Ubuntu Documentation > Ubuntu 8.10 > Music, video and photos > Photos and cameras

Photos and cameras

There are many tools available to help you to work with your digital photo collection.

Import photos from a digital camera

Ubuntu automatically detects most digital cameras when you plug them in, and will offer to import your photos automatically.

To import photos from your camera:

  1. Plug-in and switch on the camera by placing it in review mode. Ubuntu should ask you if you would like to import the photos that the camera contains.

  2. Click on Import. You should then see a preview of the photos.

  3. Choose a location to save your photos to, then click on Import. The photos will be saved to your hard drive.

If Ubuntu does not ask you if it can import the photos:

  1. Open Applications → Graphics → F-Spot Photo Manager and choose File → Import.

  2. Select your camera as the Import Source and then click Import to begin importing your photos.

If your camera does not appear as an import source, press Places → Computer and check if your camera is visible there as a removable storage device. If it is, you can then copy the photos manually using the File Browser.

Organize your photo collection

F-Spot provides a complete solution for managing your photo collection. To start it, choose Applications → Graphics → F-Spot Photo Manager.

With F-Spot, you can import photos from your digital camera or USB stick, tag them with familiar terms, do touch ups, and edit them in different ways. In addition to this, you can upload photos easily to your Flickr, PicasaWeb album and other online photo galleries.

For help with F-Spot Photo Manager, see the F-Spot User Guide.

Watch a slideshow of photos

If you want to show off your photos in all of their glory, why not run a slideshow of them?

Setting a Slideshow as Your Screensaver

You can use a slideshow of your photos as you screensaver:

  1. Press System → Preferences → Screensaver

  2. Select the F-Spot photos screensaver theme

  3. Photos which are tagged as Favorites in F-Spot Photo Manager will be displayed as your screensaver

If you would like to change which tag is used for the slideshow:

  1. Open F-Spot

  2. Press Edit → Preferences

  3. Under Screensaver, select the desired tag

  4. Press Close

Printing photos

Printing your photos is great way to share them with others.

  1. Double-click the photo you want to print to open it in the Image Viewer

  2. Press File → Page Setup

    • Under Format for, select the printer which you are going to use

    • Under Paper size, select the size of the paper which you are going to print the photo onto

    • Under Orientation, choose the orientation of the photo on the paper

  3. Press Apply

  4. Press File → Print

  5. Change any settings as appropriate (see below)

  6. Press Print to print the photo

Printer Settings

You can tweak your printing settings to get the best results. All of these settings can be found in the File → Print window.

Make sure that you select your printer from the list on the General tab to get the full range of settings supported by your printer.

[Note]

Different makes of printer will have different printer settings. The settings below are only provided as a guide for what you may be able to change with your particular printer.

Paper Type

The paper type that you use has a large impact on the quality of your printed photo. You should set the paper type to match the paper which you are using in your printer to prevent poor results. Using a glossy paper type with only plain paper loaded into your printer will generally produce poor results, for example.

This setting may automatically change the amount of ink which is used, in order to get the best results and to prevent smudging. How this is handled will depend on your printer.

Print Quality

Print quality is generally measured in DPI (dots per inch). A greater DPI value should result in better print quality.

  • Choose Draft for making quick draft prints which don't use much ink

  • Choose Best Quality or Photo for making high quality prints. Printing will be slower and will use more ink

Advanced Photo Printing

For advanced photo printing, install PhotoPrint (see Adding, Removing and Updating Applications). Once installed, press Applications → Graphics → PhotoPrint to start PhotoPrint.

PhotoPrint allows you to fine-tune your printing settings.

  1. Under Page Size, change the page size to the size of paper that you want to print onto.

  2. Under Layout, change the number of columns and rows to reflect the number of photos that you want to put onto a page

  3. To change the amount of spacing between photos, change the Horizontal and Vertical settings under Gutters

  4. To add a photo to the page, press Image → Add Image and select a photo

  5. To change the advanced printer settings, press File → Print Setup

    You may need to select the correct printer model on the Output tab

  6. Press File → Print to print your photos

Sharing your photos

If you want to share your collection of photos with others, why not use an online photo sharing service or burn a CD of your photos? Ubuntu has plenty of tools to help you share your pictures.

Edit and improve photos

Sometimes, you may need to adjust or touch-up a photo to make it look better or to remove some flaw. F-Spot includes a few basic tools for doing this. To access these tools, press the Edit Photo button and then click on one of the tools at the bottom of the screen.

The GIMP Image Editor is much more advanced. It is installed in Ubuntu by default, and can be started by choosing Applications → Graphics → GIMP Image Editor.

The GIMP has many professional-level features. It includes tools for selections, drawing, creating paths, masks, filters, effects, and more.

Rotating photos

You may find that you have some photos which are the wrong way up. It is easy to rotate photos so that they're the right way up again.

The Image Viewer, F-Spot Photo Manager and the GIMP Image Editor are all capable of rotating photos.

Resizing photos

You can resize photos which are too big. If you have a photo which has a large file size, resizing it will also reduce the file size.

The GIMP Image Editor supports several methods of resizing photos. We will concentrate on the simplest method.

  1. Open the photo you want to resize in the GIMP Image Editor

  2. Press Image → Scale Image

  3. Adjust the Width or Height as appropriate. The image will be kept to scale.

    If you want to adjust the width and height independently, press the link button which connects the Width and Height boxes, so that it looks like a broken link.

  4. Under Quality, change the Interpolation to Cubic (Best). This will give you the best quality resized image

  5. Press Scale to resize the photo

  6. Press File → Save As and choose a new filename for the photo

  7. Press Save to save the resized photo

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