2019-05-01_Linux_Format

62 LXF249 May 2019 http://www.linuxformat.com

TUTORIALS Organise photos

photosthroughcreativeuseofcolourandlight

correction,cropping,straighteningandevenremoval

ofthedreadedred-eye.

ShotwellisincludedbydefaultwithbothUbuntu

andMint,butit’sanoldversion(0.28.4).Stepone,

therefore,istoensureyou’rerunningthelatestversion

• 0.30.1attimeofwriting.Opena Terminalwindow and
  issuethefollowingcommands:
  $ sudoadd-apt-repositoryppa:yg-jensge/shotwell
  $ sudoapt-getupdate
  $ sudoapt-getinstallshotwell
  ClosetheTerminalwindowandlaunchShotwell from
  theapplicationslist.It willimmediatelysearchyour

igitalphotographyhasbeenbecomebotha

blessinganda curse.It’salmostinconceivable

torememberthetimewheneveryphotowas

precious,eagerlyawaitedwitha mixtureofanticipation

anddread.Nowadays,digitalcluttersupyourharddrive

withdozens– if nothundreds– ofphotosforevery

majorlifeevent,nevermindtherest.

Thankfully,there’sa toolthatcanhelpbringorderto

yourchaoticcollection.Shotwelldoesn’tsimplybring

yourphotosintoa singlelibrary:youcanuseit to

organisethema myriadofdifferentways,fromdate-

basedeventstokeywordtags.It evenoffersa selection

ofhandyimage-editingtoolstohelpliftlacklustre

How to build a photo

library in Shotwell

Nick Peersrevealshow to bring order to your chaotic photo

andvideolibrarywithUbuntu’s default photo organiser.

NickPeers
is looking forward
to finally being
able to bring
some sense of
order to the
chaotic ‘pile’
of photos he
has amassed.

D

SHOTWELL

OUR

EXPERT

If filesinthe

Shotwelllibrary

aremoved,

deleted,or–

withremovable

media–

disconnected,

theybecome

‘missing’and

disappearfrom

themainview.

Youcancheck

theseunder

Library> Missing

Files.Either

restorethe

file(s)manually,

orselectthem

allandclick

‘Removefrom

Library’to

deletethem.

View and edit photos in Shotwell

1

Filter photos

Use the options in the left-hand pane to filter the list of photos in

variousways,includingbyevent,tagorflag.

2

Basic information

When you select a photo to view, its basic file information is

displayedhere.

(^3)
Crop tool
The crop tool enables you to cut out superfluous detail: click and
drag on the crop square to resize or move it.
4
Crop options
Click to select the aspect ratio of your selection, or switch between
portraitandlandscapeorientationusingthesetools.
5
Toolbar
Context-sensitive options appear here – when you’re viewing a file,
variouseditingtoolsplusthezoomslideraredisplayed.
(^6)
Extended information
Press Ctrl+Shift+X to display additional information not shown by
the Basic information tool.
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