Hidden image information

[Grady Weed]

A word of caution here. I am a self employed PC-Network Tec. I recently visited a customer at their home office. He is a photographer, hunter, land owner, who is disabled via cancer and has a very bad back. He sometimes can barely move. He has about 100 acres of land, I think, behind his home here in Maine. It has deer, black bear, moose and various small game. He took a picture of a black bear and posted it on a web site, which one I do not know. Someone from Massachusetts clicked on the image and retrieved GPS type information, then shared it with several dozen friends. They all drove up here, trespassed on his land, then with several packs of rather large hunting dogs, ran down this black bear and killed it. Yes it was hunting season, no they did not have his permission. He came upon them when he heard the dogs as he investigated the noise. They threatened him and let the dogs loose to intimidate him further. This man has a license to carry, he always has his 7 1/2 inch 44 magnum with him in a shoulder holster. He is a dead shot at 100 yards with it. Needless to say it was a very tense few minutes before they left. He reported them to the local game wardens, but nothing was done, as they were gone when the warden showed up, our wardens covers hundreds of square miles per officer.

My point, perhaps we as photographers should be careful not make the same mis-step, having GPS tags available on our posted images. Or tell others in the post exactly where we took the image, as at times quite a few others have showed up to photograph a rare bird when it is posted. I can think of one such instance here locally when a rare Northern Hawk Owl was spotted in Hollis Maine. Hundreds, yes hundreds came from all over New England to this one small neighborhood and family farm to image the owl. The locals were so angry, they shooed the owl away.

Just an FYI.

[Christopher Miller]

Very good point, Grady, and one that I think most photographers would never consider. Thanks for the word of warning.

[Hilary Hann]

Thank you, but a sad story. I know Morkel Erasmus is very careful not to identify where he takes photos of his rhinos for this very reason … not because of photographers but because of poachers.

[Steve Kaluski]

Good point Grady, as it takes time, patience, understanding your 'animal', plus fieldcraft to get certain shots, why then offer it to others on a plate. By all means share it, but on a one to one with people you trust. :w3

By 'Saving for Web' does that not strip out the majority of info?

Steve

[Grady Weed]

Good point Grady, as it takes time, patience, understanding your 'animal', plus fieldcraft to get certain shots, why then offer it to others on a plate. By all means share it, but on a one to one with people you trust. :w3

By 'Saving for Web' does that not strip out the majority of info?

Steve

I dont think so. You have to disable the GPS tagging in the camera itself. I think. Anyway still food for thought. I agree to share information only to others I know I can trust and that is on a one to one basis as you say.

[Charles Glatzer]

Grady,

Good point!

It is the same reason I do not advocate posting exact locations of wildlife, birds, etc in public forums. I think it is more prudent to do so on a discretionary basis.

Chas

[John Ippolito]

Grady,

Good point!

It is the same reason I do not advocate posting exact locations of wildlife, birds, etc in public forums. I think it is more prudent to do so on a discretionary basis.

Chas

I agree completely with this philosophy.

I know of a local instance when posted smart phone images brought gawkers with cameras directly to someone's yard to see new born moose calves - within an hour!

[James Shadle]

"Save For Web" strips the EXIF data.

To preserve the data use "Save As" and the save as a .jpg - convert to sRGB before you save it.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Sad to hear this story. I hope the fellows are punished.

[Marina Scarr]

Grady,

Good point!

It is the same reason I do not advocate posting exact locations of wildlife, birds, etc in public forums. I think it is more prudent to do so on a discretionary basis.

Chas

BIG DITTO!!!! That is one of the negatives IMHO to the social networking scene.

[Ed Cordes]

Terrible example of humans at their worst. I really never thought this info could be "stolen" from our files. We will all be more careful in the future.

[Chris Poole]

[Terrible example of humans at their worst. I really never thought this info could be "stolen" from our files.] As a retired DOJ employee in a certain LE area you would be amazed what someone can obtain from your photographs, emails, profile, facebook account, cell phone usage . One word of advice, be careful what you post and also what you include within your pictures, email and facebook account. There are some bad people out there.

[Grady Weed]

As a retired DOJ employee in a certain LE area you would be amazed what someone can obtain from your photographs, emails, profile, facebook account, cell phone usage . One word of advice, be careful what you post and also what you include within your pictures, email and facebook account. There are some bad people out there.

How true! Thanks everyone for responding.