possible (tedious) fix for sideways images (mac only)

[neophyte]

hi, many of you know that the images posted on this forum often end up sideways. I think I may have found a work-around for mac-users... I don't know if this is just something that works on my end but I found that if I open up the image using Preview and rotate the image four times (so that it ends up back in the original orientation), the image appears upright when I post it. I always post pictures that are taken with my iphone and transferred to my laptop, so I think somehow the transfer between iphone/mac confuses orchidboard, and editing/modifying (edits other than rotation possibly work as well??) the image on the lapotop fixes the issue. Does this work for anyone else? Is there an easier fix? Also, for those of you who have the same sideways-picture problem, do you all take pictures with smartphones or actual cameras? And if you are using smartphones, are you using Apple products?

[Roberta]

All my pix go through Photoshop, even only to resize/crop. Those "processed" files always end up with the correct orientation. (This works with freebie editing software like Irfanview too) Raw phone images are often sideways. So something about even minimal processing and saving seems to correct the metadata to what the OB software expects. (I have found a similar effect with a resizing program that I use for one of the websites that I maintain and get photos from other people... I'd rather do a batch resizing, but I'll get some photos that look fine on the PC screen that get tipped by my web editor... square photos especially. I run the offenders through Photoshop... open and save, and they're fixed) So it's not just Orchid Board that has the issue.

[neophyte]

Thanks Roberta. I agree -- maybe the trick is just to process the photo in some way (via Photoshop, Preview, or any photo editor application) before posting...

[SouthPark]

In photoshop or the free "paint.net" package, I usually have to resize regular images down to a width of 1024 pixels. And I resize 'tall' images to a height of 1024 pixels.

When these resized images are uploaded, the OrchidBoard website not only reduces my 1024 pixels (width or height) to 1023 pixels, but it also removes more image information by further compressing the image. I don't actually mind that, but have noticed it. What happens is - the further compression does reduce the image quality a bit. Not always noticeable. But sometimes can be noticeable.

I originally assumed that - as long as the filesize doesn't exceed some allowed limit, then the uploaded image file would remain as-is, the original memory size at the time of upload. However, you will notice that if you upload say a 200 kilobyte image, then the final size after upload will be less than 200 kb, due to the extra compression or processing done within OrchidBoard.

[Ray]

Starting back with IOS 5-something, Apple writes the image orientation to the EXIF data. Some software doesn't read EXIF data.

[WaterWitchin]

I take pictures only with my iPhone. If I want to assure they're correctly oriented, I download to my PC (not a Mac) open in PhotoGallery, rotate it once and back (regardless of how it's oriented), rotate to correct orientation if it isn't already, then upload. Tedious, yes. But I don't like to look at sideways photos.

[rbarata]

I take photos with my android, download to my computer (I have a chronological photo database for my orchids), preview them with windows img preview, correct the orientation if needed, then upload to the photo host provider of my choice. They're then ready to use.
Basically the same procedure as WaterWitchin.

[SpclK]

Today, I found an even better way to fix pictures rotated sideways than what I previously posted in this thread.

Go to Finder and look for the picture you want to upload and double click the file; Preview will then display the picture. Click on the icon which has a curved arrow pointing towards the left over a small rectangle; this icon is next to the toolbox icon. Click the icon until you have the picture pointing up in the desired direction. Doing this should take care of the sideways picture.

Should you want to make any changes to the picture, e.g. adjust color, draw arrows or a circle, write something, etc., click on the toolbox and a toolbar pops up below the toolbox. You can change the size of the picture by clicking on the icon which has a rectangle with arrows pointing towards corners which are diagonally opposite of each other. You're given the choice to change the width and length of the picture in inches or pixels, e.g. 4in x 6in or 400 x 533 pixels, and also change how many pixels per inch. It will tell you how many kb the file was and how many it is now. Make any changes to the picture then click the red button in the upper left corner of the window to exit the picture. Next, follow SouthPark's instructions to upload the picture to your post.

[rbarata]

Go to Finder and look for the picture you want to upload and double click the file; Preview will then display the picture. Click on the icon which has a curved arrow pointing towards the left over a small rectangle; this icon is next to the toolbox icon. Click the icon until you have the picture pointing up in the desired direction. Doing this should take care of the sideways picture.

Exactly what I said.

[Ray]

If I’m not mistaken, not all image files contain EXIF data, png being one. So, if you have an editing program, orient it right and save it as a png and you should be good to go.