I don’t really “need this”, but if I want to reverse an image, to get a mirror image, either horizontally or vertically, I wish I could do this in PhotoLab - one less reason why I still need access to Photoshop.
If there already is a trick way of doing it, please let me know how.
I think this is already covered below
If you mean the Geometry palette in PhotoLab 4, I don’t see the things you’re referring to.
I also bought DxO Viewpoint - is that where I should be looking?
If PhotoLab has a menu where you can rotate the image one way or another, that’s where I would expect to find this, but since I can’t find even a rotation adjustment, I’ve been using the “Horizon” tool to rotate images.
Hi Mike
The rotation is not in a palette, but in the top menu Image:
help-photolab4.dxo.com/ en/ menus-and-preferences-microsoft-windows
There are keyboard shortcuts to rotate 90 degrees left and right.
That’s good, but it doesn’t help me much. If the image is horizontal, and it should be vertical, I can correct that.
For lesser amounts, by using the “horizon” tool as many times as necessary, I can rotate the image. I like the way Lightroom does it - if you click outside of the crop area, it changes to ROTATE, and you can twist the image at will. So all of that I’ve figured out ways of getting what I need.
But, I took a mirror photo of myself, holding a camera. Naturally both I, and my camera, are now flipped, just like looking at anything in a mirror. I would rather the camera look “normal” even though the I would now be a mirror image of myself. The only way I know to do it as of today, is to sent the image off to Photoshop.
Other updates are probably far more important than this, if it’s not already done, but it sounds like something that should be available in the ViewPoint program, even if it isn’t in PhotoLab.
Mirroring is basic. I do not think it should be in Viewpoint, as it specializes in perspective corrections.
There is no trick to flip images that PhotoLab understands. Other apps do, but not PhotoLab.
The EXIF tag 0x0112 “Orientation” can be changed in order to tell an app to flip an image. PhotoLab does not properly react to this tag though.
I haven’t tried it yet, but this may be a quick way of doing it. You end up with another file, but it can be flipped vertically or horizontally:
The free app Picture Window Pro 8 can flip and rotate.
At the bottom of the page, he mentions Windows and Android. Does this program work on a Mac computer? If so, this might be a nice, clean, simple solution until it gets included in PL.
Unfortunately anything like this creates a new file which will no longer be RAW. Until DxO gets around to implementing flipping, the best, native and free, way to do this on a Mac is to finish all editing apart from flipping, then export to jpeg or tiff and use the macOS Preview app to flip it.
I read it runs on Parallels windows environment. I do not use mac products.
Alternatively you could use Gimp
If the macOS “Preview” app can do this (I didn’t know it before), as far as I’m concerned what you wrote will be my plan from now on. No need to download or install anything else. Thank you - perfect solution.
Viewpoint is a perspective correction tool not an image orientation tool.
Mark
Nice workaround, thanks.
I’d add something though: Don’t crop your image until its flipped. Depending on what is in your image, the balance of the image changes when flipped and might need a slightly different crop. Perception of balance (and composition) differs e.g. between left- and righ-handers, your mileage may vary…
I hadn’t thought about that, but I know for a fact you are right.
Balance - I tried to explain to a friend of mine in India how this works, but I couldn’t. It’s just something I “felt”, so I crop until the photo isn’t too heavy one one side or the other. But how to define “heavy”. I have my own problems with this - I can crop an image until I’m happy, then come back to it later, and find I need to adjust it some more.
Switching it right to left - I bet you’re right.
Whatever I do about 'balance", I often close my eyes most of the way, so all I see in the image is shapes, and then I can adjust the balance better.
Balance and composition - maybe I should try adjusting this in a regular image, then flip it, so I see what’s really there, not what my brain expects to see. Or easier yet, I could look at my images while looking at them through a mirror.
This thing we’re talking about - “balance” - does anyone know of an article describing how we do this? If something looks “balanced” for one person, will others feel the same way?
I know the eye needs to be led into the photo, to the appropriate spot. That probably depends on “balance” too.
You can go by feel and you can read about it… You’ll probably find books about composition from a few hundred years ago. Best search for composition in painting and drawing or check out a good library where they have real books. Also look at things that come out of various times und cultures…
Rules of thirds, golden ratio etc, are old concepts developed in Europe and elsewhere a long time ago and different cultures have come up with similar and different concepts too. Reading from right to left or top to bottom etc. wires a brain differently etc. What looks pleasing can differ because of many things that influence perception, we’re really opening up a wide field.
As for starters, trust your own feeling and check if the feeling is the same if an image is flipped.
Step away from the screen every now and then, as the old folks did when painting.
In PL6, when I select Geometry from Palettes, nothing happens. I can find no way to add mirror reflections. How do I do this?
Mirror image, otherwise known as the flip feature is part of Viewpoint 4. The feature is available from within PhotoLab 6 but you need a Viewpoint 4 license to unhide it. Once unhidden, you can access this feature using the Orientation sub menu of the Image menu or by using the mouse context menu and selecting Orientation. There are no keyboard shortcuts for this feature. Both my examples are from the Windows version.
Mark
Image Menu
Mouse Context Menu
