HowTo: Photo orientation issue

Many users have commented they can't seem to get photos to appear here in the correct orientation. Here's why. When you take a photo with any recent camera part of the photo file is what is called EXIF data. One of the bits of data in there is orientation info. That info says what corner of the photo is the anchor point of the photo. IOW, if you take the photo with your phone camera the anchor point is the right top of the screen regardless of which direction you're holding the phone. When you take a photo holding the camera turned left at horizontal the anchor point is now Top left. Here is a screen shot of the EXIF data for the first photo below.



What happens, and what causes frustration, is the photo program you are using, and Windows folder icon displays, will turn the photo so the top of the photo is shown at the top.

Here are 4 photos I just took with my phone with the top end of the camera at top, at left, at bottom, at right. The anchor point for the 4 photos is: Right top, Top left, Left bottom, and Bottom right.



What the forum software does is read where in the photo the anchor point is, and then ALWAYS puts the anchor point at the left top corner when it is posted here. Most, if not all, photo viewing and editing programs on your PC or phone or tablet will automatically orient the photo when you look at it so that the top of the photo is at the top. That's why you can't tell, looking at the photo, what its actual orientation is with respect to the camera when you took the photo. What adds to the problem is the forum software does not use the same corner of the photo for the default anchor point that a camera does. I don't know, but all cameras may not use the upper right corner of the phone, when holding it vertical, as the default anchor point.

Go to the next post to see how to fix the problem.

Now here are the 4 photos after I saved them to a different filename. Doing that creates a new file and in the process the anchor point is now set to Top left. The forum software displays each photo with the anchor point at the top left without regard to how your camera was oriented when you shot the photo.



So, in short you MUST make sure the anchor point of your photo is always in the Top left corner. The ONLY way to do that is to be looking at it in your photo software as you want it to be posted, and save it as a new file. In some cases saving without changing the filename may work. I just did it on the first photo using PaintShop Pro.

The question is, who isn't following established standards or practices, the forum software or camera makers? I'm guessing camera makers since it seems the default anchor corner is top left for photo programs and the forum.

Now, since I'm not a 100% Windows expert, and don't know diddly about iOS, if someone knows of another way to accomplish the relocation of the anchor point, please post it here.

Anthony, feel free to edit this information or maybe even make it a sticky!

Did open them in a photo program, make sure they were upright, and then save with the new name? That should have done it unless your photo program doesn't change the orientation info. What photo program do you use?

If you're using Windows download Irfanview and try it. It's a good program for viewing and minor editing of photos and is free. You can use the image information option in it to see the EXIF data.

I admit, this whole issue of top, left, bottom, etc., can be confusing! In fact I just had to repeat some photos because I was even beginning to wonder did I give the instructions properly? Here's a suggestion.

Hold your phone vertically, with the home button at the bottom. Now, put a mark of some sort at the top right corner of the screen. This is the camera's physical anchor point for ALL the pictures you take. It does not change. Take a photo. The EXIF info will show orientation as Right top, i.e., the physical anchor point of the camera is in the right top corner of the photo.

Now, hold the camera horizontal, or landscape, with the home button to the right. You will see your mark is now in the top left corner of the screen, i.e. in the upper left corner of your PHOTO when you click the shutter. Now the EXIF data says the camera physical anchor corner is in the Top left corner of the photo. You got this now?

Now, when you post the first picture where the EXIF data says the camera's physical corner is at the Right top corner of the photo, the forum software grabs the anchor point of the photo and puts it in the left top corner of the photo as displayed in the post. To do that it rotates the photo 90° CCW. Now post the second photo. Because the camera anchor point is at the Top left corner of the photo the forum s/w grabs the photo, says, "Ah, the anchor is already at the top left so no rotation is needed."

Open the photo in a photo program and make sure it is oriented the way you want it, and then save it as a new file. What you have done is taken the camera's anchor point that is in the photo EXIF data and thrown it out and replaced it with a new anchor point at the top left. Now the forum s/w will not rotate the photo since the anchor is at the top left corner.

Hope this helps!

AnthonyG said:

[MENTION=14672]IdahoMtnSpyder[/MENTION] I made a code change, i was just asking Highwayman2013 to upload a image like he used to, you can try as well, upload it without making any of your changes in a photo program.

Click to expand...

Looks like Forum s/w 1, Anthony 0!! :banghead: I uploaded these just like I did in the first post. Same displayed orientation as in the first post so looks like your code change didn't solve the issue.

AnthonyG said:

Was the file ext JPG or JPEG, try uploading as a JPEG, not a JPG

Click to expand...

Here they are with the extension changed to jpeg.




BTW, why won't the Insert Image dialog allow the selection of more than one file at a time?