Treasure Classifieds Forum

Diggers, there's been a few posts/threads where people have voiced their concern over posting a field photo, for fear of someone tagging or finding out their location. To be sure...

Any device - phone, camera, video cameras, etc. that uses GPS tagging, WILL store certain geographic information on the photo file. However...

Being since we're a forum, with members spread out all over the country, the likelihood of someone tracking your hunting spot would be pretty slim. Furthermore, I'd like to think our members have a bit more honesty & scruples. Again though, someone WOULD be able to do it, if they were so inclined. If this concerns you, here's how to EASILY NEVER HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT IT...

1. BEFORE going on a hunt, simply turn off the GPS feature on your phone or camera. I don't use a camera in the field, only my iphone. If you use an iphone, here's what you do...

Go into SETTINGS - PRIVACY - LOCATION SERVICES. In location services, there will be an option to turn OFF GPS. Do this.

That's it, easy as pie! If you don't use an iphone, just google how to turn off the GPS for your specific phone model or camera, and hundreds of pages will come up to show you how...it's very simple

Doing this before you take photos on your hunt, will not allow ANY geographical information to be stored on the photos themselves. Now...

What if you forget to turn off your GPS, can't figure it out, or, have older photos you'd like to upload to a website WITHOUT having someone potentially get geographical information? That too is quite easy...

Most phones (I'm pretty sure 99% of people use phones as their cameras nowadays) and cameras take photos as jpegs. And YES, again, if your phone or camera utilizes GPS, and it's NOT turned off, information will be stored on the file. The fix? You simply need to strip the data off the jpeg. How? By converting it to a PNG file. Converting a jpeg to a PNG will strip the photo of ALL geographic, time, phone/camera info. Furthermore, most sites (including ours) can handle PNG formats, so, you can easily upload it to virtually any website. If a website CANNOT handle a PNG format, simply re-convert the PNG back into a jpeg. It'll lose some image quality, but, ALL of the data will be stripped

Here's a site I use to convert the jpegs on my iphone into PNG's...

http://www.pictureresize.org/online-imag...erter.html

It's fast, free & works great. Just follow the instructions carefully, and choose the correct option from the drop down menu. You have to do it again on a second page, and once your image is converted, make sure to download the newly formatted PNG.

There should be ZERO worries over this stuff, guys. Just have to know the workarounds. To make it simple...

Turn OFF the GPS on your phone or camera BEFORE going on a hunt & taking photos

Joe

I was just thinking about that the other day.  They talk about police investigators using info like this from Facebook posts and texting and stuff.  So if you post field picks people can find out exactly where you found some sweet old coins.  Thanks for the post.

One of the reasons I shoot almost all of my pics at home after the hunt, even if it was taken with my phone, I email it to myself first then download it to my PC, then take it through edit software and delete even that EXIF. Never can be too careful. I've often wondered why I find open holes in areas I've previously searched. Are they watching me and following or getting the info off my pics. It's a big concern. Good info Joe. Thanks for the link.

Ed

(07-13-2014 11:42 PM)Ohio Dirt Fisher Wrote: [ -> ]One of the reasons I shoot almost all of my pics at home after the hunt, even if it was taken with my phone, I email it to myself first then download it to my PC, then take it through edit software and delete even that EXIF. Never can be too careful. I've often wondered why I find open holes in areas I've previously searched. Are they watching me and following or getting the info off my pics. It's a big concern. Good info Joe. Thanks for the link.

Ed

Ed, 110% correct The geographical (and other) 'data' I mentioned above is called EXIF DATA. Once again...

If you would like NOT to have to strip any data from your photos, simply turn off the GPS service on your phone or camera BEFORE taking pictures on a hunt. Doing this will prevent ANY data from being stored on the photos themselves. If you DON'T turn off the GPS, and would like to upload photos without prying eyes seeing the EXIF DATA...

Simply follow the steps I outlined above, by converting the jpeg to a PNG file

Joe

You know guys... I was never really that concerned or gave it much thought but now that you mention it... Not a bad idea. I don't really take many pics in the field anyway but I occasionally do.