Hidden Information in Your Pictures

[MarkBarbieri]

Just a fun tip for those not already aware of it:

Did you know that most digital cameras hide information in the picture that tells you about how the picture was taken? It's called EXIF data. It tells you things like the make and model of the camera, what software was used to edit the picture, the date and time the picture was taken, the shutter speed, the aperture, the ISO, the focal length, whether the flash was used, whether an exposure adjustment was used, and a lot of other stuff. You can even put the lattitude and longitude in the picture so that it can be plotted on a map.

There are lots of ways to see the EXIF data. Many image editing packages show it to you. With some browsers, like Opera, you can right click on an image and see it. With Internet Explorer, you need a plugin like OPanda IEXIF to do that. Some photo sites also display it. When you look at a list of files in Windows Explorer using the detail view, you can display some of the EXIF data, like the date the picture was taken.

What good is it? When you see a picture that you like, you can often call up the EXIF data on that picture and see what equipment the photographer used and how he took the shot. When looking through your own shots, you can look at the EXIF to remind you of when the shot was taken or how you took it.

It can also help when diagnosing problems. Why is my picture blurry? Hmmm...the EXIF shows that you used a shutter speed of 1/2 second; perhaps you should have used a tripod.

 

[Cyrano]

I've seen the information but never thought of using it to take better photographs. Useful tip

 

[caniswolfie]

In windows* you can see the information by right clicking the file and choosing properties. After the windows comes up, you click on the summary tab. If you don't see the EXIF information there and instead there is a button labeled "Advanced >>", click on advanced button and you can see some of the EXIF information including aperture, shutter speed, focal length, ISO.

*I know this works in Windows XP, I don't know what other versions of windows this will work with.

 

[JR6ooo4]

and best of all you do not need to have that orange time/date in the photo anymore!!

 

[Master Mason]

and best of all you do not need to have that orange time/date in the photo anymore!!

you know, I loved the time date for pictures of the kids, it was right there, and it was easy to know exactly how old they were when the pic was taken etc....

Not so good for artistic photography, but for candids I actually miss it myself.

 

[JR6ooo4]

Ya, and the exif does not get tranferred to the paper print...

I just remembered that there is a program that will add a frame to the photo and in a thick bar along the bottom will add artist and selectable exif info

Mikeeee