Deleting and/or changing EXIF data

I wish to send some photos to a former subject but to (1) delete certain EXIF information and (2) to alter other EXIF

information;.

 

When I download, I usually insert a substantial amount of additional EXIF customizable data using Photoshop

Elements Downloader, which allows me to alter the name of the photo, insert photographer's name, add copyright

info, etc.

 

I am happy with that for most instances and will continue to use it.

 

But in certain instances, I may wish to remove (1) all EXIF data including exposure date, exposure info, camera

profiles, lens length(s) etc. and (2) in other instances to alter the EXIF data at least to change the date of the capture

to the extent possible.

 

I notice when reviewing EXIF data from Internet photos posted commercially, some photos have EXIF info, and some

don't and the web photos of others show only the date that the photos were posted to the Internet (or nothing at all).

 

I might be happy, in this instance, to erase all EXIF data entirely and to show today's current date as the 'date of the

photo' but no other date and no other data.

 

Is there any software that will enable me to do this. I have Lightroom1.4, Adobe Photoshop CS3, and Photoshop

Elements latest edition,but am unfamiliar with how to do this in any of these programs. I am unfamiliar with 'actions'.

 

I have maybe a thousand photos I'd like to process in an action, also, and would appreciate step-by-step by

instructions as well as any leads to appropriate software that I have not named above that will allow me to

accomplish this purpose.

 

Can you help me with specificity, please? Thanks in advance.

 

John (Crosley)

<p>I don't know what, if any, programs will give you full control over stripping only certain EXIF fields. There

are probably some out there; I've just never needed such a thing so I've never looked for it.</p>

 

<p>As far as stripping <em>all</em> EXIF data, there are tons of ways to do it. In Photoshop/Elements, Save For

Web does it. When I want to strip EXIF (and embedded thumbnails and everything else that bloats image files)

from a whole bunch of files at once, I use jhead (Google it), which also has at least some ability to strip stuff

selectively - have a look at its documentation to see if it meets your needs.</p>

There's a freeware program called EXIFtool which is a command line editor that lets you change, add, or delete just about any EXIF data. There's a freeware utility called EXIFtool GUI that obviates the need to learn the command line functions. Just Google EXIFtool GUI and you should be able to find both.

Yes, ExifTool is ideal for this. To strip all data from all image files in the directory MyPhotos, the command is:

 

exiftool -all= MyPhotos

 

(note the space between the '=' and the directory name). The program documentation lists several examples of changes you can make to dates in the 'writing examples' (2nd link below).

 

See:

 

http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/

 

http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/exiftool_pod.html

 

If you're using Windows and have trouble with the current version, try:

 

http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/exiftool-7.37.zip

 

If you're on a Mac and aren't used to running command-line programs, see:

 

http://guides.macrumors.com/Terminal

When the files are opened in and resaved in real old versions of photoshop the EXIF info is lost; with no warning that its going to be stripped off!

Thanks all who contributed. This is just what the doctor ordered. It will be one, two or more weeks before I can implement this info and possibly I will want to refer to it again and again.

 

Moderator please note this info seems to contain info of importance to the entire PN membership and is apparently timeless; so therefore, please do not delete it.

 

John (Crosley)

John, you may want to checkout another free program called "Exifer"

Thanks Mark McCune.

 

If I'm 'giving away' photos to one or more models that is less than my very best work, I don't want it surfacing later with EXIF data showing that it's '© 200X, John Crosley, Photographer, and showing the date it was taken, etc. I only want my best work out there; anything else might not be saleable, and others do know how to learn the name of a photographer who has taken a particular photo no matter where it turns up.

 

For instance, very frequently prospective models send my assistant by Internet their digital photo portfolios, and often there is a substantial difference between how they look from one photo to the next; I simply upload the photos into Photoshop (or Irfanview) and read the EXIF info and find out if the photo was 'homemade' or made by a pro, learn when the photo was taken and much more info than the model ever might guess she was sending me. Sometimes it even tells me the model is not being truthful on her resume, as I sometimes learn that 'recent' photos are three to five years old -- an eternity in the modeling business.

 

If I give a batch of photos to a model to use for 'personal purposes' there's always a chance she may try to 'sell them' or a boyfriend might, and if I don't judge them to be worthy of trying to do that myself, I don't want to have to have my name associated with them, even though they may be 'copyright' to me technically.

 

In Ukraine, a very beautiful model may get $50.00 for posing for a world-famous Internet site which features some of the most beautiful women, such as Met-Art.com, and that's by some of the world's best most productive glamour photographers.

 

Anything I take in such a genre would be several rungs down the ladder, the models not as pretty, and only would serve to denigrate my 'name' which has meaning in other areas of photography.

 

I don't sell such images, and so far have only used them to increase my skills in studio and lighting -- there's really no money to be made in selling them anyway, that I can see. (Ukrainian photographers gripe to me they can't make even a poor Ukrainian living selling to the world's largest erotic web site, so how could an American with much, much higher expenses?) (by the way, erotic = nude, not porno)

 

John (Crosley)