EXIF and IPTC fields in Competition Images files

Revised practice for Competition Images NEW at 12 Oct 2011

EXIF and ITPC data attached to image files carries lots and lots of data about the shot, time and date, camera, aperture, shutter speed, focal length, size in pixels, gps values, and so on. We (mcc that is) have not had an explicit policy about whether this got carried in to Competition Images photos prior to October 2011, and it has become a bit uncoordinated, though we have generally minimized the EXIF content.

The editors always remove authors’ keywords and star ratings to avoid cluttering the database and slipping out the occasional inappropriate subject phrase.

__The issue:__ It is becoming increasingly important to many photographers to incorporate an authorship / copyright statement into their pictures.

The solution: from November 2011 Competition Images editors will -

a Incorporate any EXIF & IPTC data elements left there by the author / photographer;

b Occasionally check that this is working properly - this is not the most robust area of data conservation;

c Continue to remove keywords and star ratings from CI files.

Members should:

d Decide if they wish to incorporate Author / copyright data in their image files, and if so, do so in the appropriate fields;

e Decide if they wish to write short notes about the image into the ‘caption’ field, and if so, do so; or

f Decide if they wish to exclude EXIF / IPTC metadata from their image files, and if so, do so.

Many export-for-web utilities automatically minimise EXIF data; Adobe Lightroom, has a minimise-or-not tick box in Export.

Members who wish to view EXIF / IPTC data online should download a browser-compatible exif display utility (The Mac App exiFINDER seems to work well as a stand-alone utility and there are browser plug-ins too such as FXIF for Firefox. More to follow here);

A current IPTC description [Please do not try to take it in all at once, or just before meals.]

An intelligible and fairly recent EXIF article Otherwise, you have got google at your disposal.

And in the future the future (probably) for those seriously interested only.

Suggestions about (proven & tested) EXIF viewers to jh.ashford@LENSCAP.zen.co.uk please.