As digital picture frames (DPF) become more popular, there is a need to optimize photo sizes so that they fit within the constrained memory of these devices. When a picture is created on a Mac, it may contain a lot of meta data. This meta data, such as preview icons, can consume a lot of space. For example, a photo that is 1 MB in size may contain 300 KB of actual picture data and the rest is meta data. All of this meta data is completely unnecessary for a DPF and may be stripped out. Another aspect of DPFs is that they have fixed display dimensions such as 1024 x 768 pixels. Most pictures taken with a digital camera may be two or three times that size, so all those extra pixels are wasted space since the DPF will scale it to fit the display size. So by stripping unneeded meta data and rescaling the picture to the actual display size, huge space savings can be realized. This means you can put more pictures on your DPF!
Photo Print allows you to batch process photos by rescaling the pictures and stripping out meta information. To initiate this process, select menu item “File->Convert Photos...” and the following window will be shown.
There are five pieces of information that Photo Print needs in order to convert the photos.
When Photo Print scales a picture to the target frame dimensions, it needs to know how you want it done. There are three methods for cropping which include the following.
A DPF may allow the use of memory cards like jump drives or SD cards as input devices. You will want to have Photo Print directly write to this device as the “Target Directory (Output).” The reason for this is two fold. First it saves a copying step from your hard drive to the target device. Second the target device may be formated in non-Mac file system such as Windows FAT. The Mac treats a non-Mac files system like a Mac volume. In order to do this, it will write out hidden files to store meta data. When you view a FAT file system with a Mac, you will not see these files because the Mac OS filters them out of your display. When you look at these files from a Windows computer, you will see the original files plus a file with “._” prepended to the file name. So if you copy over 20,000 pictures to an SD memory card that is formatted with a FAT file system, you will also be creating 20,000 extra “._” files. There is nothing harmful about these “._” files other that they are visible to DPF or other non-Mac computer. When you tell Photo Print to write directly to the memory card, Photo Print directly deletes these “._” files as they are created by the Mac OS.
If you choose to create the target directory on you hard disk and then copy over the files to the target device at a later time, then you can use the menu item “File->Delete Dot Files...” to clean out the extraneous “._” files from the memory card after you copy them over. When you select this menu item you will be asked for the root directory you wish to clean. Once you select the root directory, It will scan the root directory for files and then go through and delete the “._” files.
Photo Print allows you to batch process photos by rescaling the pictures and stripping out meta information. To initiate this process, select menu item “File->Convert Photos...” and the following window will be shown.

There are five pieces of information that Photo Print needs in order to convert the photos.
- The location of the pictures to convert.
- The output directory for converted photos.
- The width in pixels of DPF.
- The height in pixels of the DPF.
- The algorithm to use.
When Photo Print scales a picture to the target frame dimensions, it needs to know how you want it done. There are three methods for cropping which include the following.
- Horizontally - Try to preserve the vertical dimension of the picture. This means it will cut off the sides of the picture if necessary. This is good for portraits. In a group shot of people, people on the edges may get cut off.
- Vertically - Try to preserve the horizontal dimension of the picture. This means it will cut off the top and bottom of the picture. This is better for wide group shots.
- Best Fit - Photo print will take its best guess and apply one of the above algorithms.
A DPF may allow the use of memory cards like jump drives or SD cards as input devices. You will want to have Photo Print directly write to this device as the “Target Directory (Output).” The reason for this is two fold. First it saves a copying step from your hard drive to the target device. Second the target device may be formated in non-Mac file system such as Windows FAT. The Mac treats a non-Mac files system like a Mac volume. In order to do this, it will write out hidden files to store meta data. When you view a FAT file system with a Mac, you will not see these files because the Mac OS filters them out of your display. When you look at these files from a Windows computer, you will see the original files plus a file with “._” prepended to the file name. So if you copy over 20,000 pictures to an SD memory card that is formatted with a FAT file system, you will also be creating 20,000 extra “._” files. There is nothing harmful about these “._” files other that they are visible to DPF or other non-Mac computer. When you tell Photo Print to write directly to the memory card, Photo Print directly deletes these “._” files as they are created by the Mac OS.
If you choose to create the target directory on you hard disk and then copy over the files to the target device at a later time, then you can use the menu item “File->Delete Dot Files...” to clean out the extraneous “._” files from the memory card after you copy them over. When you select this menu item you will be asked for the root directory you wish to clean. Once you select the root directory, It will scan the root directory for files and then go through and delete the “._” files.