EXIF question

[tsweeney123x]

I've been experimenting with this and found it disappointing. Maybe I'm doing something wrong? Can you explain more?? I downloaded the program and tried a few photos. Most say "No thumbnail available." It seems to me that if someone places a blur or image over the photo and then saves the new image -- wouldn't that then create a newly compounded image and no thumbnail could be extracted?? I just don't understand why more photos can't have the thumbnail extracted. I tested the system on some photos that appeared to be first-time posts from the boyfriends (as opposed to re-posted and re-posted stuff) You'd think these images would be the earliest generation of the hidden image -- yet no thumbnail. Maybe this exif program only works on photos that have been "hidden and blocked" by certain programs. Is that it? Please explain further if you can. Thanks in advance.

[Alex]

I haven't used this program, so I'm only guessing here.

I think you are on the right track about the exif information being lost after the photo is edited.

I do know that some photo editing software gives you the option to preserve exif data, however I believe a lot of programs simply drop this information when the edited photos are saved.

Hopefully an exif expert can offer more help.

Thanks,

[stony]

Originally Posted by tsweeney123x

I've been experimenting with this and found it disappointing. Maybe I'm doing something wrong? Can you explain more?? I downloaded the program and tried a few photos. Most say "No thumbnail available." It seems to me that if someone places a blur or image over the photo and then saves the new image -- wouldn't that then create a newly compounded image and no thumbnail could be extracted?? I just don't understand why more photos can't have the thumbnail extracted. I tested the system on some photos that appeared to be first-time posts from the boyfriends (as opposed to re-posted and re-posted stuff) You'd think these images would be the earliest generation of the hidden image -- yet no thumbnail. Maybe this exif program only works on photos that have been "hidden and blocked" by certain programs. Is that it? Please explain further if you can. Thanks in advance.

I'm by no means an expert on exif thumbnails, but sometimes when a blur is placed on a pic the exif original non-blurred info remains intact when the blurred pic is saved. This is when you hit paydirt: they are rare though.

I know that when I blur pics using infranview, and then go to save them, one of the options is to "keep original exif data". Doing that would leave the unblurred thumbnail and cause big trouble down the line.

Also, I'm not certain, but I don't think that all cameras record exif information; that also would account for the really low number of exif finds.

So sorry tsweeney123x, there is no magic way to find them. Using "exifer" to find the thumbnails is your best bet, but if they aren't there, they just aren't.