date stamping pictures, .... permanently! Options

[Beryl the Peril]

since i got my nikon camera i have been mostly using it with the date stamping option on.

Sometimes i have spoiled some scenic/artistic shots but 90 percent of my photos are of my grandchildren or gigs and i really want to know when the picture was taken and i like having the date on the jpeg. (it is my camera and i'll do what i want (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) )

however...

i notice that in XP, which we have had for about a week, the date taken is appearing in the information gubbins in explorer, which it didn't before. It doesn't seem to disappear when i modify the orientation which i seem to be able to do in explorer without resaving the file. ( i have checked and my old picture files don't have the 'date taken' info when they have been rotated )

has anybody any tips about :

a. preserving the exif information... permanently ... without date stamping the jpeg. (or avoiding losing it)

b. removing the red date stamp once it is on the jpeg. I have been told that there is some editing software that does it for you (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

This post has been edited by Beryl the Peril: Mar 8 2005, 11:01 AM

[Leontien]

Every camera takes pictures and stores them with so called 'meta information', like the date, the format etc.
I use adobe photoshop and I know it uses this meta information when automatically generating websites etc.

I will check how you can look up this meta information easy and when it is deleted. I think that resizing etc a picture won't delete this info, but saving it in a different format (e.g. gif or whatever) probably will.

As for the automatic removal of datestamps in your image..... I only know how to do this manually and it's a lot of work. Maybe it can be automated but I don't know how

NOTE TO BERYL: The date/time stamp you see in XP is the date the file is created and modified, but this can be changed if you copy the pictures, or save it to somewhere else. this is different from the EXIF info, which will not be shown in the explorer I think, and will not change if you save the picture to another location

This post has been edited by Leontien: Mar 8 2005, 09:49 AM

[Leontien]

You know I love the freeware Irfanview. If you use this program, and extend it with the free plugins http://www.irfanview.com/plugins.htm
you can view the EXIF info with 'image-information-Exif information' (button)

If you use the 'red eye reduction' option on the datestamps, at least they will go dark instead of striking orange....

Edited to say that if you use the 'save as' option for a picture in irfanview it asks whether to save the EXIF information or save with original date/time.

All the options mentioned will probably exist in most photo editing software

This post has been edited by Leontien: Mar 8 2005, 09:19 AM

[Beryl the Peril]

if you use the 'save as' option for a picture in irfanview it asks whether to save the EXIF information or save with original date/time.

thanks leontien (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

i used microsoft photo edit for years. Very good for quick rotating, resizing, cropping and brightening. I think it came with office 97 and i have managed to have it on my pc ever since (until this week). However it clearly wasn't sophisticated enough to save the original date/time on edited files, so i wasn't aware it was possible.

sometimes it is not a bad thing when old stuff breaks down and you have to get up to date with new stuff (that applies to washing machines too (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) )

it was alberr's oldest who works in imaging who said there was software out there specifically for editing out the date thingy. I will ask her to check it out. She may just have seen something to delete the exif information from the file (which is what i found when i googled).

[Beryl the Peril]

aha!

i have just tried saving an edited photo with my nikon software and it gives jpeg format (exif compliant) as an option.

I don't know if it was an option before we had XP. I don't recall it but i am not sure i ever actually edited with nikon editor. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

JFIF compliant is the alternative. Goodness knows what that is (IMG:style_emoticons/default/huh.gif)

[tallship]

I seem to recall someone sending you a copy of Adobe Photoshop 7 in the dim and distant.

Microsoft photo edit indeed!
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

[Beryl the Peril]

i do indeed have a copy of the adobe stuff... thank you (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

but microsoft edit (or whatever it was called) was so quick and easy that it remained my default for basic editing such as getting the picture the right way up which is when i lost the 'taken by' date info. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

also for reducing the file size for posting on the forum. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)