f-spot is a management tool for your collection of digital images tailored for the GNOME desktop. It allows you to assign different tags to your images to categorize them and offers various image editing options.

The first time you run f-spot, tell it where to find the images to import to your f-spot collection. If you already have a collection of images stored on your hard drive, enter the path to the directory and optionally include subfolders. f-spot imports these images into its database.

	Tagging Images on Import
If all the images you are importing belong to the same category, you can attach the appropriate tag on import. Select Attach Tag and choose the matching tag.

Figure 17.1. Importing Images to f-spot

f-spot's main window is divided into three main areas. Categories, tags, and detailed information for the selected images are displayed in a sidebar to the left and thumbnails of all images bearing the selected tag or category or, if none is selected, the entire collection are displayed in the right part of the window.

Figure 17.2. f-spot's Main Window

A menu bar right at the top of the window allows you to access the main menus. A toolbar below offers several different functions depicted by a matching icon:

17.1. Downloading Pictures from Your Camera

Import new images from a digital camera connected to the USB port of your computer using File+Import from Camera. The type of camera is detected automatically.

Figure 17.3. Import from Camera

f-spot opens a preview window displaying all the images that are available for download from camera. The files are copied to the target directory specified in Copy Files to. If Import files after copy is selected, all images copied from the camera are automatically imported to f-spot's database. Tagging can be done on import if you select the appropriate tag with Select Tags. If you do not want to import all images on your camera to your database, just deselect the unwanted ones in the preview window.