Who Took That Photo?

September 2nd, 2007
Categories: EXIF, Interface, Meta-data, OS X, Photography, XMP

Some people (such as myself) would like to know more about the pictures used as desktop backgrounds. Photographers would probably appreciate it if the interface exposed a path to their self and/or portfolio.

Fortunately, images can carry useful information such as the photographer’s name, e-mail and web addresses, et-cetera in various metadata forms (XMP, EXIF, IPTC).

Basic Information Displayed

Basic desktop background image info

  1. The photo title (XMP Title field).
  2. The author’s name (XMP Creator field) formatted as a mailto: link with their e-mail address (XMP Creator: Email field).
  3. The author’s website (XMP Creator: Website field) as a web link.

Extended Information Displayed

Extended desktop background image info

  1. A description of the photo (XMP Description field).
  2. The place the photo was taken (the XMP Location, City, State/Province, and Country fields).
  3. The date the photograph was taken (EXIF digitization date).
  4. The camera used to capture the photo (EXIF make and model).

Though the photo is not actually by him (as far as I know; all metadata is stripped from the default desktop pictures), Art Wolfe is a great photographer.

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