Looking over new pictures: Check Mode

Pictures sizes

Importing pictures

Importing data

Picture tray

Accepting pictures

Check Mode is where you examine new pictures from a digital camera, a scanner or disc, to see if they are good enough to add to your collection.

• Before you accept them, you can improve them with the image editor.

• If you are not sure yet, you can leave them in Check Mode.

• You can start writing picture descriptions with the data editor, or you can leave this job to later.

Pictures that are in Check mode are not visible in Browse or Search modes. Searches apply only to pictures that have been checked and accepted.

Layout

In Check mode the window is divided into two panes, the Tray on the right and the Preview pane on the left.

Both will be empty when you first use ViewMinder  because you have not yet imported any pictures.

You can change their relative sizes of the panes by moving the mouse pointer to the border between them and then dragging the border (moving the mouse while holding the mouse button down).

The Tray shows all the pictures that you have imported but have not yet approved for addition to your collection.

Picture sizes

The size of a digital picture is measured in pixels or megapixels. 1 megapixel is 1 048 576 pixels -  in other words, about a million.

ViewMinder can import pictures up to 8 megapixels with speed and ease, so it suits all popular digital cameras.

It can handle far larger pictures but, unless your computer has a fast processor, importing, previewing and editing large pictures will take noticeably longer.

For more about digital picture sizes, see Chapter 10, Notes.

Importing pictures

You can import pictures to ViewMinder from a digital camera, a mobile phone, a scanner or a disc. You can also load pictures that are already on the hard drive of your computer.

Even pictures that are already on your computer's hard drive must be imported by ViewMinder before it can manage them.

ViewMinder places a copy of each imported picture and names the files image1, image2, image3, etc. They don't need names like John_on_the_farm because information about what they show is held in ViewMinder's database.

You should not rename or move these files (using Windows Explorer or a similar program) because ViewMinder will not then be able to relate the images to the information in its database.

If you run out of space on your hard disc and want to move some pictures onto removable media, like a CD, use ViewMinder's external storage feature. See Exporting as overspill.

Import wizard

When you click the import button, the import wizard asks you about the import source

• Choose File system to load images from folders on your computer, CDs, imaging phones or most types of digital camera.

• Choose TWAIN to load images from a TWAIN source, such as a scanner or certain types of digital camera.

Your digital camera's manual will tell you whether it uses the File system or TWAIN. The alternative is to try both and see which works!

Digital camera generally used TWAIN until about 2000 but now mostly use the easier File system, except for a few entry-level, low definition and low-cost models.

If neither TWAIN nor the File system works, perhaps your camera uses TWAIN but you have not installed the TWAIN driver on your computer. The driver is a small program that connects the camera to imaging applications, in this case ViewMinder. Every TWAIN device comes with its own driver.

When you have finished importing the pictures, their thumbnails will appear in the picture tray.

If you are importing pictures from a film scanner, there are more suggestions in Chapter 10, Digital image management for film photographers.

Importing as overspill

When importing, ViewMinder normally makes a full copy of the image and stores it on your computer's fixed drive. This gives you instant access to the picture when you need it.

If you enable the overspill import feature explained in Chapter 8, Program Settings, Advanced, you have an extra option when importing a file. When you Import as overspill, ViewMinder creates just a low-resolution copy of each image. This will let you see it, but when you want to edit, print or copy it, ViewMinder will prompt you to insert the original disc.

When you import files as overspill, ViewMinder asks you for the volume name of the original disc, so that it can prompt you to insert the right volume later.

Importing as overspill is intended for people who have already built a picture collection sorted onto CDs or other removable media. A distributed picture collection is less convenient than a central one but, if image sizes are large, you will save space on your computer's fixed drive.

However, if you import pictures as overspill and later lose or damage the volumes where the master images are stored, the small copy that exists in ViewMinder will be poor consolation.

Importing picture descriptions

If you are importing pictures from a digital camera, the picture file may already contain some picture information, such as the date and time the picture was taken (EXIF data).

If so, ViewMinder will import this information at the same time. (It is worth checking that the camera's clock is correct.)

If you are importing files from a scanner, any dates in picture files may be the scanning date, which will need to be corrected to the picture's creation date.

If you are importing a picture from a file that has been created by someone else's ViewMinder program, the file may already contain a fuller description of the picture. If it does, ViewMinder will import this information, too.

ViewMinder is ideal for professional photographers, who can use it to provide clients with picture information in a form that cannot be accidentally separated from the picture.

Genus ViewMinder does not have the ability to export descriptions with pictures. Professionals are recommended to Upgrade.

Picture tray features

To see a larger version of any picture in the tray, click it. The picture appears in the preview pane on the left. The picture frame will change colour to show that it is selected.

If you now click a second picture, the picture in the preview pane will change. Both pictures are now selected.

Multiple selection lets you perform a same operation simultaneously on many pictures. Clicking a picture selects it. Not until you click it again is it deselected.

If you want to select a picture at the same time as deselecting any other pictures, click it while holding the Ctrl button down.

This function of the Ctrl key is the reverse of how many Windows programs operate. If you find it uncomfortable, you can enable conventional selection in Settings (Menu - Edit - Settings - Advanced).

Even if the pictures continue below the bottom of the tray, you can see how many are selected from the text at the bottom of the tray.

Tray tools

The Tray Tools button at the bottom of the tray provides you with a quick way of selecting, deselecting and sorting all pictures.

You can also use it to hide some of the pictures in the tray, if  you want to concentrate on a few. This feature of the tray is not so important when you are checking pictures but you will find it very useful later when you are searching for pictures.

The commands of the Tray Tools button can be also accessed by clicking the alternate mouse button anywhere over the tray.

Having a closer look

Before deciding whether to add the picture to your collection, you may want to look at it close-up.

First select the picture. It will appear in the preview pane on the left.

Then bring the cursor over the part of the picture that you want to see close up. Over the picture, the cursor will take the form of a magnifying glass. Then click the mouse button.

You can move this magnifying glass anywhere over the picture.

To see the whole picture on a separate screen, click the Edit image button on the toolbar. This will open a new window containing the picture. If you close this window again without editing the picture, it will not be changed in any way.

When you're ready...

Approve the picture or pictures that are selected by clicking the Accept button on the toolbar. The pictures will disappear from the tray.

If you decide that some of the pictures are not worth keeping, you can delete it with the Delete button on the toolbar.

Deletion is permanent. The only way of getting the picture back is then to import it again.

There is no need to empty the Picture Tray before leaving the Check mode. Any pictures you leave there will still be there next time you enter Check mode.

A good way to see if there are any rather old pictures in the tray that are still waiting for your attention is to sort them by order of import.

To access the sorting commands, click the Tray Tools button. Then choose Sort by - Imported, Ascending