Improve Photos Automagically with aaphoto
Productivity Sauce
For many photographers and shutterbugs, post-processing photos is an important part of the creative process. But there are situations when you want to improve your shots without going through the photo editing rigmaroles. And this is when aaphoto can come in rather handy. This simple utility lets you improve photos using a single command. aaphoto is available in the software repositories of many popular Linux distributions, so you can install it using your distro's package manager. On Debian and Ubuntu, you can do this by running the apt-get install aaphoto command as root. Alternatively, you can grab a compiled binary from the project's website, or compile aaphoto from the source.
aaphoto attempts to improve photos by analyzing their histograms and then adjusting key settings such as contrast, color balance, saturation and gamma levels accordingly. Although sometimes the results can be hit and miss, aaphoto usually does a decent job of improving photos. Using aaphoto couldn't be easier: run the aaphoto foo.jpg command (replace foo.jpg with the actual name of the source photo), and the utility automatically generates a new improved version of the photo. aaphoto can handle many popular image formats, including JPEG, JPEG 2000, and PNG. Although the utility only requires you to specify the name of the source image file, aaphoto supports a handful of other options, too. The --jpg and --png options specify the output file format, the --resize option resizes the photo to a specified dimension, while the --quality option modifies the image quality of the output file:
aaphoto --png --resize50% --quality95 foo.jpg
To view a full list of supported options, use the aaphoto --help command. Obviously, aaphoto won't replace a dedicated photo editing application, but if you need to improve a few snaps without too much hassle, this utility is just the ticket.
comments powered by DisqusSubscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Juno Computers Launches Another Linux Laptop
If you're looking for a powerhouse laptop that runs Ubuntu, the Juno Computers Neptune 17 v6 should be on your radar.
-
ZorinOS 17.1 Released, Includes Improved Windows App Support
If you need or desire to run Windows applications on Linux, there's one distribution intent on making that easier for you and its new release further improves that feature.
-
Linux Market Share Surpasses 4% for the First Time
Look out Windows and macOS, Linux is on the rise and has even topped ChromeOS to become the fourth most widely used OS around the globe.
-
KDE’s Plasma 6 Officially Available
KDE’s Plasma 6.0 "Megarelease" has happened, and it's brimming with new features, polish, and performance.
-
Latest Version of Tails Unleashed
Tails 6.0 is based on Debian 12 and includes GNOME 43.
-
KDE Announces New Slimbook V with Plenty of Power and KDE’s Plasma 6
If you're a fan of KDE Plasma, you'll be thrilled to hear they've announced a new Slimbook with an AMD CPU and the latest version of KDE Plasma desktop.
-
Monthly Sponsorship Includes Early Access to elementary OS 8
If you want to get a glimpse of what's in the pipeline for elementary OS 8, just set up a monthly sponsorship to help fund its continued existence.
-
DebConf24 to be Held in South Korea
Busan will be the location of the latest DebConf running July 28 through August 4
-
Fedora Unleashes Atomic Desktops
Fedora has combined its solid distribution with rpm-ostree system to make it possible to deliver a new family of Fedora spins, called Fedora Atomic Desktops.
-
Bootloader Vulnerability Affects Nearly All Linux Distributions
The developers of shim have released a version to fix numerous security flaws, including one that could enable remote control execution of malicious code under certain circumstances.