Digital Light & Color

I apologize, if this question is off topic, for this forum, but decided I'd ask, because this forum deals, in some capacity, with the modification/management of digital pictures. I want pointers, on the best methods, for removing, the time/date stamp, from my digital pictures, and I don't have Adobe Photoshop - I've tried to find information, on the internet, but most of it seems to be written for Photoshop, which I don't have, or have access to, at the moment.

I've tried the Resynthesizer plug-in, for The Gimp, but it doesn't seem to produce acceptable results. Do I have to 'bite the bullet', and get Photoshop (or Photoshop Elements), or are there other alternatives, that are either better or cheaper?

Thanks for chiming in.

Darius

Darius,

I will assume you are asking how to remove the time/date stamp that is imbedded in a photo in the EXIF (or maybe IPTC) metadata. To do that with PWP, and again assuming you are asking about a jpeg file, proceed to save the jpeg file and in the save dialog select the menu item that says to save neither the profile or the comments. This is the simplest and most effective method. It is similar to the PhotoShop "save for Web" procedure, which also removes EXIF info.

Another option is to save the file in some other format that does not allow for imbedded metadata. For example, you can save the file as a *.png file, and the reload it and save it as a jpeg.

There are also multiple time stamps associated with any photo that are manipulated by Windows, and are not imbedded with the file -- the create date, the last modified date, the last accessed date. You can alter those dates with programs like XnView (use a search engine to find it, it is free), but you cannot remove those dates entirely.

Bob Walker

Darius, for what i have seen after a quick search for that Resynthesizer plugin you have mentioned you want to remove a "printed in" date in your pictures ?
The best method is of course not to use this function of the camera anyway, if it is really needed the date can be inserted later with a picture editing program.
But you have the date already in the picture, so it can be just a advice for the future.
What i have seen about that plugin it depends a lot on the picture if it works well or not. If you have a detailed area with lots of fine details in the area where the date is printed in, no algorithmus in this world will remove it automatically.
With PWP (you can download a 30 day test version) the best way would be to use the Clone Tool to "overpaint" the inprinted numbers with the surrounding details of the image.
You can read about tips and tricks for cloning in the white paper "Image Retouching Techniques"
http://ftp2.bmtmicro.com/dlc/Retouch.pdf
I don't really know The Gimp, but for sure it has a simliar function, too.

You can also use PWP's Speck Removal tool and manually drag it over the imprinted numbers on the image. The results will depend somewhat on the image content.

...perhaps if there is enough 'real estate' one could crop for an artful composition using 'guides' with a 'golden' aspect ratio that would eliminate the image area containing the time/date... ...sometimes this may also shorten post-processing for 'light fall off', 'lens distortion', etc., corrections as these affected image areas may be eliminated or reduced to be no longer objectionable as well....