What is Geotagging?

Have you heard the term Geotagging? Maybe not... but what about GPS?
A couple of years ago, there used to be a select few that had a GPS receiver or knew what one was. Now.. newer cars come standard with them, handheld and portable GPS receivers are commonplace... there are even fun hobbies that use them. And.. if you've bought a new phone in the last year or two, many have GPS capabilities that know your location and help you to find your way.

Now... what about Geotagging and what's so great about it. Geotagging is the process of adding geographical identification data to various media such as photographs and videos that you take. Have you ever opened up the shoebox of photos and not remember the date of the photo or where it was taken. Well... with Geotagging every time you take a photo, the camera's GPS will record where it was taken. This new feature is very useful with newer software programs that once you download the photos to your computer, the software reads the metadata from each photo and knows when and where the photo was taken. You then have the option of displaying all of your photos on a Google map that shows where they have been taken.

Right now.. only select point & shoot camera's, cell phones and some professional cameras have this feature, but within the next year or two, you will see this being a common feature in every camera. You will enjoy pulling up a map and seeing all of the places you've taken photos. It's great for vacations, people who frequently travel and especially better identifying those photos you've forgotten about.

Getting those images off your camera

I get alot of people asking me what is the best way to get their images off the camera and onto their computer. Taking a photo with a digital camera is the easy part. You have then can either transfer the images to the computer via a cable that comes with your camera or take out the memory card and insert it into a memory card reader that then plugs into your computer.

You can purchase a memory card reader at Best Buy, Walmart or any other office or electronics store for around $25.00 give or take. I personally like to use a memory card reader instead of plugging my camera into the computer via a cord as it can drain the camera's battery down by transferring all of your photos. When you plug in your card reader, most computers will automatically open the card reader folder to display your images. I then select all of the images copy and then paste them into a new folder in My Pictures folder. After that, I create a duplicate folder that I then delete unwanted photos and also color correct and edit them. Once I return the memory card back into the camera, I can then delete all of the images by reformatting the memory card and I'm ready to start taking pictures again.