Well after a fair amount of work I am finally happy with the output from the skin I have created for JAlbum 
The idea is that you can very quickly and simply turn a group/directory of photos into a website, and have them display as much EXIF/Metadata as possible, automatically. I have tried a number of look and feels, and in the end concluded that Gilligan has it about right
In the end I opted for using the overlib script to display the EXIF information, but like Gilligan, I have made it appear when you mouse over a small camera icon, rather than over the photo. This way, you can view the images undisturbed, and only view the EXIF data if you wish to. I did try playing with getting the web page to write a cookie based on the users preference for seeing this information or not, but could not get it to work so gave it up.
As you will see from the gallery, you have to be very very careful when editing the images, as the vast majority of photo manipulation programs (including Photoshop CS) have a habit of losing EXIF data when you re-save the files. I spent a lot of time trying to find the best method for storing a name or description for the file. I tried a variety of methods, including naming the actual file, but in the end found that the most efficient way is to write a description to the file EXIF information. It might take a little longer, but I believe it is worth it, as once written to the EXIF data, it is permanently stored as part of the JPG, and can be read and used by a variety of applications. IMHO only use EXIFER to add additional information to the file, as other programs, including Photoshop CS destroy some or all of the data written by the camera (see the first 3 or 4 files in my Grenada gallery).
There is some error handling included as I extract the EXIF information. Essentially, if it finds the particular fiend, the script uses it and if it does not find it, the script displays "Not available". This is not perfect, as sometimes, like with the flash the EXIF data is blank if the flash is not fired. As a result the script returns not available, when perhaps it should read Not fired...I will work on this.
Some points of note about the skin...
- It has been setup to read certain EXIF data based on Canon maker notes. This can be very easily altered for other camera makes, such as Olympus et al
- The script reformats the focal length for 35mm equivilance...again this is specific for my Canon S400, but can be easily alerted for other cameras
- By default, the skin does not add the watermark showing copyright information, but this is trivial to add in
An example of the output from the skin can be seen at http://www.simonandmerith.com/diving-grenada2003/index.html although the images have been sized to be viewed with the menu I use, so it might look better if you click through from http://www.simonandmerith.com/ (ignore the missing images...I will fix them later). The images in this gallery have also been run through Photoshop to create the edges fading to black (again credit to Gilligan). I have this as an action if anyone wants it.
I would really like peoples views on this look and feel...and anything else. Personally I am happy with this process, but I appreciate everyones views are different, and I would am keen to get feedback.
If people are interested, I can make the skin, Photoshop actions and a small user guide available to download. I think all things being equal, we should call it the Gilligan web creation process Please acknowledge the authors of the Overlib script, EXIFER and JAlbum where possible, as they make their software available free of charge.
The idea is that you can very quickly and simply turn a group/directory of photos into a website, and have them display as much EXIF/Metadata as possible, automatically. I have tried a number of look and feels, and in the end concluded that Gilligan has it about right
In the end I opted for using the overlib script to display the EXIF information, but like Gilligan, I have made it appear when you mouse over a small camera icon, rather than over the photo. This way, you can view the images undisturbed, and only view the EXIF data if you wish to. I did try playing with getting the web page to write a cookie based on the users preference for seeing this information or not, but could not get it to work so gave it up.
As you will see from the gallery, you have to be very very careful when editing the images, as the vast majority of photo manipulation programs (including Photoshop CS) have a habit of losing EXIF data when you re-save the files. I spent a lot of time trying to find the best method for storing a name or description for the file. I tried a variety of methods, including naming the actual file, but in the end found that the most efficient way is to write a description to the file EXIF information. It might take a little longer, but I believe it is worth it, as once written to the EXIF data, it is permanently stored as part of the JPG, and can be read and used by a variety of applications. IMHO only use EXIFER to add additional information to the file, as other programs, including Photoshop CS destroy some or all of the data written by the camera (see the first 3 or 4 files in my Grenada gallery).
There is some error handling included as I extract the EXIF information. Essentially, if it finds the particular fiend, the script uses it and if it does not find it, the script displays "Not available". This is not perfect, as sometimes, like with the flash the EXIF data is blank if the flash is not fired. As a result the script returns not available, when perhaps it should read Not fired...I will work on this.
Some points of note about the skin...
- It has been setup to read certain EXIF data based on Canon maker notes. This can be very easily altered for other camera makes, such as Olympus et al
- The script reformats the focal length for 35mm equivilance...again this is specific for my Canon S400, but can be easily alerted for other cameras
- By default, the skin does not add the watermark showing copyright information, but this is trivial to add in
An example of the output from the skin can be seen at http://www.simonandmerith.com/diving-grenada2003/index.html although the images have been sized to be viewed with the menu I use, so it might look better if you click through from http://www.simonandmerith.com/ (ignore the missing images...I will fix them later). The images in this gallery have also been run through Photoshop to create the edges fading to black (again credit to Gilligan). I have this as an action if anyone wants it.
I would really like peoples views on this look and feel...and anything else. Personally I am happy with this process, but I appreciate everyones views are different, and I would am keen to get feedback.
If people are interested, I can make the skin, Photoshop actions and a small user guide available to download. I think all things being equal, we should call it the Gilligan web creation process
Please acknowledge the authors of the Overlib script, EXIFER and JAlbum where possible, as they make their software available free of charge.
