Online Media
There are evidents that companies are spending more on advertising on the web.
THM Files
THM by Impulse Photo Guy
What are THM files?
THM files are THuMbnails that are automatically generated alongside certain larger photo and video file types, such as Canon’s RAW (.CRW) and movies (.AVI). The THM file format is essentially identical to the JPEG File Format (JFIF) — in fact, renaming a suitable (i.e. small) .JPG image file to .THM effectively creates a THM thumbnail. Similarly, renaming a *.THM file to *.JPG will allow you to double-click and open in a photo viewer.
In addition to the compressed image data, a JPEG file contains a series of markers that carry useful metadata — details about how the photo was taken, camera settings, etc. While most of this metadata is written by the camera itself, some items are done by the user by a catalog / photo browser program. These details include titles, descriptions, keywords and many other fields (even GPS coordinates!).
The specification of the JPEG (or THM) file format is openly published, and so inserting in additional metadata into a file is generally no problem. Unfortunately RAW file formats (e.g. .CRW or .CR2 in the case of Canon) are proprietary and not published. Therefore, it is very difficult (or risky) for a third-party program to make modifications to these files, such as the addition of metadata content.
Since Canon (and other manufacturers) realize that a) they want to keep their RAW format secret and b) they must allow some means for people to annotate the metadata, the solution is to create a “buddy file” mechanism. THM files are the buddy-files associated with Canon RAW files.
A .THM file is simply a small JPEG preview image that is used to house all of the writeable metadata content that would otherwise be written into the associated RAW file. The THM and RAW file must have exactly the same name, and any file operation (copy, move, delete) must be done to both in order to maintain the link.
Therefore, you might find a 20061015_1234.CRW along with a 20061015_1234.THM file in your image directory.
Why do you need to write metadata?
Ideally, you would have a writeable metadata format associated with all images in your database. This allows you to associate metadata (e.g. IPTC) with each image.
Advantages of being able to write the metadata:
- Allows rebuild of catalog database categories should the database get corrupted
- Allows export to another catalog program
RAW files require a buddy .THM file to accomplish this update with third-party utilities.
Can I delete THM files?
While these THM files might appear to clutter up your image directories, try to avoid the temptation in deleting them! Eventually, you may run into problems when managing the RAW files within a digital asset management program (photo catalog database), where you may want to associate additional metadata with the images.
If you did delete them, then please check out the article: recreating THM files from RAW.
Unfortunately, it’s easy to accidentally delete these .THM files when you are working in an environment that isn’t buddy-file aware (such as Windows XP). Most aware environments will perform the same operation on the original and associated buddy file (rename, copy, delete). Doing this outside such an editor can cause the association to become broken.
I discovered that a number of my older RAW files were missing the associated THM file, which was immediately flagged by catalog program as soon as I tried to open up an IPTC editor window.
Music Fest
Going to concert in the park.
Wrapping Up
I’m finishing up on a spot. It has quite a bit of experimenting with fast cuts, and sampling — a la hip hop.
The client provided originals such as product photos, track, and of course, logos.
Art Event
Chinese Culture Center of SF
750 Kearny St., 3rd Floor
Yesterday’s Mixer
Art, Live Music
Crooners in tux covering standard Sinatraesque numbers.
Wall arts were colorful, portraits with drip effects, detail line works, and another paler palettes of tints and tones.
Good crowd.
On a lark, really …
Pepe U., the shoot on 24th street, in the Mission, in San Francisco. All I can say is that it felt like we were in latin america. Congrats to you on the Fruitvalle doc.
Tad Austin, a classmate, became a teacher. Another, Soo Bae, I think it was; we were on Angela Hsu’s 16mm project; he decided to try his luck back home in Japan. (I’m trying mine on the dance floor.)
Tad Ro is an amazing musician with vast digital entertainment knowledge.
Jesse Spencer is an accomplished video editor.
Johnson Hor’s background is in law, however that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Johnson has been involved in many sectors, from non-profits to new social 2.05. He’s an over-achiever with good humor.
Wayland Wong is a Berkeley MBA finance extordinare.
Lu Judy Cheng, Tech Recruiter. She’s experienced in her field and had done good work.
Thanks to all of you and peace in the middle east.
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