Metadata: A Little Help Please!

[Alfan]

Hi, I’m Alex, a new user here at Alamy. My test submission images were rejected for no metadata, but how exactly do I add EXIF data to my images?

 

Do I upload a new image with all the data, or is there a special place for me to input it?

[wiskerke]

36 minutes ago, Alfan said:

Hi, I’m Alex, a new user here at Alamy. My test submission images were rejected for no metadata, but how exactly do I add EXIF data to my images?

 

Do I upload a new image with all the data, or is there a special place for me to input it?

 

If your image is from a digital camera it has metadata. Just don't strip them.

If you use Photoshop, save for web used to strip all metadata. It now says save for web legacy and it has a menu item to strip all metadata or keep some or all metadata.

 

wim

[spacecadet]

22 minutes ago, Alfan said:

I don't remember stripping them... I don't use Photoshop (I use Pixlr), and I'm still not sure why it has no metadata. So to clarify, I don't need to manually input metadata, and is there another way I can contact the Alamy QC team?

A quick Google suggests that Pixlr strips metadata. For your first submission at least you will need to use software that doesn't.

[Alfan]

16 hours ago, wiskerke said:

 

If your image is from a digital camera it has metadata. Just don't strip them.

If you use Photoshop, save for web used to strip all metadata. It now says save for web legacy and it has a menu item to strip all metadata or keep some or all metadata.

 

wim

I don't remember stripping them... I don't use Photoshop (I use Pixlr), and I'm still not sure why it has no metadata. So to clarify, I don't need to manually input metadata, and is there another way I can contact the Alamy QC team?

[Alfan]

1 minute ago, spacecadet said:

A quick Google suggests that Pixlr strips metadata. For your first submission at least you will need to use software that doesn't.

Alright, I see! Is it possible, though, that I manually add metadata?

[spacecadet]

1 hour ago, Alfan said:

Alright, I see! Is it possible, though, that I manually add metadata?

I think it can be added in Windows properties, but sorry, no idea other than that.

I think all Alamy wants to know is the camera model, but don't quote me on that.

https://www.alamy.com/contributor/faqs/quality-control/

[wiskerke]

2 hours ago, spacecadet said:

I think it can be added in Windows properties, but sorry, no idea other than that.

I think all Alamy wants to know is the camera model, but don't quote me on that.

https://www.alamy.com/contributor/faqs/quality-control/

 

I think it's also a sort of check if it's you who took the image.

The whole idea of metadata is that you cannot change or add the most vital things.

I don't know Pixlr. Maybe I should try it. I thought it was for phones.

 

wim

[Vincent Lowe]

Just to clarify - the term 'metadata' encompasses both EXIF and IPTC data.  EXIF data is embedded by the camera and can't be changed - camera make, model, lens, focal length, shutter speed, aperture and lots more, even the serial numbers of the lens and camera if available.  The 'creation date' can be changed though, in case the camera date or time was wrong.

 

IPTC includes the Description (Caption) and Keyword fields which obviously can be changed.

 

Having said all that it's not strictly true that EXIF data can't be changed, there is software out there that will do it (google it), but I've never used any so can't make any recommendations.  If you do go down that route be careful - make sure you have back-ups and try it on one or two images first.  Just to give you an indication of what you might be getting into - the current version of Exiftool recognises 23551 metadata tags, with 15369 unique tag names.

 

https://exiftool.org/TagNames/

 

 

Edited August 28, 2020 by Vincent Lowe
spelling errors

[wiskerke]

22 minutes ago, Vincent Lowe said:

Having said all that it's not strictly true that EXIF data can't be changed, there is software out there that will do it (google it), but I've never used any so can't make any recommendations.  If you do go down that route be careful - make sure you have back-ups and try it on one or two images first.  Just to give you an indication of what you might be getting into - the current version of Exifxx recognises 23551 metadata tags, with 15369 unique tag names.

 

As I said or at least implied, the purpose of including the metadata on the first batch is a form of authentication.

 

wim

 

edit: NB I obscured something in the quote.

Edited August 28, 2020 by wiskerke

[Vincent Lowe]

4 minutes ago, wiskerke said:

edit: NB I obscured something in the quote.

 

Why?

[wiskerke]

2 hours ago, Vincent Lowe said:

 

Why?

 

Just in case you would change something in your post, so it wouldn't be visible in my quote.

 

wim

[M.Chapman]

9 hours ago, spacecadet said:

A quick Google suggests that Pixlr strips metadata. For your first submission at least you will need to use software that doesn't.

+1

 

That's a much better plan than trying to re-enter metadata which (if you're not failiar with metadata) will go wrong. There are plenty of free editors that don't strip the metadata.

 

Mark