Date and time embossing on digital camera photos
 

I have quite a few photos taken off digital camera. I beleive all of them will have meta data such as date and time of photo taken.

Is there a good free software that can stamp the date & time onto the photos in a near-losessless way? All photos are in JPG format. I prefer a batch utility that can process multiple photos, and also it would be good if we can tweak the font of date & time.

Thanks.

It's not "software" exactly, but there is a free way to embed EXIF time stamp data into the photo itself... :cool:


Step 1: Install a "digital" themed font:

The required TTF files are in a ZIP file attached to this post. Unzip the file to C:\ or some other location that you remember. Then go to your Windows control panel, or to C:\WINDOWS\Fonts in Windows Explorer ("My Computer"), and install these new fonts. File > Install New Font...

Attachment 2510


Step 2: Install ImageMagick for Windows:

Download and install ImageMagick, a popular freeware utility that is used on web servers for resizing and adding watermarks to images. I've attached the current version of the standard installer to this post (the EXE is inside the RAR file). Or you can visit the official ImageMagick site for alternate download versions (x64, etc), or to get a more recent version.


Step 3: Test Script to Watermark Photo:


I suggest using copy/paste, not retyping it. Select the text with your mouse, right-click and copy. Go to Notepad and paste it, and then let's edit it:

• JPEG names: input.jpg and output.jpg. The input should match the name of the file you're starting with, and output should match the name of the new file to be created. These names should not match.
• Font size: The -pointsize 72 can be made larger or smaller, depending on how big/small it needs to be on the image. I suggest working in standardized multiples of 12 when trying out new font sizes: 36, 48, 60, 72, 84, 96 -- and then tweak by 2's or 4's from there.
• Location of timestemp: The +100+100 places the watermark 100 pixels in from the bottom and the right. Increases these numbers pushes the watermark more into the image. I would leave these at close to the edge as possible, so as not to overly interfere with the actual photograph.

Once you're done editing, copy it again. Then go to your command prompt box, right click and paste.


Step 4: Make a Batch Script:

Important: Be sure to copy your photos to a backup location before running this script.

Download the attached batch file (unRAR it first), and place the .BAT file inside the folder with your images. Note that it's easier to do one folder at a time, as opposed to trying to process multiple folders full of images, hence my directions here. Go to the folder in command prompt, by typing cd c:\folder, replacing "folder" with the name of the folder.

Type dtstamp adddt to run it.

For each file it finds, it asks Y-Yes, N-No, C-Cancel, and A-All. Answering "A" will cause all photos in current folder and its subfolders to be processed (noting that subfolders with spaces in the name may be skipped or halt the batch file with an error). Running it without the "adddt" option will show you only the files that will be affected but no files will be actually processed.

In the batch file, the point size for the font is automatically determined by the width of the photo so it may change from photo to photo. The location of the text is always at bottom left corner of the photo.

This was tested on Windows Vista, and may not work properly in Windows XP. It likely works in Windows 7, but that was also not tested. If you have problems, you may need to read the comment at the bottom of this article.


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There isn't really any "easy button" program with a GUI that I've come across to date. :2cents:

Thanks KP. Wil give it a try. I am never comfortable with command promt stuff though...

The older you get, and the deeper into tech you get, the more you'll find yourself scripting and use CLI (command line interface).
There's some things that still can't be done with mouse clicks in a GUI.
I have to rat around Linux SSH daily for server management, and it's pure command-line. There's no GUI even if I wanted one.

Just don't be scared. Like I always tell people, it's not like the computer's going to explode or punch you in the nose. :)

Let me know how this works for you.

Sure KP. I will ge back to you with results.