What is EXIF?

[HillHavenStudio]

Hi, I am extremely new to all of this. I've been taking pictures since before i can remember, but all the technical stuff is new to me. I'm enrolled in a class and I am wanting to put some pics up in some of the forums (mainly critique my shot forums) but they ask for your EXIF information and I have NO IDEA what that is! Could somebody help me out and explain it so that I can get to posting, and by thus becoming better at what I love?

[inkista]

EXIF is your friend. It stands for "EXchangeable Image File" format.

It's a metadata standard for graphics files. Essentially, when you take a picture with a digital camera, the camera embeds a lot of digital information, like the settings you used to take the shot, a time stamp of when you took it, the camera you used, the lens, whether the flash fired, etc. into the image file, and it goes with it. This information can be manipulated and overwritten or stripped out, but in general, it's always present.

Most image processing software (and even operating systems) can interpret at least a little if not all of the EXIF information in your image.

Typically, most camera makers adhere to the EXIF standard tags, but also add manufacturer-specific tags based on the specific camera you used and its features--and those specific tags you may only be able to read in your camera brand's software. But the EXIF standard lays out the most common ones, and basically the main ones we're looking for when critiquing photos would be the camera model, iso, aperture, and shutter speed, so that if there's a technical issue, we can give you feedback on that.

If you post on Flickr, and you haven't set up Flickr to block your EXIF, the "More properties" link will show you the EXIF.

[tadthephoto]

There is a piece of software, freely available, called IrfanView, which you can use to see all your exif data, and more besides. It does lots of other things and is well worth an explore.

[Jim Bryant]

EXIF is your friend. It stands for "EXchangeable Image File" format. Good point inkista.......I use this all the time to help me remember settings. Easier now, than when using film and having to record dates, times, exposures, f-stop, shutter speeds and ISO settings in a notebook.