It's not "software" exactly, but there is a free way to embed EXIF time stamp data into the photo itself...
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...
digital-font-image.jpg
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:
Go to the command prompt (DOS). This can be done by finding the icon in the start menu -- or by simply going to
Start > Run, typing in
cmd, and either hitting ENTER or clicking OK. It'll bring up the "little black box", as one clueless ISP tech support once told me.
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You'll want to run a variation of this script...
Code:
convert input.jpg -font Digital-7-Italic -pointsize 72 -fill white -annotate +100+100 %[exif:DateTimeOriginal] output.jpg
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.