Exif data can also contain comments and other information that many users might not want to distribute with their photos.

Jhead is a command line application that can display the contents of the exif file for one or multiple jpeg images. More powerful than revealing the contents of the exif data is the use as an exif metadata editor. Jhead can edit, add and remove data from selected jpeg photos easily. The huge list of commands is available at the developer’s website. It ranges from replacing exif data with data from another photo, manipulating date, time, thumbnails and general data.

The default command jhead filename will output the exif metadata of the selected file or files (wildcards are possible, e.g. jhead *.jpg) in the command line

Jhead is available for Microsoft Windows and Linux operating systems. It can be downloaded from the developer’s website.

Geotagging is a feature that is not supported by many digital cameras yet but it will surely be a very powerful feature in the coming years. The Microsoft utility provides easy access to that feature and the ability to add geographic information to each image including street address, city, country and even gps data. Pictures can be placed on a virtual map next to locations they have been taken.

Longitude and Latitude are automatically added to the picture when a town and country have been selected. Microsoft Pro Photo Tools do not offer any additional features besides editing metadata but Microsoft has plans to add new features and functions to their software. It is currently in consideration to give third party developers access so that they can provide plugins and add-ons for the software.

The software can be downloaded from Microsoft directly and requires that your computer passes a genuine advantage check before starting the download.

One tool that automates part of the process is AmoK Exif Sorter which was mentioned in the excellent Shell Extension City blog. You can add files and folders to the software and use part of the Exif data to rename the photo. The default output will use the data and time when the photo was taken as the filename.

This can be changed, various variables from the Exif information can be added and removed to create unique filenames. It is furthermore possible to add custom text as well. I usually rename on a folder by folder basis and add the country and town to the filename as well as the date and remove the time instead.

The Exif Sorter takes care of the folder structure as well, the default format is Year/Month/Day which can be customized as well. The filenames can be further customized in the options by selecting the separator and digit format for instance. Subfolders are processed by default which can be turned off.

The default language of the program is German which can be changed to English by clicking on Datei > Optionen. Just click on the pulldown menu named Sprache and select Englisch from the menu. All menu entries will be in English after the next restart.

AmoK Exif Sorter provides an excellent semi-automatic way of renaming image collections.