanks, although I think for now given the
above discovery it is moot.





--
Sent from: http://digikam.1695700.n4.nabble.com/digikam-users-f1735189.html

[BensonBear]

"Oh, I guess in your case photos from each camera have different extension
e.g. some are DNG, some are CR2, some are PEF etc. If you group by type then
each raw format  is probably grouped together. "Flat" cancels that
grouping."

No, I don't have any fancy cameras, they are mostly just phones and do not
shoot raw, all the files are jpeg or some movie format.  It is not the
formats being grouped together, but the cameras, because I have each camera
in a folder, which then becomes an album.

"You might want to read DAM section of the digikam handbook. There are some
good practices mentioned there including advantages of the DNG format,
recommended folder structure, etc. "

Thanks, I looked in there and it is useful,  but I do not want any semantic
(including time) information encoded in the external folder structure and
then forcefully applied by digikam to "albums".  I would prefer to have all
of this kind of information specifiable in the program.   For example if one
uses time to define the folders, that unnaturally divides up events that
cross over the borders of one's time divisions. The only thing preventing me
from putting everything in one directory is the unwieldy size of it.  So I
already decided to use one directory per camera, which is *fairly* natural,
keeps directories fairly small (and can use arbitrary subdirectories, as one
of my cameras already does)  and doesn't impose any real semantics outside
of the program, but then the problem I initially specified arose.  However,
"flat" view fixes that just fine.





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[AndriusWild]

You might want to take a look at Shotwell too. It allows you to group pictures in an album despite the files location (folders).

I believe it does not write anything to files metadata either but instead keeps all the information in its database but I am not 100% sure about that.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

-------- Original message --------

From: BensonBear <[hidden email]>

Date: 2017-09-21 9:08 AM (GMT-07:00)

To: [hidden email]

Subject: Re: Displaying photos without segregating by album

"Oh, I guess in your case photos from each camera have different extension
e.g. some are DNG, some are CR2, some are PEF etc. If you group by type then
each raw format  is probably grouped together. "Flat" cancels that
grouping."

No, I don't have any fancy cameras, they are mostly just phones and do not
shoot raw, all the files are jpeg or some movie format.  It is not the
formats being grouped together, but the cameras, because I have each camera
in a folder, which then becomes an album.

"You might want to read DAM section of the digikam handbook. There are some
good practices mentioned there including advantages of the DNG format,
recommended folder structure, etc. "

Thanks, I looked in there and it is useful,  but I do not want any semantic
(including time) information encoded in the external folder structure and
then forcefully applied by digikam to "albums".  I would prefer to have all
of this kind of information specifiable in the program.   For example if one
uses time to define the folders, that unnaturally divides up events that
cross over the borders of one's time divisions. The only thing preventing me
from putting everything in one directory is the unwieldy size of it.  So I
already decided to use one directory per camera, which is *fairly* natural,
keeps directories fairly small (and can use arbitrary subdirectories, as one
of my cameras already does)  and doesn't impose any real semantics outside
of the program, but then the problem I initially specified arose.  However,
"flat" view fixes that just fine.





--
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[BensonBear]

"You might want to take a look at Shotwell too"

One of us uses Linux, the other uses Windows,and there is no Shotwell for
windows that I am aware of.  There seems to be some kind of port, but it
also seems way behind and of dubious quality.

"I believe it does not write anything to files metadata either but instead
keeps all the information in its database but I am not 100% sure about
that."

I have tried it a bit, it uses an sqlite database but also allows you to
write the metadata to the photos.

I have no problem with writing the metadata to the photos, except for the
fact that periods of rapid alteration in tagging could trigger lots of
requirements for large scale backup.   It is just information coded in the
folder structure that I don't like, since it is easy to mess up externally
and is not so flexible.  No structure it imposes is natural really (e.g,
hierarchy, not a dag, which is minimally what one needs (and using links for
this is too tricky), and arbitrary date/time divisions).

I plan to every once in a while update metadata into the photos,  but have
the real metadata in the database (and also, backup this database into a
simple format I can use grep and such on for many simple searches.  I did
this for shotwell's sqlite database, it is very easy to write a quick script
to make a nicely formatted plain text file with just the information one
needs).







--
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[hajo]

Not at a computer now to try it but -- have you considered symlinks from e.g. a single directory or a directory for each year into your camera-based folder structure? I suspect DigiKam might follow those symlinks.

Seems like DigiKam can't do natively what you are looking for. FWIW, my workflow starts by importing pics from multiple cameras into separate folders, renaming them to date/time/camera file name and then merging them into one folder. To me, the criteria "camera" is not first priority - the date/occasion is. Hence this defines the top of my folder structure.

On Thu, 21 Sep 2017 at 23:44, BensonBear <[hidden email]> wrote:

"You might want to take a look at Shotwell too"

One of us uses Linux, the other uses Windows,and there is no Shotwell for
windows that I am aware of.  There seems to be some kind of port, but it
also seems way behind and of dubious quality.

"I believe it does not write anything to files metadata either but instead
keeps all the information in its database but I am not 100% sure about
that."

I have tried it a bit, it uses an sqlite database but also allows you to
write the metadata to the photos.

I have no problem with writing the metadata to the photos, except for the
fact that periods of rapid alteration in tagging could trigger lots of
requirements for large scale backup.   It is just information coded in the
folder structure that I don't like, since it is easy to mess up externally
and is not so flexible.  No structure it imposes is natural really (e.g,
hierarchy, not a dag, which is minimally what one needs (and using links for
this is too tricky), and arbitrary date/time divisions).

I plan to every once in a while update metadata into the photos,  but have
the real metadata in the database (and also, backup this database into a
simple format I can use grep and such on for many simple searches.  I did
this for shotwell's sqlite database, it is very easy to write a quick script
to make a nicely formatted plain text file with just the information one
needs).







--
Sent from: http://digikam.1695700.n4.nabble.com/digikam-users-f1735189.html

--

[BensonBear]

"have you considered symlinks from e.g. a single directory or a directory for
each year into your camera-based folder structure?"

Well, I don't want years in directories to begin with so there is no point
to this for me.

"Seems like DigiKam can't do natively what you are looking for."

Perhaps I did not describe it well, because it turns out it easily does it
for all practical purposes, although philosophically it might be considered
less that perfect.  

Just displaying the photos by a "flat" structure from the view menu works
fine.

"importing pics from multiple cameras into separate folders, renaming them
to date/time/camera file name and then merging them into one folder."

Yes that is what I described above.  I may still rename the photos at some
point in this manner.  I like this idea.

"To me, the criteria "camera" is not first priority - the date/occasion is"

Time is important, and pretty clearly objective for each photo, so putting
the time in the filename is a good idea I believe.  A time stamp is close
enough to a "rigid designator" in the philosophical sense, containing little
meaning but only reference.   But "occasion" is a much more complex thing
(and more important ultimately). A photo could take part in more than one
"occasion" for example, and thus I want to tag it thusly, not name it.

"Hence this defines the top of my folder structure."

The important of occasion is just why I don't want it in the folder
structure.  

Thanks for your input!




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