Updates to uploads

Over the last couple of months, we've been beavering away under the Blipfoto bonnet (that's a 'hood', Captain America), making some fairly major changes to the way images are uploaded. We think we've just about got it nailed and plan to release an updated version of the site this coming Monday (26 November).

Most of the changes we've been making are so we can use your camera's 'EXIF' data in various ways on the site.

"Hang on! What on Earth is EXIF data?"

EXIF stands for 'Exchangeable Image File Format' (yes, we know that should probably be 'EIFF', but we didn't invent it). It's officially described as "a standard for storing interchange information in image files".

"Uh... OK... could I have that in English please?"

With pleasure.

Every time you take a picture, your digital camera stores a whole bunch of extra information and saves it as part of your picture. This includes things like your camera make and model, the settings you used and the time and date the picture was taken. Unless you do something which specifically removes this data from your file (more on that later), this information will remain embedded in your photo when you copy it off your camera, work on it in an image editor and upload it to Blipfoto.

Blipfoto is growing steadily, both in terms of the number of contributors and their geographical spread. Making use of the EXIF data in your images is really important to help us manage this growth properly and improve some of the things we didn't think about when there were only ten of us using the site. So, once we've released this update:

- you won't need to select a date for your entry - the site will do it for you based on the date from your camera

- being in a non-UK time zone won't affect when you can or can't upload images

- the core 'taken-on-the-day' principle of Blipfoto will be reinforced every time an image is uploaded

- you'll have the option to automatically display your camera model and the settings used on your journal entries

We've been prodding around with your EXIF data over the last few months (that's what that tingling sensation was all about), so we know how many contributors have useable dates in their images and how many don't. Please rest assured that we wouldn't be doing this if we weren't absolutely confident that the experience of the overwhelming majority of contributors was going to improve as a result, but we know there will be a small number of people who will have to change a thing or two to make it work for them.

We also understand that there are completely valid situations in which your EXIF data may be wrong or non-existent. So, as long as a genuine reason is provided, the moderators will check and approve your image for publication on the site. This will naturally take a bit longer than an image with intact EXIF data, but it won't stop you uploading altogether.

"This all sounds complicated. I'm frightened..!"

Please don't worry about this - once you see the new upload process in action, you'll find everything explained step-by-step as you go. For the last week, a small group of contributors have been uploading successfully using the new system, so we know it's working in practice.

To help make the switchover as painless as possible, we've also set up a test page which allows you to upload an image and check that there's useable date information in it. You can find it here:

http://www.blipfoto.com/exif_check.php

If you get a green tick and the date is correct, you're all sorted and ready to go.

If you get a green tick but the date is wrong, you need to set the time and date on your camera correctly.

If you get a red cross and you've edited your image before upload (e.g. using Photoshop), make sure you're not losing the EXIF data in the editing process (see below).

"How can I make sure I don't lose my EXIF data when I edit?"

Most of the simple photo management and editing tools (like iPhoto on the Mac) will retain the EXIF data on your image, even if you crop, rotate, or adjust the colours.

It's also easy to keep your EXIF data intact when using Photoshop by following a couple of simple rules:

1. If you're cutting and pasting several images together, make sure you use one of the images as your base canvas. If you create a new, blank document then paste other elements into it, it won't contain any EXIF data.

2. Don't use 'Save for web' as it strips out all your EXIF data. Instead, convert your image to sRGB (Edit menu > Convert to profile) then 'Save as' a JPEG.

"What else is changing?"

Just one more thing, but it's almost as important.

As things currently stand, if one of our moderators sees something that breaks the rules, they hit a magic button which deletes the whole entry, including the image, description, views, comments and ratings. If you're on the receiving end of that, we know it can be a bit of a pain, especially if it was for something that could have been fixed quite easily.

So, starting next week, most moderated entries will be temporarily 'suspended' instead of being deleted and you'll have a chance to fix and re-submit the entry for approval (think of it as a virtual 'naughty step'). If you fix the problem and the moderators are OK with it, it'll re-appear on the site with everything else still intact. (But don't forget, our moderators still have the big red 'delete' button for extra-naughty people...)

Thanks for reading. If you have any questions about the above, please drop them in the comments below so that everyone can see the answer. We'll have to take the site offline for an hour or two on Monday morning to make the changes, but we'll update you via the Blipblog once it's all up and running again.