Is it possible to find it from the photo? EXIF

Modern smartphones insert GPS coordinates in all photos by default, as well as in many modern cameras.

Next, anyone can easily access the geographic information that is contained in the photo, although not visible in it. It may be better to hide such data especially when publishing photos to open access. Information about the shooting location is stored in so-called “metadata”, which is not visible in the photo, but is available in the photo file properties. Similarly, additional (meta) information is written to files Microsoft documents Office or PDF.

If the photo was taken with GPS coordinates recorded, then on a Windows PC you need to click on the corresponding file right click mouse and select Properties in context menu. Then select the Details tab and scroll down the options page to Latitude and Longitude.

On Mac computers Right-click (or Control-click) the photo file, then select Get Info. Latitude and longitude information will be shown.

However, geographic information is not present in all photo files. The author of the photo could cancel the recording of coordinates on his phone, or clear Additional information already in photo files on your computer. Moreover, many online photo publishing services automatically remove additional information when uploading to protect private (personal) information. Therefore, additional information may be missing completely or partially.

But if you have GPS coordinates saved, you can easily match them to a location on maps - many online map services provide this ability, for example, you can simply paste the coordinates into the search field on maps Google Maps. Instructions for entering coordinates on Google Maps (in Russian):
https://support.google.com/maps/answer/18539?hl=en

Of course, metadata can be edited and should not be used as conclusive evidence, but it is easier to remove it entirely than to change it, so the remaining GPS coordinates in the file usually provide an objective indication of the shooting location.

To cancel the recording of coordinates in a photo file in advance, it is enough to change the state of a certain parameter, but this information is recorded solely for the convenience of users and many interactive services(Google+ Photos, Flickr from Yahoo! or Apple iCloud) use it to geographically organize a collection of photographs, since this “extra” data can always be deleted by means of the operating system or special programs(eg EXIF ​​Viewer). IN iPhone phones Open Settings, tap Privacy, then Location Services. Select Camera from the list and select Never for Allow Location Access. After this, the coordinates will not be saved in photos and you will be able to hide your location when taking photos.

A similar operation in Android systems depends on the firmware of the manufacturer, and applications for operating and camera settings differ not only for different models smartphones, but also for versions of the operating system. In either case, there must be a setting to allow or disable the recording of geographic metadata.

Publication date: 24.03.2017

Novice photographers are often interested in how to view the parameters of a particular photograph and find out what camera and lens were used to take it. This and other data is stored in EXIF ​​(Exchangeable Image File Format). It is part of a JPEG or RAW file. It is in it that additional data (metadata) is “hardwired”. EXIF allows you to save a lot of useful information: from shooting parameters to information about what program and how the frame was edited.

NIKON D810 / 50.0 mm f/1.4 SETTINGS: ISO 160, F1.4, 1/400 s, 50.0 mm equiv.

The parameters that you see under each photo on the website are loaded automatically from EXIF. So, the data of this image indicates that it was taken on a Nikon D810 camera) with a universal Nikon AF-S 50mm f/1.4G Nikkor lens. By the way, the latter is great for portrait photography.

How to view EXIF?

Today, many photo viewing and editing programs can show EXIF: Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop,Adobe Bridge. The Capture NX-D converter, “native” for Nikon cameras, displays shooting parameters in great detail.

EXIF in Adobe Lightroom

EXIF can also be seen by opening the file properties: go to “Explorer”, right-click on the desired photo, select “Properties” in the context menu that opens, and in the window that appears, select the “Details” tab.

There are sites that allow you to upload an image and see its metadata in expanded form online. Examples of such services: http://exif.regex.info/exif.cgi; http://metapicz.com/. With their help, you can find information about all shooting parameters, even down to what distance the lens was focused.

There is a browser extension Google Chrome, which allows you to view the EXIF ​​of any image on the web page you open.

Through EXIF ​​you can find out how many pictures were taken with the camera. For example, this is useful when buying used photographic equipment. The technique works with Nikon cameras. Cameras from other manufacturers do not always include this parameter in EXIF, and you have to extract it using additional tricks.

To get full EXIF ​​data, it is best not to edit the frame on a PC. Upload the selected image to the website http://exif.regex.info/exif.cgi and find the Shutter Count column. Here we will see the “mileage” of the camera.

The easier-to-use service https://www.camerashuttercount.com/ works on the same principle.

NIKON D810 / 18.0-35.0 mm f/3.5-4.5 SETTINGS: ISO 200, F14, 1/30 s, 24.0 mm equiv.

When creating HDR images in Adobe Lightroom, the final image file is assigned some shutter speed and aperture parameters, although it is clear that at least two frames with different parameters were used to stitch the HDR together. Typically, the fastest shutter speed is assigned.

EXIF data can be faked

EXIF is easy to edit. There are even online services for changing shooting parameters. Therefore, EXIF ​​data can act as reference information, but not absolutely objective information.

NIKON D810 / 18.0-35.0 mm f/3.5-4.5 SETTINGS: ISO 100, F16, 1/6 s, 18.0 mm equiv.

How to avoid losing EXIF ​​data during processing?

Some editors cut off EXIF ​​permanently (many people are guilty of this mobile applications). However, in serious post-processing programs you can choose whether to save EXIF ​​or not. For example, in Adobe Photoshop, when saving a photo using the Save As command, all data is retained, but when saving using the Save For Web tool, some metadata is deleted. To avoid this, find the Metadata item in the Save For Web window and select what information you want to save. I usually leave all the metadata.

The situation is similar in Adobe Lightroom. When setting up photo exports, pay attention to the Metadata item.

From time to time, users need to search by photo. Such situations most often occur when you need to find out the original source of a particular photograph.

For example, if a person has a frame from a film, but he does not know the title, then from this frame you can find out what kind of film it is. In this case, it is simply impossible to enter a request in words, since it is not clear what needs to be entered.
Besides, sometimes you want to know who took a photo. For such cases, there are very easy-to-use services. Let's look at the most popular ones and how to use them. Before doing this, it would be useful to understand how image search works in general.

Image search algorithm

Everything in this case is based on the fact that when any image is uploaded to the Internet, the process of adding certain attributes to this photo occurs. Any content manager or SEO optimization specialist will understand what the Alt, Title and Description attribute are.
So, any image that is in the open has all this worldwide network. If these attributes are not specified by the person who uploaded the picture, they are generated automatically. Actually, they are used to search for images on the Internet.
Everything is taken into account - the title, the description, and in general all the information that is available for a given image. Now let's return to the description of search services.

Service No. 1. Google Images
Yes, the world's largest search engine, of course, also includes a service for searching information from photographs. The search scheme itself is exactly the same as in a regular search engine that searches using standard test queries.
As practice shows, Google works much better than others in this regard. search engines. Actually, this is the reason for its enormous popularity.
Google's photo search service also performs very well - all possible links to the entered pictures and information about them are found.
To find some information about a photo in Google Images, you need to do the following:

Go to www.google.com/imghp. This is the address of Google's image search engine.
Enter the desired image into it.

You can do this in one of four ways:

Copy from another resource on the Internet or from an image viewer. This is done by right-clicking on the desired image, if this happens in a browser, and selecting “Copy...” or selecting the image, for example, in Paint and pressing the Ctrl + C key combination. Then all you have to do is press Ctrl+V on the search engine page.

No. 1. Copy Image button in browser

Select a file on your computer. To do this, click on the “Search by picture” button, go to the “Upload file” tab, click on the “Select file” button, in the window that opens, select where the desired picture is located and start the search.

No. 2. Search by uploaded photo in Google Images

Provide a link to the photo. To do this, right-click on the photo you like in your browser and select “Copy address...”. After this, you should go to Google Images, click on the “Search by image” button, click on the “Specify link” tab, enter the previously copied link in the appropriate field and click on the “Search by image” button.

No. 3. Search by image link in Google Images

Just drag the image file from a folder on your computer to any area of ​​the Google Images website. This method is described on the service itself and is basic for working with it. In addition, it is the simplest among all on this list.

3. Press the Enter button on the keyboard if the search has not yet started automatically.
As a result, the user will see the size of the image, information about whether there are the same pictures on the Internet, only of a different size, and links to sites where the same or similar photographs are available. The user will also see a query that most likely can be used to find this picture. In addition, in the “Similar Images” section, pictures that are similar in meaning will be shown. An example of search results can be seen in Figure 4.

No. 4. Example of search results in Google Images

The Yandex.Images address is yandex.ua/images/. Methods for entering image search by image using of this service exactly the same as Google, specifically:
dragging a picture from a folder;
selecting a file by clicking the “Select file” button;
entering the image address on the Internet.

As soon as the user gets to the site, he will see a menu in front of him, indicated by number 1 in Figure No. 5. To access the three methods described above, on the main page of the site you need to click on the “Search by image” button (in Figure No. 5 it is highlighted with a green frame).
After this, a menu indicated by the number 2 will appear. To use the first method, you just need to drag required file in the field highlighted with a red frame in the same figure. There is also the inscription “Select a file”, by clicking on which a standard selection dialog will appear, where you will need to specify the location of the desired image.
To enter an address, you need to copy it on another site (this is done, as before, by right-clicking on the picture and selecting “Save address...”) and enter it in the field shown in the blue frame.

No. 5. Methods for uploading an image to Yandex.Images

Yandex.Images has many advantages over a similar service from Google. So, you can search for a picture from your collection called “My Pictures”.
You can upload anything there. To do this, click on the button highlighted in Figure 6 with a green frame. You can also select search protection here. The fact is that in addition to the necessary materials, the search engine can often return materials of an erotic or violent nature.
It is better not to see all this for children and generally mentally healthy people. For such cases, there is a “Family Search” function, which can be selected by clicking on the protection button (highlighted in blue). There you can also remove protection altogether or choose something in between – “Moderate search”.

No. 6. Yandex.Images page

Here, the screensaver always features a photo of the day, which may also be of interest to the average user. In addition, there are buttons below, by clicking on which you can find other pictures with a similar theme and download desktop wallpaper with this photo.
An example of image search results in this service is shown in Figure 7.

No. 7. Search result via Yandex.Images

Service No. 3. TinYe
This service is the most popular for photo searches among developers and system administrators. The reason for this is that it is best at finding similar pictures and information about the entered image.
After all, Google and Yandex specialize in searching by text phrases, and their algorithm for searching by photo is somewhat less developed. But TinYe was initially positioned as a search engine for photos.
The website of this service looks like this: tineye.com. Its interface is somewhat unusual, but the methods for loading the original image for search remain exactly the same.
So, to select a file to search, you need to click on the button highlighted in Figure 8 with a red frame. After this, all that remains is to again indicate where the image is located.
In the field shown in the same figure with a green frame, you can enter the address of the picture, copying it in advance, or drag the picture directly into it. After this, you just have to click on the search button in the form of a magnifying glass if it does not start automatically.

No. 8. TinYe photo search service page

In the search results, the user will be able to see the number of sites that have an exact match of this image. Below you will see how many pictures were checked and how long this process took.
After this, the sites themselves with the desired image, as well as links to them, will be shown. An example of search results can be seen in Figure 9.

No. 9. Search results on tineye.com

Below you can clearly see how a photo search occurs using a service from Google.

Any modern digital camera records additional information about the photo in the photo file - EXIF ​​data: the model of the camera that took the photo, shutter speed, aperture, focal length, ISO sensitivity, time and date of shooting, etc.

When you upload a photo to Yandex.Photos, this information is saved. To open it, on the photo viewing page, click the More icon and select Show EXIF.

Why don't some photos have EXIF?

If a photo is taken with a film camera and then scanned, it cannot have EXIF ​​data because it is assigned to the photo when the file is created digital camera.

Graphic editors (for example, Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom), with certain file saving settings, can delete EXIF ​​data.

Also, some mobile phones do not leave EXIF ​​data.

How can I find out the model of the camera that took the photo and see other photos taken with this camera?

On the photo viewing page, tap the More icon.

Select Show EXIF.

You will be taken to a page with photographs of other authors whose works were taken by this camera model and posted on Yandex.Photos.

How to find out where a photo was taken?

Each photo on Yandex.Photos can be linked to a map. If the photo is already linked to a map, to find out its location, click the On map link, which is located on the photo viewing page.

If the photo is not linked to the map, but you know where it was taken, you can offer the author of the photo your option for placement on the map. To do this, click the link Link to map under the photo.

You will be taken to a map page where you can enter the location of the photo. If the author agrees with your proposal, you will receive a message by mail.

But knowing how it was created, where, when and who did it is sometimes more important. Any document (not just photos) created using mobile device or a computer, contains a piece of hidden information.

Very often, when uploading photos to social networks (Instagram, Vkontakte, Facebook, Twitter, Odnoklassniki, etc.), people do not understand that they are giving the social network they are using. networks: camera type, phone model, name, location and other data about yourself and your device. The article will be of interest to you if you want to know where the photo was taken and if you don’t yet know what metadata is, how it works, how to view, change and delete it.

What is photo metadata?

Let's consider the concept " metadata"using a very simple and everyday example. Digital photography (what we see and analyze from the outside) is a kind of cake that a loving mother baked and put on the table - we see it, but we don’t know what’s inside. Metadata - information about how and where the photo was taken, the name of the city or attraction, time, date, device, i.e. in other words - a cross-section of the pie, when we can already tell about the structure, color, what ingredients are inside, in what form, quantity, volume, what taste it has, etc.

Digital Photo Metadata- invisible information about properties and characteristics, created automatically, using a camera or mobile device. In essence, it resembles and, if necessary, changes using a graphic editor or other specialized software. Previously, in order to determine the location of the shooting and who was depicted in it, people signed photographs with reverse side, then now there is no need for this, simply because a digital photograph is signed automatically.

Types of Digital Photography Metadata

Any file type (sound, text, image, video) has its own metadata standard. For digital photographs, they mainly use:

• EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) - technical information about the details of the shooting taken by the camera;
• IPTC (International Press Telecommunications Council) - photo description and copyright information;
• XMP (eXtensible Metadata Platform) is a standard developed by Adobe that allows you to include any information;
• file properties - parameters are stored and are an integral part of the photo.

Most wide use among metadata has EXIF ​​standard, which is an integral part of digital images and contains a complete description of camera settings, namely:

• software (camera) name and version;
• date and time of shooting;
• data on the digital environment;
• diaphragm;
• geographic coordinates of the location;
• focal length;
• exposure mode;
• white balance;
• brightness value;
• ISO value;
• endurance;
• compression scheme;
• camera orientation (vertical or horizontal);
• matrix size;
• information about the author;
• and much more.

Any parameter listed and not included in this list has a specific category and format. Metadata Key Factor- a clearly organized structure that allows data to be read by both people and technology. This distinction allows you to work with a huge amount of information in a short period of time, and use the resulting metadata to collect, store, search, process and combine automatically.

A good example is, for example, the Google Images and Yandex.Images service. It is enough to add any photo and the search, thanks to metadata, will show identical or similar images by objects, structure, content, color design, etc.

Scope of metadata

In the right hands, metadata can be like a “lifebuoy”, otherwise it can be like “a stone tied to your feet and pulling you to the bottom.” If you have the knowledge and skills, digital photo metadata, files and documents - incredible powerful tool. They find their use among intruders, hackers, law enforcement agencies and security specialists. To learn about the dangers of hiding file data and what uses it can be found in, watch the video on YouTube from the blogger “ overbafer1»:

One example where metadata became a fatal mistake for a person is the story of John McAfee, founder and developer of the antivirus software of the same name - McAfee.

At a certain period of time, he was on the run, hiding from the government on charges of murder, despite this, he had many fans and imitators. Thus, journalists from Vice had the honor of spending several days with the fugitive in a secret hideout, after which they published an article about this adventure containing a photograph from an iPhone.

The problem is that they didn't take into account the fact that the iPhone, like many other modern devices embeds geolocation data into every photo. As soon as they realized this fact (or, most likely, someone told them), the photo was deleted and replaced with a new one without displaying geographical coordinates in EXIF, but it was too late.

Soon after identification, McAfee was detained in Guatemala on charges of illegal border crossing. Thus, do not underestimate metadata, because with its help you can find both a person and a device that is stolen or lost.

“We started using technology blindly, without understanding the risks. And the risk is a complete loss of confidentiality!”- John McAfee said in an interview.

How can I view metadata and find out where a photo was taken?

You can see and analyze hidden data using file properties, image viewing software, graphic editors and special online services. As an example, take this photo:

• Find out the GPS coordinates and metadata of a photo through properties

File properties- a function that allows you to see technical information photographs: name, type, creation date, size, attributes, etc. These parameters are part of the image and almost any changes in this metadata section are only available when the file is modified.

Viewing properties is the most accessible way of obtaining metadata, since it can be implemented, if not on any, then on almost all modern operating systems. For example, let's look at how to do this on Windows 10. There are currently two options available and the first one is:

1. Upload or download the photo to your computer.
2. Right-click and go to Properties:

1. In the window that opens, go to the “Details” tab:

In addition to technical metadata, this window also contains a number of other sections:

• description (description does not need description, because the name speaks for itself);
• source (IPTC);
• image (image dimensions and colors);
• camera (EXIF);
• improved photo ( Extra options EXIF);
• GPS (geographic coordinates of the photo);
• file (technical data).

In the GPS section (not displayed on all photos) you can see the coordinates. By uploading them to Google or Yandex maps you can find out where the photo was taken:

The second option for viewing geographic coordinates, just as simple and even more accessible, because the map is loaded immediately and there is no need to perform additional actions (on Windows 10; on others, perhaps, everything is not so rosy):

1. Download or upload the photo to your computer.
2. Open the image in full screen mode(for example, double-clicking the left mouse button). In the top menu, find settings and go to the “File info” section:

1. Now, in addition to the photo, a mixture of metadata, both technical and EXIF, is displayed:

1. At the bottom of this window you can see the “Location” section, where the city in which the photo was taken is indicated and a map thumbnail is displayed indicating the coordinate point. If you click on the “Open map” link under the thumbnail, the map will open in full screen mode and you can view the shooting location in more detail:

The identification accuracy is extremely high. The error is about 5-15 meters.

• View photo metadata online

There are many ways to monitor on the Internet and, without a doubt, there are online resources that allow you to determine the metadata of a photo and discover its geodata. There are too many of them a large number of and each of them is different and stands out in some way. In this article we will look at the most popular and effective ones.

The simplest in functionality and probably the most popular resource for searching metadata. According to the author, photographs and data viewed using this service are not shared with anyone, nor are they stored beyond the time period necessary for the operation of the service. Supports a very large number of photo formats. To use the search, go to the official website Jeffrey's Image Metadata Viewer from the link above:

Upload an image from your computer or provide a link. Verify that you are not a robot and click the “View Image Data” button. After a few seconds, the photo will be uploaded and a window with basic information will appear:

In this window, in addition to various parameters and characteristics, there are coordinates and links to online maps from Google, Yahoo, WikiMapia, OpenStreetMap, Bing, which makes it easy to find out and see the shooting location. If you scroll down the page, you will see full information about photography in the EXIF, File and Composite section.

Forgot where you took a photo using your mobile device or camera? Maybe you just want to know where the photo was taken? Pic2Map analyzes the EXIF ​​metadata embedded in the image to find GPS coordinates and location (if present) and, as a result, displays the photo on a map with a full description of the camera's features and parameters.

The service works very simply - go to home page website using the link above, click the “Select photo files” button. If you do not want the uploaded photo to be publicly available, check the box next to “Keep photos private”:

After the service processes the EXIF ​​data of the photo, you will see a mark on the map with the location and brief information:

A little lower, on the same page, there is a text description of the settings and parameters of the image:

From the description it follows that:

• Photo taken using Meizu M6 Note camera with f/1.9 aperture, 1/158 sec. shutter speed and ISO 101. The flash did not fire, forced flash mode. The original image file has a resolution of 1000 x 750 pixels, or in other words - 0.8 megapixels. The image has a resolution of 72 DPI and takes up 0.10 megabytes of disk space.
• According to the image's metadata, the photo was taken on Tuesday, April 23, 2019. Local time was 19:14:18. The time zone is Europe/Zaporozhye, which is GMT +03:00. Please note that the time zone was guessed using GPS coordinates and may not be accurate. The EXIF ​​timestamp may also differ if the date and time are in digital camera installed incorrectly.
• The Meizu M6 Note camera has a built-in GPS receiver and allows you to geotag image files. The coordinates and location of the shooting are stored in EXIF ​​metadata. According to the analysis of GPS data, the photo was taken at a point with coordinates 49 58 "57.81" north latitude, 36 12 "58.49" east longitude. The camera was pointing east at 83.00 degrees. Using reverse geocoding, the address associated with the coordinates is determined to be Goncharovsky Bridge, Koneva Street, Novo-Bovarsky District, Kharkov City, Kharkov Region, 61004, Ukraine. Depending on the GPS receiver and reception conditions, accuracy may vary and the address should not be considered an exact location.

In addition to the text description, the service displays information by category in a structured format:

Including, the site contains public albums created by users. They contain pictures of various types with a position marked on the map.

A service that allows you to find out EXIF, IPTC, XMP and other JPEG photo information online. This online tool analyzes a JPEG photo for metadata and displays information such as: photo resolution, brand and model of equipment, DPI size, shutter speed, aperture, ISO value, date and time of shooting, flash used or not, type and focal length lens, including the one used when shooting, the presence of digital zoom, white balance, camera mileage (number of lens shutter releases), serial number camera and lens separately, GPS coordinates and much more.

In order to perform the analysis, go to the official website of the resource using the link above and upload a photo:

After a few seconds, you will receive the processing result, which contains technical, EXIF ​​and calculated metadata:

• Programs for viewing photo metadata

On the Internet, in addition to online services for viewing metadata, there are many desktop software for various platforms. To a greater extent, it all looks like regular programs for viewing images, they only include additional functionality for viewing “invisible” information.

Wikipedia already contains a full comparison of metadata viewing programs with detailed description platforms, supported standards and data formats. In this article, for example, let’s take one program from the list presented, namely a program for viewing, editing and creating metadata:

It is shareware, i.e. the main functionality is free, but additional content is available to expand the capabilities. IN free version the user has the ability to:

• viewing EXIF, GPS, IPTC and XMP data;
• editing, creating EXIF, GPS, IPTC and XMP data;
• editing some Makernote tags;
• export EXIF ​​and IPTC to XML format;
• import EXIF ​​and IPTC from XML format;
• export EXIF ​​and IPTC to MS Excel format;
• import EXIF ​​and IPTC from MS Excel format;
• viewing descriptions of data fields;
• export EXIF ​​and IPTC to text file (CSV format);
• import EXIF ​​and IPTC from a text file (CSV format);
• export/import EXIF ​​and IPTC to/from XMP.

Additional features in the paid version:

• processing multiple photos;
• import and export metadata to one file or several separate files;
• command line for editing and creating metadata.

The program interface is easy to use. You need to find a photo for analysis and its characteristics will appear in the menu on the right: thumbnail, technical metadata and EXIF, where you can find out the coordinates and use them to determine the shooting location:

How do I edit or remove photo metadata?

Hidden photo data can be easily changed using the built-in functions of the operating system and specialized software. The possibility of replacement is misleading and does not allow one to rely on metadata as a reliable source of information.

The simplest and most accessible way to change or delete“invisible” photo data - use the functions of the operating system (in the example, this is Windows 10):

1. Upload or download a photo.
2. Open “Properties” and go to the “Details” tab. Here, if not every field, then many of them are editable. To do this, just hover your mouse over the field with the parameter or click on it:

↓ Animated image click on it to watch ↓

1. At the bottom of the window there is a link “Deleting properties and personal information”, when you click it you will see:

Here you need to choose the most suitable option:

• Create a copy, removing all possible properties;
• Delete the following properties for this file (by selecting this item, you will need to select which characteristics will be deleted).

Change metadata You can also use online tools, of which there are countless on the Internet. One of these services is the IMGonline editor, you just need to upload a photo and click the “Edit” button:

After the photo is processed, a window opens which contains many fields available for editing, namely:

• EXIF information that can be changed, removed or added;
• IPTC information that can be changed, deleted or added;
• XMP information that can be changed, deleted or added;
• Application Record;
• IPTC NewsPhoto;
• XMP xmp;
• XMP Iptc4xmpCore;
• XMP iptcExt;
• XMP Photoshop:

↓ Animated image click on it to watch ↓

According to comments from the author, in order to erase some EXIF ​​string from a JPEG image, for example, geographic coordinates, you must leave this field empty. Lines without content are not added to JPEG file or are deleted if there was any information before. Remove EXIF ​​completely and other “invisible” data from the image is possible using another online service from IMGonline:

The principle of its operation is as simple as in the previous case - upload a photo and the output is a pristine image, which contains a small amount of technical metadata, without any identifying marks or characteristics.

And last way to edit and remove metadata- take advantage specialized program. Most often they come with full functionality, i.e. they provide the opportunity to both view metadata and make changes.

For example, we will use the same software as for viewing -. At double click a window opens on the image complete set metadata available for editing:

↓ Animated image click on it to watch ↓

As you can see, the range of settings and possibilities is quite extensive for experimentation.

What to do if you couldn’t determine the metadata and find where the photo was taken?

“Invisible” information in photographs is a great way to get the information you need about a person or object, but here, as they say, “a double-edged sword,” since this information can be used by both you and attackers.

Collected data: geolocation, date and time, technical specifications and other characteristics can be used to attack a person or company, for example, using .

Main problem and benefit of metadata V modern world- practically any editor or social network in which users share their photos, take care of security and erase metadata (replace them with neutral ones), which does not allow one to clearly identify where the photo was taken, with what device, etc.

At one time, Kaspersky Lab found out what interesting things could be learned from the metadata of photos on the Internet. From the results obtained, if we consider the most popular resources, then when published in:

These results were achieved for the period of 2016. 3 years have passed and a lot has changed. A repeated experiment was not carried out and is presented here only to show that, unfortunately, or, fortunately, not every photo, especially from social networks, will contain metadata with the author, date and place of shooting.

That's why answer to question: “What to do if you couldn’t find where the photo was taken?” - experiment. Having a photo available, you can find the person’s contact information, for example, phone number. Subsequently, and produce. In instant messaging, define a nickname. Do - get a number of other sources that the person uses, etc.

The Internet opens up a lot of possibilities for searching for information about photographs, people and objects. Metadata- is just one of the tools to achieve this goal and can serve as both an end point and a starting point. You can get metadata, but how to use it and for what purpose is up to you.

Knowing where a photo was taken is great for a personal archive, but before you publish it on the Internet, make sure to hide its metadata or at least GPS coordinates.

If you take a photo using a smartphone, go to the settings and remove the binding of geographic coordinates to the photo:

If your photos were taken with a camera, use any of the methods described above to change the metadata or delete them before publication.

You can find, if not everything, then almost everything on the Internet. Keep in mind that it's not just photos that contain metadata. Behind everyone digital file There is some hidden information, so be aware of publishing anything online and don’t forget about your own safety.