Tiff rotation, file scanning

[Aubrey]

I've been scanning slides, to tiff format.
I want to horizontally rotate (mirror) - I know it's not directly available for tiff so I used the following exif command:
-orientation#=2
# blank sets no rotation
# 1 = Horizontal (normal)
# 2 = Mirror horizontal
# 3 = Rotate 180
# 4 = Mirror vertical
# 5 = Mirror horizontal and rotate 270 CW
# 6 = Rotate 90 CW
# 7 = Mirror horizontal and rotate 90 CW
# 8 = Rotate 270 CW
-overwrite_original
{Files}

When I look at file in an external viewer (faststone image viewer) image is mirrored.
IMatch does not pick up this mirroring  neither in viewer or in slideshow - I've applied force update. 

I know that this exif command has worked in the past with CW rotation; however even this does not seem to work now.

On looking in the "output" panel under exif, no text appears when executing the command.

suggestions?

Aubrey.

[Mario]

I just tried this and it works just fine.
Made a copy of a TIFF, applied the rotation via ExifTool Command Processor. IMatch reloads the TIFF and it is now horizontally flipped.

I don't see a reason why this could not work, unless ExifTool reported a problem in the ECP after you applied the command?

[Aubrey]

No, nothing written in ECP. Appeared to run correctly.
I appreciate you checking, now I've got to workout what's wrong with my setup    I have already spent about an hour on it). I rescanned the few slides that were wrong, but I still want to get to the bottom of what's wrong in my system.

Thanks,
Aubrey.

[Mario]

Did you use List Metadata with the ECP and check if the orientation is correct?

[Aubrey]

As a sanity check, I have rotated some NEF files, rotation is done correctly.

An example scanned file (attached comes from Epson V550) scanned in landscape  format
I have applied a rotation of 270 deg. CW (i.e. orientation 8 in exif) to obtain a portrait view.

I listed the metadata orientation is being correctly inserted.
Also checked with metadata analysis app confirming orientation 8.

[IFD0]          Orientation                    : Rotate 270 CW
[XMP-tiff]      Orientation                    : Rotate 270 CW

With faststone viewer shows up in Portrait (correctly)
With Microsoft Photo Viewer and Microsoft Photos, shows up in landscape mode.
In IMatch shows in landscape... it should have been rotated to portrait.

Any ideas?

Aubrey.

[Mario]

This is what I see:



The image shows in portrait orientation.

[Aubrey]

I was not getting rotation last evening. i.e, not Portrait view.

I loaded file in a new database and file appeared in portrait.

Think I have found my error this morning: I was not always writing metadata back to database after exif rotation change. If I write back to database and then view orientation issue disappears and the image appears correctly. 

However it's interesting that if I then make another change (should not be needed, but testing to understand), then these do NOT require a writeback to database to see the change in Panel view.  

Anyway, I've now got a workflow to manipulate the image after scanning using Epson that works for me.

Thanks again
Aubrey.

[Mario]

When you make changes to a file with the ECP, IMatch will automatically re-import it - this is mandatory to get the potentially modified metadata back into the database. Do you have perhaps metadata protection enabled?

Instead of using the ECP, you can just change the XMP (not EXIF) orientation tag directly in the Metadata Panel (use the Browser layout or add the tag to a layout of your choice):



After writing back, IMatch re-imports the metadata and rotates the image according to the orientation you have set.
Beats using the ECP with cryptic numbers.

[Aubrey]

Thank you for the suggestion.
Aubrey.

[Damit]

I was unaware that I could rotate .tiff files in IMatch.  Every time I try the program tells me it can only do it with jpegs.  How does one rotate .tiffs?  I searched the help but could not find anything that would explain this.

[Mario]

There was one reported problem where a TIFF file (when I recall correctly) was damaged by applying the JPEG rotation command.

Since wrongly rotated images are so rare these days and the command worked on JPEG always without a problem, I limited the legacy rotate command to JPEG files only.

You can always rotate TIFF files in any image editor without loss (keep in mind that many low-end image editors cause problems with metadata).

Or you just use a Virtual Rotation in IMatch. Always lossless. Works for all file formats.

Or you use the Metadata Panel to dial in the orientation you need for the XMP orientation tag and then write back.

Or you use the ECP to directly edit the EXIF and XMP orientation tag in your files.

I encounter wrong orientation very rarely. And when, I correct it in the initial RAW => standard image file format processing.

[Damit]

Or you use the Metadata Panel to dial in the orientation you need for the XMP orientation tag and then write back.

Took a while to figure it out, but thank you. I chose this method. I love the fact that I can just change the orientation in the metadata and not touch the image.

[Mario]

I love the fact that I can just change the orientation in the metadata and not touch the image.

That's what the EXIF orientation tag was designed for.
Unfortunately, a RAW can theoretically have 3 different orientations (thumbnail, preview, Bayer data), some applications don't support EXIF orientation or wrongly, some WIC codecs have sometimes difficulties to figure out the orientation etc.
But when it works, it works.