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Everything About Metadata
Janine van der Kooij - Vink
Everything About Metadata
Learn from others and learn to photograph with metadata!
When you take a photo, the file consists of more than just “the image.” There’s also valuable data behind it, such as the settings and the gear used. Do you want to know what you can do with this information and how it can help you improve your own photos? We answer five key questions.
What is metadata?
Metadata is the information behind the photo. Think, for example, of the camera and lens used to take the shot, as well as the settings you used—such as shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. In most cameras and smartphones, this is stored automatically.
Where can you find metadata?
It’s nice that all this data exists, but where can you actually find it? It’s not written over the image, after all. There are different types of metadata, but in this blog we focus on the data stored as EXIF and IPTC. These are the technical details automatically saved by a camera in a JPEG or RAW file. You can find this information by opening the photo in File Explorer (Windows) or Preview (Apple). When you right-click the photo and select “Properties,” you’ll find the photo’s details. It looks something like this:
What can you use metadata for?
Metadata is useful, for example, for organizing your photos. Sometimes it also contains the location where the photo was taken. You can use this to sort your photos by location, and then by date and time. In addition, you can use metadata (from others) to improve your own photography.
What can you learn from your own metadata?
When you look at metadata, you’ll see a lot of information. One of the first pieces of data you’ll encounter is the location. Here you can see exactly where the photos were taken. This is especially useful in wildlife photography, so you can return to an area where you previously spotted an interesting animal.
If you review your photos critically, you’ll sometimes notice imperfections. Maybe a photo isn’t sharp? The metadata might show that the shutter speed was too slow. Is the photo overexposed? Then you can look at the exposure triangle in the metadata (ISO, aperture, and shutter speed). Do you see noise in the image? Then the ISO value was too high. By evaluating your photos and checking the metadata, you can learn what to pay attention to next time.
How can metadata from others help you improve your own photos?
We regularly share photos with their settings on our Instagram account. But what can you actually do with them? Let’s take a few photos from our experts as an example.
Do you want to take a drone photo like Bart? Then you can learn from his metadata that he used a DJI drone. You can also see from the focal length that Bart used a wide-angle lens. This wide angle allows him to capture a large area from above.
Maybe you want to start with macro photography and create beautiful macro images like our colleague Frank. His photos show stunning bokeh. The metadata reveals that Frank achieved this with a high aperture (f/10). This allowed him to focus on the entire dragonfly instead of just part of it. Because he was zoomed in so far, the background became blurred. The low ISO value shows that Frank photographed in bright conditions.
Capturing a moving object or flowing water is challenging. Maybe you can learn something from Alex’s metadata. It shows that he used a fast shutter speed, allowing him to freeze the droplet. The ISO value is low, so there is no visible noise.
As you can see, you can learn a lot from metadata. You can keep this information in mind when you head out to take photos yourself. Do keep in mind that many photographers edit their images. Editing can make a photo look sharper or give it warmer colors. You also don’t know what accessories the creator used—maybe they used a reflector or put a filter on the lens. So remember: metadata is valuable, but not the sole factor that determines the final image.
