Category Archives: Site News

Mouse Over Images to See EXIF

The discussion on my earlier post asking whether people wanted to see EXIF data or not was interesting, but no clear conclusion emerged. Many felt – and I tend to agree – that the posts are generally more about the photographs as images than about the photographs as technical exercises. However, quite a few – even some who don’t want the viewing experience interrupted by technical stuff – did say that there are at least times when they are interested in knowing about some of these matters.

With this in mind, I have added a small plugin to the site that will display very basic EXIF data if you mouse over images in posts. Move your mouse over one of them and you should see the basics: camera model, aperture, ISO, focal length and so forth.

This plugin seems like a reasonable compromise until I (or someone else?) can find something even better. Let me know if it works for you. And, as always, if you want to know more about a photograph just leave a comment and I’ll try to reply – and I’m happy to try to respond to the wide range of possible questions, not just the technical issues.

A Question: Data or Not?

Until recently I included some basic exposure data with each of my daily photographs, listing the camera and lens used, the focal length, ISO, aperture, and shutter speed. When I switched to a new blog format a week or so ago, I made a few other changes at the same time. One of these was to eliminate the technical shot data from the posts.

To explain my thinking a bit, there were two reasons behind the decision. First, the shot information included links to a vendor with whom I had an affiliate relationship. The equipment listing allowed me to help readers who were looking for the very equipment that I used to make the shots to locate it online and make a purchase through this vendor. When the vendor abruptly cancelled its affiliate relationships with all California-based blogs at the end of June, it obviously no longer made sense to include those links. Second, I like to think that there are more important things about the photographs than the aperture, shutter speed, and camera/lens used to make them. In some ways, I have always thought it was just a bit odd that photographers have historically often included this technical information – while musicians rarely list the instrument they play and I’ve never seen a painting include data about the brand of brush used to make it! :-)

However, I get email. And several readers have very politely asked what happened to the exposure information, and some have asked that I again include it.

What do you think? Would you like to see it included again? Let me know by leaving a comment on this post. Thanks!

Fasten Your Seatbelt – I’m Going to Try a New Theme… or Two

The blog theme that I’ve been using here for some time is so old that it apparently does not support some current wordpress features that I want to use. While there might be ways to work around this situation, given enough code hacking and patience… I think I may just try moving to a more modern theme.

Over the next day or so, things may change in strange and complicated ways. I hope that any problems are temporary, and I’ll keep the current (or old, if you are reading this after the update) theme around in case I need to make a hasty retreat!

And, no, the photograph of a lake shore that shows up by default in the header is not my photo – I hope to fix that very soon!

Borders and Watermarks

From time to time people ask about the border around my photographs and the inclusion of various text elements within them. Since the question came up again recently I thought I’d explain.

John Muir Trail, Yosemite
The John Muir Trail crosses Cathedral Pass near Cathedral Peak on a late-summer morning

First, borders and watermarks and all the rest are an intrusion in an image, and we would all prefer to see photographs without those elements – preferably in the form of beautiful prints. Prints are the target output for my photography, and online versions are merely stand-ins for the prints. In an ideal world, it would be lovely to be able to share photographs online in an equivalent form.

However, I have to balance my desire to share with the realization that being overly innocent about these things is unwise.Opinions about this vary widely — ranging from those who feel fine about putting full size photographs out there “as is” to those who won’t share anything online at all. My position lies between those extremes. I think that it is possible to enjoy my photographs as they are presented on the web — at least that’s what people tell me! I also understand that no technique can completely thwart the bad guys. So I have arrived at a balance that works for me.

I do several things with photographs that I release “into the wild” in electronic form: Continue reading Borders and Watermarks