How to read image metadata in windows?
What are image metadata?
Image meta data are small piece of data that stored in the image. That data contains valuable information about that image. Basically every image has width and height. The image stored that dimensional information in it as meta data. likewise there are number of properties defined in image metadata. Resolution , date created, modified date are some of them. But you can't see these information when you view the image. They are hidden from the user. But you can see those information.
What are the information stored as image metadata?
- File Name
- File Size
- Width and height
- Create Date
- Modified Date
- Copyright information
- Bit Depth
- Camera information (camera maker, camera model,GPS details,ISO Speed)
- Mime type
If you take an image using a digital camera, you can see lots of camera related properties in metadata section. Now most of cameras supports geo tagging feature. GEO tagged image means it contains longitude, latitude and latitude details in it. It is useful to search images that are taken from different locations. Now image GPS data use to SEO (Search Engine Optimization) purposes. Now most of search engines are able to read those Geographic information included in the images.
Windows explorer has nicely organized metadata of an image in to meaningful sections. This tutorial ex a plains you how to view metadata of a photo step by step.
- First open your image folder/directory contains photoes that you need to read metadata.
- Right click on a image and click on properties.
- It will open file properties windows for you. Select Details tab. There you can see a list of properties and its values. You can see those properties are grouped in to some sections such as description , Origin, Image, Camera, etc.
Image manipulation software can add record after modified an image using such kind of a software. For an example if you edit the image which is taken from a digital camera, in image details section you can see the program name that you use to modify the image. So you can identify the original and the modified copy.
Suppose that you have edit the image using Adobe Photoshop. After you save the image you can see the Program section with the program name.
Most of the images contains width, height and created date properties. If you have taken an image using geo-tagging enabled digital camera or iPhone you can see the GPS section. Most of the mobile phone cameras supports this feature now.
Also you can see camera maker and the camera model in the camera section. Additionally you can see Focal length, Flash Mode, ISO Speed, and many more properties. If you not seen any of these properties please make sure your camera can store these information.
