[wp-hackers] Preserving EXIF data for image resizes

[Philip Downer]

Hi Hackers,

I've followed this list for quite some time, and gleaned a lot of helpful information from each of your posts. Today, I'm running into an issue developing a site/theme for a photographer. Because he is selling stock photography to national publications, he is particularly worried about issues related to orphaned works... Basically, copyrighted material whose source cannot be easily identified. We require that each image on his site, regardless of size, contain the original EXIF data from the uploaded image.

It doesn't appear the WordPress (and many other CMS's) preserve EXIF metadata when images are resized. My question is why not? Is this due to the image libraries that are used, or are there other issues that would result in a  benefit from stripping this data from the image? I do realize that EXIF data is preserved on the original upload and available via the wp_get_attachment_metadata function.

I'm considering putting together a plugin that handles this, but want to first investigate the reasoning behind this functionality and get input from others before proceeding.

I've also found a plugin that, while I've not tested fully, claims to handle this. http://www.tuchesaufntish.com/2011/05/27/preserving-metadata-in-images-uploaded-to-wordpress-sites/

My somewhat limited knowledge of the image processing functionality of WordPress seems to indicated that WP is moving away from using any specific, dedicated library (like GD or ImageMagick) and instead relying on abstraction to determine what capabilities/libraries exist on the host. (See Mike Schroder's presentation on the WP_Image_Editor class http://wordpress.tv/2013/02/13/mike-schroder-image-manipulation-in-wordpress-3-5/ )

Any advice, suggestions or snide remarks as I move forward will be appreciated. :-)

Philip Downer
Office: (406) 585-9406
Cell: (406) 599-0222
Skype: manifestphil
------------------------------------------
Manifest Creative
21000 Frontage Rd., Suite #6
Belgrade, MT 59714

info at manifestbozeman.com
www.manifestbozeman.com

MANIFEST: clear and obvious to the eye or mind.