One thing I hate about my Mac

[quest4apple]

Okay, first of all, don't knock Mac OS for following standards. That's why they are standards, they are supposed to be followed. The problem is with the apps that don't. Incidentally, using the tags to rotate images instead of actually rotating the images is better as it is lossless rotation.

That being said, the obvious answer for you is to turn off the auto rotation feature of your camera. If you do that, Preview and every other program will display the image the same way. Applications that ignore the EXIF data will continue to ignore it and application like Preview that follow standards won't have the data to follow.

As for a program to quickly view and rotate them, I highly recommend you download and use Image Viewer. It is available here: http://www.astrok-software.com/en/imageviewer.html.

 

[patrickq]

Actually, we did.... just rotate the photos in preview, there should be a button on the top or one in the menus that says, "Rotate Left" or "Rotate Right" as three posters said before including me.

Maybe you are right, but I still think you're wrong, probably because you're not paying attention in the back row

Sure, I can rotate an image in Preview, then I can Save As, problem is when image is re-opened it is back in original position. Now, whatever you might like to say to defend Macs and putting it down to the inept ability of the user, it does not make sense, it is not intuitive. Image corrections are saved, so why not a simple command like rotate.

I was beginning to think I was imagining it, so have just checked, opened jpg, rotated left, saved as, re-opened, image still in original position.

Perehaps you'd like to read the rest of your post and realise that you demonstrated exactly the point I made in my comment to giyad

 

[Dustman]

Yeah I am going to make the leap pretty soon, but there should be a way to do this in 10.4 as well... Oh and Preview might have gone a step up in 10.5 but its still no Windows Picture and Fax Viewer... its such a simple program and does everything basic that you could possibly want when viewing an image! isn't there something like that for the mac? something basic that doesn't require a lot of memory

"JustLooking" 1.0 is like a clone (more or less) of Windows Picture and Fax Viewer. It rotates images like Windows, but to my knowledge its only until you quit the program.

 

[theLimit]

Sure, I can rotate an image in Preview, then I can Save As, problem is when image is re-opened it is back in original position.
I was beginning to think I was imagining it, so have just checked, opened jpg, rotated left, saved as, re-opened, image still in original position.

When you did Save As, did the Save As window have a checkbox for "Use Exif Orientation Tag"? I'm not sure if this is new to Leopard's version of Preview or if it was there all along. If it does have that checkbox, you need to uncheck that option to make Preview re-encode the JPEG. If the option is selected, Preview will just rewrite the tag and leave the picture data alone.

 

[patrickq]

One click through the help menu will tell you that the OP's problem is quite valid .......... If you want the image to appear rotated regardless of which application opens it, you'll need to open it in an application designed to save images for non-EXIF applications, rotate it, and save the image (with possible image quality loss)."

Congratulations

You have won first prize for answering the question, rather than wandering off aimlessly!

So, it appears that a third party app is definitely needed in Tiger - although I'm still wondering about the comment that xUKHCx made: Preview can rotate images. Just make sure that when you save, you use save as and deselect "Use Exif Tag orientation".

I use ImageWell to adjust images quickly for emailing and it does have a rotate command and it's free

 

[patrickq]

When you did Save As, did the Save As window have a checkbox for "Use Exif Orientation Tag"? I'm not sure if this is new to Leopard's version of Preview or if it was there all along. If it does have that checkbox, you need to uncheck that option to make Preview re-encode the JPEG. If the option is selected, Preview will just rewrite the tag and leave the picture data alone.

Unfortunately, there is no checkbox for this with my version of Tiger, so guess it is a Leopard modification.

Just been playing around and it seems that if you do the following you can save rotated image, it is somewhat long-winded, but guess it could be useful for a quick fix within Preview - looks like it changes size etc of image, so keep the original.

1. Open image in Preview
2. Rotate image
3. Save as PDF - image is now fixed as rotated
4. Save PDF as JPEG - image now opens as rotated

 

[Digital Skunk]

Maybe you are right, but I still think you're wrong, probably because you're not paying attention in the back row

Sure, I can rotate an image in Preview, then I can Save As, problem is when image is re-opened it is back in original position. Now, whatever you might like to say to defend Macs and putting it down to the inept ability of the user, it does not make sense, it is not intuitive. Image corrections are saved, so why not a simple command like rotate.

I was beginning to think I was imagining it, so have just checked, opened jpg, rotated left, saved as, re-opened, image still in original position.

Perehaps you'd like to read the rest of your post and realise that you demonstrated exactly the point I made in my comment to giyad

Actually, I just did it myself in Preview. What you say is complete wrong. Get your head out of your...... um... sorry. Got a little carried away like you did in your post.

You actually can save the image or do a save as and it will be rotated just fine. NO extra dialogues boxes. What the other guy said is more of what the OP is looking for.... but I can see you jumped on his bandwagon after posting this incorrect information.

Thanks for nothing

1. Open image in Preview
2. Rotate image
3. Save as PDF - image is now fixed as rotated
4. Save PDF as JPEG - image now opens as rotated

This is all unnecessary actually.

Calm down and learn how to multi-quote.... it's the little button with the quotation marks.

Welcome to MacRumors!!!!!

 

[patrickq]

Actually, I just did it myself in Preview. What you say is complete wrong. Get your head out of your...... um... sorry. Got a little carried away like you did in your post.

You actually can save the image or do a save as and it will be rotated just fine. NO extra dialogues boxes. What the other guy said is more of what the OP is looking for.... but I can see you jumped on his bandwagon after posting this incorrect information.

Thanks for nothing



This is all unnecessary actually.

Calm down and learn how to multi-quote.... it's the little button with the quotation marks.

Welcome to MacRumors!!!!!

You're not particularly pleasant are you! Thankfully there are other posters who want to help, rather than put down anyone who disagrees with them.

To clarify ...

the OP is using Tiger, which you stated you haven't used for a while, so if you've just done it were you using Tiger ... if not, why make a pointless comment ... if you have done so, then there is something strange going on, because my version won't do so, nor will that of the OP ... and apparently it isn't possible according to decksnap's post. So let's get to the bottom of this.

... and try not to denigrate my posting capabilities, I didn't realise one had to be fully qualified in every aspect of board posting before commenting, so good of you to be so welcoming!

 

[quest4apple]

Not that it matters, but again this boils down to the user's camera setting the auto rotation EXIF flag. Preview and most applications on the Mac recognize it. Some do not.

One of the OP's concerns was uploading photos oriented as portraits to the web and he specifically mentioned FLICKR. I don't know what other sites the OP uses, but FLICKR actually has a user defined preference that will honor the EXIF flag as well. So, if you take a "sideways" photo with your camera set to record the auto rotation flag, your camera will show it on the LCD as a portrait, Preview will show it as a portrait, and if you set your FLICKR preferences, FLICKR will also show it as a portrait. Perfect.

And remember, this is the best way to do it. If you use the tag, the image data is never touched, the software just alters the tag. If you don't use the tag, the software has to rearrange all of the pixels and re-compress and save the jpg. Each time you do that, you decrease the quality of the image. If you have the option, you want to use the tag.

Yes, it can be annoying when you come across a program that doesn't recognize the tag, but that is a price to pay for preserved image quality. As software evolves, more and more applications and website (Like flickr) will recognize the tag, and this will be a dead issue.

What should be annoying for all users, however, is that Apple's own mail doesn't recognize the tag. When using Tiger, I would have to rotate the image in Preview so that it looked side-up in Preview in order to get mail to open it correctly. That's when I found and started using the software I mentioned above. You would have thought that Apple would have fixed this in Leopard's mail . . . but they didn't.

 

[quest4apple]

Unfortunately, there is no checkbox for this with my version of Tiger, so guess it is a Leopard modification.

Just been playing around and it seems that if you do the following you can save rotated image, it is somewhat long-winded, but guess it could be useful for a quick fix within Preview - looks like it changes size etc of image, so keep the original.

1. Open image in Preview
2. Rotate image
3. Save as PDF - image is now fixed as rotated
4. Save PDF as JPEG - image now opens as rotated

If you care at all about preserving the quality of your image, please don't do this. There are much better ways. I have mentioned the loss of quality in resaving a jpg already, but that doesn't come close to what you will do in converting a jpg to a PDF and back to a JPG. Besides, it just doesn't make sense.

I used to have issues with this in Tiger because Apple's Mail didn't recognize the tags. If not using iPhoto, I would open the vertical image in Preview and rotate. It would then look "sideways" in Preview. If I saved it like that, it would open "sideways" in Preview and the icon in the Finder would also show it "sideways," but in Mail and other programs that don't recognize the tag it would look correct.

 

[quest4apple]

That's when I found and started using the software I mentioned above.

Actually, ImageViewerCM, though a good program, is not the one I thought it was. The one I meant to reference above was QuickImageCM, which I forgot sadly doesn't work on Intel machines.

ImageViewerCM is good for deleting photos quickly.
QuickImageCM was good for rotating. Photos would end up on their side in EXIF aware programs like Preview, but would email correctly in Mail.

Sorry about the confusion.

 

[giyad]

"JustLooking" 1.0 is like a clone (more or less) of Windows Picture and Fax Viewer. It rotates images like Windows, but to my knowledge its only until you quit the program.

So I talked to the developer of JustLooking and it seems there was a solution to this the whole time. JustLooking 3.1 has an option to view the image without EXIF rotation, at which point you can rotate and automatically save any changes. This is great, I know that you may lose a little quality, but from my experience this has been minimal, and at most times unnoticable. But, being able to adjust the physical image means no matter where you take it, it will look the way you want it to!

You're not particularly pleasant are you! Thankfully there are other posters who want to help, rather than put down anyone who disagrees with them.

... and try not to denigrate my posting capabilities, I didn't realise one had to be fully qualified in every aspect of board posting before commenting, so good of you to be so welcoming!

right on patrickq!

I used to have issues with this in Tiger because Apple's Mail didn't recognize the tags. If not using iPhoto, I would open the vertical image in Preview and rotate. It would then look "sideways" in Preview. If I saved it like that, it would open "sideways" in Preview and the icon in the Finder would also show it "sideways," but in Mail and other programs that don't recognize the tag it would look correct.

thats not very intuitive is it

 

[quest4apple]

thats not very intuitive is it

No, it's not, but it is a problem with Mail, not the OS. The OS handles the images the way it is supposed to and I wouldn't change it. As for Mail, I suspect it may be intentional to avoid resaving and recompressing the jpg, but it should be an option, perhaps located right next to the size image size drop down.

Anyway, I am glad you found a way to make it work the way you want it to.

 

[giyad]

Anyway, I am glad you found a way to make it work the way you want it to.

Thanks! And thanks to everyone that posted, yes, even you Digital Skunk !