EXIF, IPTC, and beyond

Last week’s Westerville Meetup centered on shooting two models wearing vintage clothing on the streets and sidewalk in the Uptown business district.

The clothes were furnished by Cinda Lou’s as were the two women who modeled for our group of about 25 photographers for a little more than an hour as the sun dipped below the western treeline.

More than 50 photos from the event are displayed on the groups Meetup photo album. I am exceptionally pleased at the results and how each photographer saw something a little different about the situation. The variety of moments, techniques and post processing techniques result in a set of extraordinary photos.

One of the group’s photographers wondered in an e-mail message how best to figure out how some of the best photos were shot. That is, what ISO, shutter speed, f-stop, focal length and processing methods were used?

The answer is simple with a few complexities thrown in.

This set of answers applies only to Meetup photo albums but may be applicable to other photo hosting sites depending upon how the site manages photo uploads.

I’ve chosen several photos for you to use in this exploration of hidden data in online photos. Follow both links for each photo. Open in separate windows or tabs.

1)  I shot this photo at the beginning of the Meetup as a setup for the other shooters and to begin to work with Annie L. who’d never modeled for me before or before such a crazy crowd of photographers.

After setting up this shot I rarely pulled out the camera other than to shoot each setup so I’d have record of what happened.

The http://goo.gl/Fdmv link runs the photo through Jeffrey’s EXIF Viewer, an online script that pulls EXIF and IPTC data from the image.

Looking through the result you can see the details for the image including the date and time it was taken. Off an hour because I keep forgetting to reset the Daylight Savings Time function. It also includes all the particulars about the ISO, camera, lens, f-stop, shutter speed, exposure compensation, caption, and some post-processing data.

2)  Photo by Dennis Oder. Contains significant EXIF and IPTC information. (http://goo.gl/iqLG)

3) This photo was shot by group member Scott Lewis. The goo.gl link for Scott’s photo contains some EXIF information but nothing about shooting data or provides any IPTC information. It also lacks any copyright or usage information. It also doesn’t have a watermark. (http://goo.gl/5aRJ)

4) Photo by Mark ODonnell from Gahanna. Marc’s photo has no relevant information. No EXIF camera data. No IPTC caption data. No copyright or usage information. No watermark.  (http://goo.gl/L0v5)

The information for the goo.gl links run through Jeffrey’s EXIF viewer is pulled from the original files uploaded to the Meetup photo album. After processing by Meetup, all this information is removed. All the EXIF, IPTC, copyright, usage and photographer information is gone, deleted, removed.

The original photo on Meetup can be found with the ALL SIZES link just above any photo in the album. Clicking that link opens an AJAX window that shows direct links to all versions of the photo with the original’s url in the bottom box. A text link just above each box opens that photo in a new tab.

Copy the url for the original image and paste into the Image URL: box at Jeffrey’s EXIF Viewer to see the underlying information.

There is important information listed in the data pulled from your online photos.

If you’re looking to see the camera, lens, exposure, and processing data, the original may contain that information. It depends on the original having it included at upload and that the upload site’s image processor retains it in the original Meetup does.

If the original doesn’t include it, the upload site is not going to be able to extract it for you to study.

More importantly is the lack of IPTC information. What’s in the caption information data block inside your uploaded photo? Does it have a caption that explains the content? Is the photographer’s name and location included? Is copyright and usage instructions listed so people who want to use the photo can contact the photographer to purchase the apapropriate rights?

The first  photo include all this information as does Dennis Oder’s photo. Stacey Stowers photo contains some EXIF information but not IPTC. Marc ODonnell’s photo is void of all but the rudimentary information for any Web photo.

Some of the photos uploaded to the site have a visible watermark noting the photographer’s name and copyright. Many don’t.

Sometime in the next week we’ll look at visible watermarks, IPTC and EXIF information in uploaded photos, and how to protect your images from being copied.