What web-based photographic related software would you like to see built?

[john_gleeson2]

<p>Hi All,</p>

<p>I recently started a thread about becoming a professional landscape photographer as I was fed up with my day job (software developer), in a nutshell I got some great feedback & have decided to try and combine software with photography and develop an open-source (free) web-application in my spare time that might be useful to photographers.</p>

<p>I may be wrong, but I think there are already enough good forums & photo sharing sites out there, so I'll probably stay away from those areas, on the flip side developing a free web-based version of a Photoshop-like app is much more than I can handle right now :-)</p>

<p>Having come up with a list of ideas myself I thought it might be best to ask you, the community, if there are any applications you think might be of value / use / solve any pain points you have or just think might be interesting ideas to see build - all ideas welcome.</p>

<p>Moderators, this is just a hobby project (rough idea right now) - not looking to develop a commercial app here or something that competes with photo.net, not sure if this is the correct place to ask this question but as it is just-for-fun & may lead to something beneficial for photographers, thought I'd try anyway.</p>

<p> </p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>A tie-in with imagine recognition software like Tin-Eye, which could streamline the process of notifying websites that are using copyrighted photos without permission. Ideally such a utility could ask the sites to remove the photo, or bill them for the use - perhaps at rates appropriate for the usage (less for blog decorations, more for commercial usage).</p>

<p>Or, for photographers who aren't necessarily interested in collecting fees, simply provide data to the photographer about how the photo is being used or propagated throughout the web.</p>

<p>It'd save photographers a lot of time and aggravation over having to track down where and how their photos are being used.</p>

[john_gleeson2]

<p>Interesting idea Lex, how do photographers do this at the moment - I'm assuming if they have a shot of a vineyard as an example & want to see who is using it they just enter relevant search terms into Google, check Google Images?</p>

[waltflanagan]

<p>There are lots of traditional (non web based) open source imaging projects out there that could use some help. Digikam, GIMP, Raw Therapee, EXR (HDR imaging) You could contribute to one of those if you don't want to start your own project.</p>

[john_a5]

<p>How about something that creates or makes visible a big and obtrusive watermark if an image is downloaded or even screen captured that is invisible otherwise!</p>

[robert_k1]

<p>How about a web site for traveling photographers: "photography guide exchange"? As a photographer and a traveler, I would be very interested in such a site. But I'm unaware of such a thing.</p>

<p>In the travel forum, there are many requests for location information, for photo tours and guides. As an independent traveler, I don't like group tours or a regular tour guide. Instead I try to find a fellow photographer who is local. My following post was in response to someone looking for a guide in NZ.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>Even for the independent travelers, a photography guide can be very helpful in a foreign land. Unlike a regular tour guide, a good photography guide would understand the needs of a photographer: the off-the-beaten path locations, the best lighting at dawn and dusk, the need to linger around (or to return) for the great shots, etc. Taking the total cost of a trip into consideration, hiring such a guide and coming home with great shots can be a very good value. Unfortunately, unless you join a "photo tour", it is difficult to find a personalized photo guide.<br /><br />One way is to find the local (non-pro) photographers. If they have personal sites and if the galleries show good work in genres of your interest, contact them for advice and suggestions, and inquire if they would be interested as guides. Many such photographers are more than happy to be helpful to visitors. I certainly have done my share, but I'm not in NZ.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>A "photography guide exchange" site would operate similar to a "vacation home exchange" site (and there are many of those). A subscriber can be either offering service as a guide, or looking for one. A guide (amateur or pro) would list his location, photography genres of interest, types of service, availability and charge (if any), and samples of work, etc. Those looking for guides would list corresponding information. Leave it up to them to decide if the services are for pay, for a lunch, for fun, for assistance, or simply for friendship, etc. IOW, there is no strict rules what constitutes an "exchange". Include a ranking system similar to eBay's and a forum.</p>

<p>Who knows, such a site may become wildly successful, and bought by Google, etc. Then you can quit your day job and become a landscape photographer.</p>

[zigzag]

<p>Google have just added the capability to search for your images by just dragging and dropping them onto the Google images search bar. This exceeds Tin Eye capability I believe.<br>

I Australia we have some 'Free Photo Guides' which are websites about local areas - depends on volunteer input.</p>

 

[david_l3]

<p>How about an easy utility to resize pictures so friends and family don't email full res files from their 12+ MP cameras. Seriously, most people have no idea about relative file sizes and how to resize, much less do any of the math. Make it intuitive and show relative sizes to choose from for appropriate uses, email, desktop monitor, Facebook, Twitter, iPad, etc. And for printing too, with maybe a crop guide. Keep it simple with icons and graphics in the process flow, with minimal written instructions. A FAQ page to explain the simple math and other details would also be good. Auto-save-as for resized files would make it more idiot proof. </p>