Adding Date taken to jpeg files

Hi,

I have a bunch of digital photos. I assume that these photos have their
"date taken" stored somewhere (metadata?) in the jpeg files.

Do you know of any software that will allow me to add this date to the photo
(jpeg file). Note that I want to add date to the jpeg file itself without
reducing the size (mega pixels) of the photos. Further if I can use this
utility in batch mode, that will be great !

Thanks,
Vijay

Hello Vijay,

I think that both Exifer (free) and Flash Renamer (small price) will allow
you to change the EXIF data, including the date photo was taken. But be
aware, its a little complicated. There may be more than one date / time
taken data.

People have also suggested PixVue to edit metadata.

DaveCu

Vijay wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have a bunch of digital photos. I assume that these photos have their
> "date taken" stored somewhere (metadata?) in the jpeg files.
>
> Do you know of any software that will allow me to add this date to the photo
> (jpeg file). Note that I want to add date to the jpeg file itself without
> reducing the size (mega pixels) of the photos. Further if I can use this
> utility in batch mode, that will be great !

The shareware utility PIE (Picture Information Extractor) will re-date
files to their EXIF dates, or will rename files with names containing
their EXIF dates and times, or both.

-michael

Music synthesis for 8-bit Apple II's!
Home page: http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/

"The wastebasket is our most important design
tool--and it is seriously underused."

Hi Dave and Michael,

Thanks for yuor answers.

I apologize for not explaining my question correctly. So let me try it again.

I want to add the date taken to the jpeg file so that when I open the files,
I can see the date the snap was taken. Some new cameras have this facilty to
add the date in the right lower corner of the photo. Mine does not have it.
(Olympus C5060W)

So let us say I took a photo today (Dec 18, 2005). I would like to open this
photo on PC, and then would like to add this date (12/18/2005) in its lower
right corner. So if I view this photo again after say one year, I should be
able to see the date on which it was taken.

The following figure may explain it better. The rectangle shown is a photo.
______________________
| |
| |
| |
| mm/dd/yyyy |
|_____________________|

Thanks,
Vijay

"Michael J. Mahon" wrote:

> Vijay wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I have a bunch of digital photos. I assume that these photos have their
> > "date taken" stored somewhere (metadata?) in the jpeg files.
> >
> > Do you know of any software that will allow me to add this date to the photo
> > (jpeg file). Note that I want to add date to the jpeg file itself without
> > reducing the size (mega pixels) of the photos. Further if I can use this
> > utility in batch mode, that will be great !
>
> The shareware utility PIE (Picture Information Extractor) will re-date
> files to their EXIF dates, or will rename files with names containing
> their EXIF dates and times, or both.
>
> -michael
>
> Music synthesis for 8-bit Apple II's!
> Home page: http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/
>
> "The wastebasket is our most important design
> tool--and it is seriously underused."
>

Your's is an unusual request. Most people don't want a date inserted
into their images, since it is: 1) obtrusive, and 2) may obscure some
important part of the picture.

Digital images allow much less intrusive means of dating pictures.
The date it was taken is almost certainly already embedded in the
..jpg file, and can be viewed by many viewers (and even superimposed
on the displayed image) and by Windows XP's "Properties.." display.

This date can be easily used by PIE (and other programs, I'm sure)
to change the *file*'s "Date Modified" date, which will allow
Windows to sort your pictures by date in folder displays. Or the
same program can be used to insert the EXIF date (or date and time)
as a prefix to the current file name so that any name-sorted list
of files will list them in date order. In either case, whenever
the file is viewed, any of these date representations can be seen.

If you still need the date in the picture, possibly because you
want to simulate an auto-dating film camera, you can always do it
with an image processing program that allows typed legends to be
superimposed on the image. Most image processing programs permit
this. Of course, this is not an automatic process.

If your concern is having the "date taken" on all *prints*, then
I would expect that there are printing programs that can do this,
but I have never used one. Photo printing services in my area
offer an option to print file info on the back of each photo.

-michael


Vijay wrote:
> Hi Dave and Michael,
>
> Thanks for yuor answers.
>
> I apologize for not explaining my question correctly. So let me try it again.
>
> I want to add the date taken to the jpeg file so that when I open the files,
> I can see the date the snap was taken. Some new cameras have this facilty to
> add the date in the right lower corner of the photo. Mine does not have it.
> (Olympus C5060W)
>
> So let us say I took a photo today (Dec 18, 2005). I would like to open this
> photo on PC, and then would like to add this date (12/18/2005) in its lower
> right corner. So if I view this photo again after say one year, I should be
> able to see the date on which it was taken.
>
> The following figure may explain it better. The rectangle shown is a photo.
> ______________________
> | |
> | |
> | |
> | mm/dd/yyyy |
> |_____________________|
>
> Thanks,
> Vijay
>
> "Michael J. Mahon" wrote:
>
>
>>Vijay wrote:
>>
>>>Hi,
>>>
>>>I have a bunch of digital photos. I assume that these photos have their
>>>"date taken" stored somewhere (metadata?) in the jpeg files.
>>>
>>>Do you know of any software that will allow me to add this date to the photo
>>>(jpeg file). Note that I want to add date to the jpeg file itself without
>>>reducing the size (mega pixels) of the photos. Further if I can use this
>>>utility in batch mode, that will be great !
>>
>>The shareware utility PIE (Picture Information Extractor) will re-date
>>files to their EXIF dates, or will rename files with names containing
>>their EXIF dates and times, or both.
>>
>>-michael
>>
>>Music synthesis for 8-bit Apple II's!
>>Home page: http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/
>>
>>"The wastebasket is our most important design
>>tool--and it is seriously underused."

Where are the files. The MHT is a new file so it would be right to have a new date. I can tell you how to add the existing date into the file name quickly.

for %A in (*.html) do ren "%A" "%~ntxA"

which runs this command on each file (5:23 is when I created the test file) in a folder

ren "filename.html" "19/12/2005 05:23 AM filename.html"

Now the above won't work where I live as / is a path or switch character and : is a drive character. So I would have to change my regional settings for date/time (use dash [-] and period [.] as they are legal characters) before running the command.


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"Michael J. Mahon" <mjmahon@aol.com> wrote in message news:2KednQEMYKZgGDveRVn-hg@comcast.com...
> Your's is an unusual request. Most people don't want a date inserted
> into their images, since it is: 1) obtrusive, and 2) may obscure some
> important part of the picture.
>
> Digital images allow much less intrusive means of dating pictures.
> The date it was taken is almost certainly already embedded in the
> .jpg file, and can be viewed by many viewers (and even superimposed
> on the displayed image) and by Windows XP's "Properties.." display.
>
> This date can be easily used by PIE (and other programs, I'm sure)
> to change the *file*'s "Date Modified" date, which will allow
> Windows to sort your pictures by date in folder displays. Or the
> same program can be used to insert the EXIF date (or date and time)
> as a prefix to the current file name so that any name-sorted list
> of files will list them in date order. In either case, whenever
> the file is viewed, any of these date representations can be seen.
>
> If you still need the date in the picture, possibly because you
> want to simulate an auto-dating film camera, you can always do it
> with an image processing program that allows typed legends to be
> superimposed on the image. Most image processing programs permit
> this. Of course, this is not an automatic process.
>
> If your concern is having the "date taken" on all *prints*, then
> I would expect that there are printing programs that can do this,
> but I have never used one. Photo printing services in my area
> offer an option to print file info on the back of each photo.
>
> -michael
>
>
> Vijay wrote:
>> Hi Dave and Michael,
>>
>> Thanks for yuor answers.
>>
>> I apologize for not explaining my question correctly. So let me try it again.
>>
>> I want to add the date taken to the jpeg file so that when I open the files,
>> I can see the date the snap was taken. Some new cameras have this facilty to
>> add the date in the right lower corner of the photo. Mine does not have it.
>> (Olympus C5060W)
>>
>> So let us say I took a photo today (Dec 18, 2005). I would like to open this
>> photo on PC, and then would like to add this date (12/18/2005) in its lower
>> right corner. So if I view this photo again after say one year, I should be
>> able to see the date on which it was taken.
>>
>> The following figure may explain it better. The rectangle shown is a photo.
>> ______________________
>> | |
>> | |
>> | |
>> | mm/dd/yyyy |
>> |_____________________|
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Vijay
>>
>> "Michael J. Mahon" wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Vijay wrote:
>>>
>>>>Hi,
>>>>
>>>>I have a bunch of digital photos. I assume that these photos have their
>>>>"date taken" stored somewhere (metadata?) in the jpeg files.
>>>>
>>>>Do you know of any software that will allow me to add this date to the photo
>>>>(jpeg file). Note that I want to add date to the jpeg file itself without
>>>>reducing the size (mega pixels) of the photos. Further if I can use this
>>>>utility in batch mode, that will be great !
>>>
>>>The shareware utility PIE (Picture Information Extractor) will re-date
>>>files to their EXIF dates, or will rename files with names containing
>>>their EXIF dates and times, or both.
>>>
>>>-michael
>>>
>>>Music synthesis for 8-bit Apple II's!
>>>Home page: http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/
>>>
>>>"The wastebasket is our most important design
>>>tool--and it is seriously underused."

David Candy wrote:
> Where are the files. The MHT is a new file so it would be right to have a new date. I can tell you how to add the existing date into the file name quickly.
>
> for %A in (*.html) do ren "%A" "%~ntxA"
>
> which runs this command on each file (5:23 is when I created the test file) in a folder
>
> ren "filename.html" "19/12/2005 05:23 AM filename.html"
>
> Now the above won't work where I live as / is a path or switch character and : is a drive character. So I would have to change my regional settings for date/time (use dash [-] and period [.] as they are legal characters) before running the command.
>
>
I am sure either of IrfanView or Pixvue can do this for you.

Both are free for non-commercial use I believe

RoboGeo (http://robogeo.com) is a tool mainly used for adding location
data to photos, but has a feature for "stamping" this info on the
photo. IMO adding date the photo was taken to the photo is obstrusive,
but it might be what you are looking for.

- jose

Jose Oliver wrote:
> RoboGeo (http://robogeo.com) is a tool mainly used for adding location
> data to photos, but has a feature for "stamping" this info on the
> photo. IMO adding date the photo was taken to the photo is obstrusive,
> but it might be what you are looking for.
>
> - jose
>
Jose - that looks like one neat utility.

I've noticed the GPS field in metadata but nver really know how to
access it. The utility seems to do a neat job of that...

Yes it does, but if you want to try out adding location data to photos
check out the World Wide Media Exchange Project - http://wwmx.org.
There are some tools which you can download which allow you to quickly
add/edit/view location data with or without a GPS device.

- jose