How to put photo images in a Presentation List

[Remco Viëtor]

On lundi 8 janvier 2018 01:46:59 CET lachenmaier wrote:
> I am just an amateur photograph (and amateur user of Digikam and Xubuntu
> 17.04).  My main use for a photo manager is to build a presentation to show
> my friends.  For example, a presentation of our latest Africa trip.  I may
> also need to doctor up some of my photos a little.  In addition, I would
> like my presentations NOT to be complete copies of my original photos, but
> just a list of photos taken from my photo database.  I picked DigiKam,
> because it was recommended as the best photo manager for Linux, and it
> allows creating a list of photos to be included in a presentation without
> copying the photo.  However, I am finding that the "work flow" to creating
> a presentation list is incredibly awkward.  I am hoping somebody can tell
> me of a different "work flow" that will be less awkward.
> 
> To add a photo to my Presentation List I go through the following steps:
> Scan thru photos using Preview mode until I find a photo I want to include.
> Click on Image Editor to see if I want to doctor up the photo a little.  I
> often use Color>Auto Correction. Maybe go to Light Table and compared the
> doctored image to the original to see if I want to keep it. If in Light
> Table go back to Image Editor.
> Click on OK. 
> Click on "Save as New Version".
> Click on the DigiKam main window to go back to Preview mode.
> Put my cursor on the Thumbnail in Preview mode and wait 3 or 4 seconds for
> the Properties window to pop up so I can find the file name of the photo I
> want to add to the presentation list.  For some reason file names, while
> listed in Thumbnail mode are not listed in Preview mode, and putting my
> cursor on the large selected image won't bring up the Properties window.
> Pull down the View menu and select Presentation.  A thumbnail of the photo
> I want to add is now in the Presentation window. Click "Load a Saved List"
> to bring up a window that allows me to select the file, which contains the
> Presentation List I am building. Double click on the Presentation List file
> name.  The old list, plus the photo I am adding, is now in the Presentation
> window. Click on the "Save List" button in the Presentation window.
> Select the same Presentation List file that I am building.
> Click Save.
> Click on "Yes", when the message "Another test presentation already exists. 
> Do you want to replace it?" Click the Close button to close the
> Presentation Window.
> Repeat the 16 steps above for the next photo that I want to put in the
> Presentation List. Does anybody have a better "Work Flow" for building a
> Presentation List.  If so I would appreciate you describing it!!!!

First, in such cases I don't add each photo individually to the presentation, 
but I work in several steps:
1 - In the Digikam main view, cycle through the series of images and *mark* 
the ones susceptible to be included in the presentation. Basically this /
rejects/ all images that are of insufficient quality (out of focus,wrong 
exposure, bad composition, ...), no consideration is given to storyline or 
length of the presentation.
If you double-click on an image in the main window, it will be shown large, 
and you can navigate to the next or previous image with mouse or keyboard 
without needing the thumbnail view. 
For marking you could use rating (Ctrl-1..Ctrl-5), or pick labels 
(Alt-0..Alt-3). As you don't leave the large view, this step is rather fast.

2 - Filter out the rejected images, and (still in single-image view) edit 
those of the selected images that need it (note that I don't edit in Digikam). 

3 - Select the images to be included in the presentation (in thumbnail view) 
and save that selection. This allows me to see all the images I want to use 
and already think about the story line, and keep an eye on the number of 
images in the presentation. 

Note that with this workflow you don't need to remember the filename of any 
image (eliminates your step 8 completely) and you don't need to reload the 
future presentation for every image (your steps 10-15 get replaced by one save 
operation).

Reasoning: I prefer dealing with one thing at the time: 
1- is this image good enough to be included? No consideration of storyline or 
length of the presentation at this time.
2- edit images, where I look at getting the best result per image
3- create the final presentation, again using labels (I often use a color label 
in this stage, or a tag if I think I'll need the selection more often). 

Basically, this replaces your steps 8-16 by just one activation of the 
presentation dialog.

Hope this helps,

Remco