Filter out images with no Exif metadata

[bodhisattwawiki]

It has been noticed few times before that photographs without Exif metadata has passed through the final stages without getting noticed as there is no way to recognize them on the Montage tool. It would be helpful if an option is provided to filter out such images.

[lgelauff]

Why would we want to filter out such images? What is the goal you're trying to achieve?

[mahmoud]

Hey @bodhisattwawiki thanks for the request! Is EXIF metadata often required for eligibility in WL* contests? If you could provide a link to a contest that documents that requirement, I'd be happy to look into the technicals of implementing this :)

[bodhisattwawiki]

There is no hard requirement related to EXIF metadata for any WLX competition during the review process. I am aware of the disadvantages and the possibilities of the manipulations which can be done with the metadata, but the metadata information is great for documentation and also to identify if it is coming directly from a camera as claimed by the photographer, IMHO, which is crucial to find out before declaring results.

[lgelauff]

If you want to use it as a filter in Montage, it would effectively become a hard criterion. I would personally be cautious to disqualify images based on something like that (but hard criteria are of course the prerogative of national organizers - as long as you clearly communicate them).

I'm mostly wondering what you're trying to achieve, because there may be other ways to achieve that. If your goal is for example to encourage participants to submit files with metadata, you might consider running a daily query (can be simple python script on PAWS) where you look for WLM images without exif metadata, and then approach that photographer with the request to add that.