Cell phone photography is exploding in use these days. As our ability to take photographs becomes easier, so too does the inadvertent spread of our personal information. Devices such as the iPhone automatically embed GPS data into EXIF data of its photos. Uninformed use of certain social media sites / image hosting services can result in the inadvertent spread of personal information such as your approximate home address or daily routine.
It’s important to note that I’m a firm believer in embedding EXIF data into professional images from a dSLR so that you can be found for future work, image licensing or print sales. In this instance I’m focused on images that originate from mobile / cell phones and other mobile devices. For a complete list of what social media web sites preserve metadata refer to David Rieck’s Controlled Vocabulary Social Media survey.
As it relates to mobile / cell phone photography and privacy I was tipped off to the following news report by Michael E. Gordon. Ever aware of metadata and my online activity with my iPhone photography I felt comfortable I was in good shape on the privacy front, but I decided to check sites that I disiplay my iPhone photos just in case. What I learned was that my settings on some sites were not 100% correct. Below the following video I’ve outlined what sites did or did not include GPS data and what I had to do to adjust my settings to hide personal GPS data.
Mobile App Communities (ex. Best Camera, Instagr.am, etc.)
A general rule of thumb is that anytime a mobile app applies a visual change to your photos there is a good chance, as of this post date, the metadata of your photo is not being preserved. Apps such as Best Camera and Instagr.am that apply pre-set filters to alter the look of your photographs do not carry over metadata to the final version of your image. As it relates to privacy this is great, but if you’re sharing dSLR photos that are being made available commercially this is not such a great thing.
Facebook – Mobile Uploads & Places
Facebook has never preserved image metadata to the best of my knowledge. Once again this is great if you’re concerned about location related metadata in your mobile / cell phone photographs, but horrible if you’re uploading dSLR images for business purposes.
Flickr
Flickr has long been at the forefront of geotagging photographs. They’ve implemented an elegant solution to read GPS data in a photographs metadata on import and show the location via Google maps on each photo page. I have (2) two Flickr accounts. One account is for my professional work and the other highlights photos taken from my cell phone. Checking my cell phone Flickr account I found that personal location data was being revealed on numerous photos and I had to remove it. The fastest way to do this was to batch remove GPS data. Here is how I did it….
Batch Delete GPS data on Flickr
Navigate to “Organize & Create”
At the bottom of the browser window just above the row of image thumbnails click “Select All” and drag them to where it says “Drag items here to edit them as a batch”
Select the “Location” menu and choose “Change geoprivacy”
Select remove Map information
To stop Flickr from importing GPS data from your photos (highly recommended for mobile phone images if privacy is a concern)
Navigate to “You” > “Your Account” or click on your account name in the upper right of the browser window
Select “Privacy & Permissions”
Click on “edit” for “Import EXIF location data”
Uncheck “Yes, please, that would be lovely.” and click Save under “Shall we import that information when a photo or video is uploaded or replaced?”
FourSquare & Gowalla
These applications are a fun way to share your whereabouts and activity with your social network. While shared images do not contain EXIF data the application is capturing / providing information on your location you voluntarily share with others via location services.
GPS Settings on your iPhone To be 100% certain what applications are providing location based information about you via GPS you should check your iPhone settings. To do this follow these easy steps:
Click on the Settings app
Choose “General”
Select “Location Services”
Turn on or off the ability to relay GPS data to the list of apps found on your phone
Final Thoughts
I hope this information helps you get the most out of your online / mobile experience while preserving the level of privacy you prefer. I do not have access to an Android phone so if you have privacy tips please feel free to share them in the comments.
Almost 5 years ago I wrote an article on the pros and cons of using RAW versus JPEG and why I was shooting in RAW (see RAW vs JPEG: Is Shooting RAW Format For Me?). These days the argument of using RAW versus JPEG is well… not an argument at all. Most photographers realize that shooting in RAW provides a great number of benefits and many if not all the reasons to avoid using RAW have been nullified thanks to a variety of technical innovations including larger capacity compact flash drives & hard drives, maturation of RAW converters, development of photo specific editing/management software and faster more powerful computers. Now the question that faces photographers is should I convert my RAW files to DNG? Read more…
The 28th episode of EXIF and Beyond has been released (duration 1 hour 9 min.)
David Riecks a professional photographer and metadata expert is well known for his Controlled Vocabulary keyword database, has played an active role in developing industry metadata standards, and was a founding member of the Universal Photographic Digital Imaging Guidelines coalition (UPDIG) and serves as the Chief Technical Advisor to the Picture Licensing Universal System coalition (PLUS). In this episode of EXIF and Beyond David discusses all things metadata: basic information, tips, resources, trends & predictions and licensing standards.
If you’re interested in trying out Borrowlenses.com, the sponsor of this podcast episode, they’ve extended a special introductory offer to my blog & podcast readers. When placing your order enter the discount code “JJJ5” sans quotation marks to obtain a 5% discount on your first rental.
Listen To The Podcast
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After attending the getMETAsmart event in San Francisco last week I became curious how photographers who read my blog and/or follow me on Twitter use it. To be honest I’d be even more curious how photo buyers or stock agents actually use metadata on a daily basis, but that will have to wait for another post. Metadata as many of you know is often discussed but rarely so in the context of how real people use it. While hearing about best practices is helpful everyone has a slightly different take on the subject and many address metadata differently in their workflow. Let’s first address the “why”. Why should metadata play a role in your workflow? To answer that I’ve combined my understanding of metadata with feedback received from my Twitter followers. Read on to learn more. Read more…
Last night the getMETAsmart seminar was held here in San Francisco and I was really impressed with it. I know what you’re thinking a seminar on metadata sounds like a real snoozefest, but the information shared by the likes of David Riecks, David Sanger and Grover Sanschagrin was incredibly informative. If you’re unfamiliar with metadata or unsure how to use it efficiently then this event is one you should definitely attend. While I consider myself to be knowledgeable of metadata application & best practices I learned quite a bit making the event extremely worthwhile.
Check www.photometadata.org for locations and dates of this event in your area. If these seminars are not happening in your area then bookmark this site and reference it often. There is a lot of great information on it and much more will be added through out the year such as tutorials. Best of all they are FREE.
What was covered in the event?
I’m glad you asked. The event started out with an intro to metadata by David Riecks. Grover Sanschagrin gave a great presentation on metadata & search engine optimization (SEO). David Riecks then powered through two other sections on the inner workings of metadata and more advanced discussions around workflow and software. Rounding out the event was a panel discussion with photographers talking about real world use of metadata and the value it provides to their business. The panel fielded numerous questions from the audience making for a very interactive exchange of information.
Wondering what value metadata provides? Check out this great example of why metadata is crticially important to photographers on Gary Crabbe’s blog.
