- This topic has 36 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated Mar 19-9:31 am by mikey777.
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mikey777
I need to include digital photographs in a report, but they mustn’t have date-stamps on them. However, when the photos were taken, a date/time stamp was applied to the bottom right-hand side of each one (click on attached photo to see date-stamp), using the date-time stamp camera setting. Is there a simpler way of removing the date-stamp, other than cutting out the date-stamp itself and pasting-in a similar background to fill the empty space left behind, e.g. instead, could this be done by removing relevant metadata from the digital file? If so, how is this done?
Many thanks in advance for any help on this.
- This topic was modified 2 months, 1 week ago by mikey777.
- This topic was modified 1 month, 2 weeks ago by Brian Masinick. Reason: [SOLVED]
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▪ 32-bit antix19.4-core+LXDE installed on :
- (2011) Samsung NP-N145 Plus (JP04UK) – single-core CPU Intel Atom N455@1.66GHz, 2GB RAM, integrated graphics.
▪ 64-bit antix21-base+LXDE installed on:
- (2008) Asus X71Q (7SC002) – dual CPU Intel T3200@2.0GHz, 4GB RAM. Graphics: Intel Mobile 4 Series, integrated graphics
- (2007) Packard Bell Easynote MX37 (ALP-Ajax C3) – dual CPU Intel T2310@1.46GHz, 2GB RAM. Graphics: Silicon Integrated Systems.PPC
You can do it using several ways:
1- Open the picture on an application that can edit images – cut the main part of the image, leaving out the time stamp, open a new file on the image editor program, past the image and save it under a new file name.
2- Open the picture on an app that can edit images – draw a black square over the time stamp
3- Use software that removes elements from images, I think there are on-line web services that do that – and choose to remove the time stamp (ex: https://picwish.com/remove-unwanted-object ).I would go for the first option myself. You can’t probably do it using mtPaint, included, out of the box with antix full.
– Try installing “drawing”, available in the repository, then it’s simple:
– Use your file manager to open the target file with “drawing” > Click “rectangle selection” on the left toolbar > select the image, leaving out the timestamp > right click your selection and select “Copy” > Click the “new image” menu on the top left > “New image from selection” > Save the new image (button on the top right of the toolbar). End result is attached. It takes less than 1 minute per picture…Edit: the time stamp is part of the image, it has nothing to do with meta-data. Time stamped meta-data would be, for example – inside file “proprieties”, or part of the file name itself. In your example, the date is as part of the image as it would be if the picture included a calendar and a clock on the lower corner…
P.
- This reply was modified 2 months, 1 week ago by PPC.
- This reply was modified 2 months, 1 week ago by PPC.
- This reply was modified 2 months, 1 week ago by PPC.
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punranger
Like PPC says, the stamp is a part of the image, although it was created FROM metadata.
Editing the images manually can be time-consuming, depending on how complex the image is, what you want to do with the time-stamp, and how many images you got. GIMP has a learning curve, but it’s free and contains several advanced tools to do the job.
antiX linux: The best way to revive an old computer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCTaUAP6sSg
techore
GIMP has a learning curve, but it’s free and contains several advanced tools to do the job.
I’ve used gimp and resynthesizer to remove time stamps in the past. However, the python2 dependencies is a non-starter for Debian Bullseye+ package installs.
If you do not find a satisfactory solution and want to give gimp and resynthesizer a try, I would recommend exploring flatpaks or using a virtual machine with a distro release that has python2. If using a flatpak for gimp and resynthesizer, you may need to install a older flatpak version of gimp.
Video demonstrating resynthesizer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_s0pL7iKp4Source repo
https://github.com/bootchk/resynthesizerFlatpak
https://flatpak.org/setup/Debianflatpak install flathub org.gimp.GIMP.Plugin.Resynthesizer
- This reply was modified 2 months, 1 week ago by techore.
resynthesizer
Nice – I thought I knew GIMP could somehow remove elements from pictures, but I had no idea the name of the required plug-in (nor how to search for it). I guess it does locally and in a dull open source way what the website I provided above does. I have a FOSS tool that removes backgrounds from pictures (I made a post about it, recently). It would be nice to have a tool, ready out of the box, that does the same, removing elements from pictures- I know of none (then again, I haven’t looked that hard). Probably removing elements and backgrounds from pictures are some of the most common editions people want to do to pictures, and GIMP is a bit of overkill, both for users and system resources… (but I use it a lot)
P.
techore
It would be nice to have a tool, ready out of the box,
Agreed.
In theory, you could just use “blur” but I doe not believe it will work well for this scenario.
The issue with resynthesizer is it is not maintained, otherwise, it would be updated for use with python3 and part of the Debian gimp plugin package. I believe it was included with gimp plugin package at one point. Not positive.
In the absence of resynthesizer or a tool like it, I would either crop the image to remove the time stamp or copy a background section and paste over it. The latter would be obvious if less obvious then a black mask over the time stamp. Suggestions you guys already provided.
mikey777
Thanks guys, for reading my post and taking the time to reply – much appreciated.
@PPC
Yes, this was the important bit – I suspected the time-stamp might not be open to editing through the image file metadata, but was unsure – many thanks for confirming this.@techore
Yes, I’d also thought of resynthesizer, as I’d seen it being demonstrated on youtube, but was unable to install it in antix21, which was probably due to the reason you gave. What earlier version of antix would you recommend I try to get resynthesizer installed and working? The difficulty with cropping out the time-stamp, at least for some photos, is that I’d delete some important bits of the image.@punranger
I think in future, the solution for me is to take two photos for each image: one with and one without the camera’s time-stamp setting activated.- This reply was modified 1 month, 3 weeks ago by mikey777.
- This reply was modified 1 month, 3 weeks ago by mikey777.
- This reply was modified 1 month, 3 weeks ago by mikey777.
▪ 32-bit antix19.4-core+LXDE installed on :
- (2011) Samsung NP-N145 Plus (JP04UK) – single-core CPU Intel Atom N455@1.66GHz, 2GB RAM, integrated graphics.
▪ 64-bit antix21-base+LXDE installed on:
- (2008) Asus X71Q (7SC002) – dual CPU Intel T3200@2.0GHz, 4GB RAM. Graphics: Intel Mobile 4 Series, integrated graphics
- (2007) Packard Bell Easynote MX37 (ALP-Ajax C3) – dual CPU Intel T2310@1.46GHz, 2GB RAM. Graphics: Silicon Integrated Systems.techore
@techore
Yes, I’d also thought of resynthesizer, as I’d seen it being demonstrated on youtube, but was unable to install it in antix21, which was probably due to the reason you gave. What earlier version of antix would you recommend I try to get resynthesizer installed and working? The difficulty with cropping out the time-stamp, at least for some photos, is that I’d delete some important bits of the image.I’ve not needed to do this in a very long time, but I believe Debian 10 and distros based on Debian 10 support python2. You may need to investigate the use of virtualenv, too. I wish that I could be more help but my memory isn’t what it used to be. It can be done, however, so don’t give up.
techore
Found this on stackexchange doing a quick google.
https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/577058/install-virtualenv-for-python2-7-on-debian-10
Robin
What earlier version of antix would you recommend I try to get resynthesizer installed and working?
Try antiX 19.5 full ISO, this is buster based (Debian 10).
It was updated only one year ago. Make sure to run$ sudo apt-get update $ sudo apt-get upgradeto make sure to get most recent security updates after installation, and also for Live usage. On Live this might require a live remaster from antiX control center, in case there are that many packages to be updated your amount of available RAM can’t take in a single run, to split the upgrade into multiple chunks. (Debian 10 buster is “oldstable” currently, which means it gets still security updates, so you can use it safely for everyday usage. If you need more recent features in some programs, you might succeed whith activating the backport repos and check what is provided there.)
Windows is like a submarine. Open a window and serious problems will start.
Probably most folks won’t be happy about me pointing out this: resynthesizer git’s suggests installing GIMP in flatpak format and then the extensions in flatpak – so I guess that should make resynthesizer easily available.
techore
True, I dislike flatpak, snap, docker, and similar application virtualization or container solutions for a variety of reasons, but they do have their place.
This is an example where a flatpak could shine, however, I believe you must use an older version of a gimp flatpak without dependencies on python3. Not done it myself but I am observing folks running into the gimp+python2 challenges with the newer versions of gimp flatpaks. And, you still have to meet the python2 dependency as well.
For myself, it is easier to simply create a Debian 10 or antiX 19 virtual machine and complete the task. I have the good fortune of having several laptops, but that not true for everyone.
In the end, whatever works for you, right?
Firstly: many thanks for making me aware this tool exists in gimp. I was not aware of this, and it’s great to know you can do content aware healing not merely with photoshop on apple or windows.
So I’ve checked on antiX 19.5, and it works fine out of the box. But meanwhile I run antiX 22 and 23. This made me experiment a bit, and yes! Success.
You can have the heal-selection and heal-transparency tools from resynthesize in gimp on antiX 21, 22 and 23 also.
(Checked on antiX 22 full 32bit and antX 23 full 64bit)
You simply need to install some outdated python2 packages from current oldstable repository on your system.
sudo leafpad /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.listadd the following line to your sources:
deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/ buster main contrib non-free non-free-firmwareBe warned! Check this out on a LIVE system first, booted without persistence first to understand what actually happens to your system. You might easily damage your installation that way. But, at least for me it works meanwhile without any issues on the above mentioned installations. No need for flatpacks.
sudo apt-get updatesudo apt-get purge python-is-python3
(this will remove droopy-antix package as well, but who needs a web server?)sudo dpkg-divert --package python3-numpy --divert /usr/bin/f2py-buster --rename /usr/bin/f2py
(this is needed on antiX 23, since python3 has installed the very file already and owns it, blocking this way installation of python2. We need to redirect the file, and keep the one that was installed already. This step is not needed on antiX 22. Check whether the file /usr/bin/f2py is present on your system beforehand and decide based on the findings.)sudo apt-get install python-gtk2 gimp-python gimp-plugin-registry=9.20180625
(this will install the plugin package version still containing the code for the very resynthesize scripts in question, which have been removed on later debian packages)Check the output of all above commands for errors. Before accepting to start by pressing y, make sure, that not your half system will get removed, in this case say no! It might be a good idea to check out before, using the –simulate option in the apt commands. But since you are on Live, nothing can happen. In case of trouble just reboot, and everything will be back to normal.
Important: After finishing the installation, remove the additional entries from your sources and update the apt database:
sudo leafpad /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list
remove the following line you had added before from the file:deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/ buster main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
save the file and reset your local copy of apt database:sudo apt-get clean sudo apt-get updateYou’re done. Start gimp. The entries “heal selection” and “heal transparency” etc. should be back again.
Rant: (skip it if you feel like) What do the debian people think to remove important tools like that from gimp !? It’s really bad practise to remove something before there is any equivalent replacement ready for use. Have seen this in a couple of other debian packages meanwhile. All of a sudden you stand with empty hands after an update when you need to work with it. In one major version of debian they are present, and when you update to the next version you’ll notice they have been uninstalled or fail since they have set some dependencies to deprecated. And then again, in the next but one version they are back all of a sudden again. So you have to wait some years before you can work again on your system the way you need it? What the heck?
All this is a no-go for users who need to rely on having the programs and tools they have installed available after system update still. And there is no way around constant system upgrade, since the older versions stop being supported, don’t get security updates anymore, they call it EOL simply. This causes constant unreliability of Linux, and this is an important factor forcing people to use windows or other proprietary software instead. I don’t believe, that an important tool like this heal selection function could ever get removed from e.g. Photoshop all of a sudden, without equivalent replacement. That’s the situation described from users perspective, not from developers point of view, who have other precedences of what counts.Back to the make-it-work process itself:
The most important part is: All missing packages needed and expected by recent debian version of gimp (2.10.22 or 2.10.34, depending whether we talk about antiX 21/22 or antiX 23) to run the plugins can be installed without removing any other packages, even on antiX 23 when adding them from the current oldstable repository (buster), so this is not a big deal. This method will not work for gimp 3.x (starting with 2.99).Further reading about gimp transition from deprecated python 2 to python 3:
https://github.com/bootchk/resynthesizer/wiki/Resynthesizer-and-GIMP-version-3
https://github.com/bootchk/GimpFu-v3/blob/master/readme.mdAs soon gimp 3 hits the debian repos, you’ll have to remove this dirty workaround.
sudo apt-get purge python-gtk2 gimp-python gimp-plugin-registry sudo dpkg-divert --package python3-numpy --rename --remove /usr/bin/f2py sudo apt-get autoremove sudo apt-get install python-is-python3 droopy-antixAnd then install gimp 3 along with the by then new resythesizer plugins, on debian it’s found in the package gimp-plugin-registry usually.
Windows is like a submarine. Open a window and serious problems will start.
techore
@Robin, nicely done!
Regarding the rant, I hear you. I suspect it was dropped due to it being python2 and python2 was end-of-life. I’ve had a number of tools that were removed from the repos due to having python2 dependencies. Frustrating, but if it is unmaintained, then it makes sense, too.
Brian Masinick
I know all of this stuff is frustrating, but I do remember when Python 2 was still around and the Python 3 code was out.
For quite a while various teams were asking people to migrate their work to Python 3 AND indicate if there were any problems or issues
while doing so. Debian held on to Python 2 well after Python 3 was available, and I don’t remember many people commenting about anything
prior to its final removal.The lesson learned is that people have to pay attention to change; if it affects them they need to either speak up or change software.
Clearly the Gimp project did little, if anything during this change, but it may have been the Debian Gimp maintainer OR the lack of
proper communication with the Gimp team; either way, it was lack of communication, planning, and change.--
Brian Masinick
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