EXIF Data is now included in the latest release of FooGallery PRO. This feature gives you the ability to show the EXIF data for each of the images in your gallery.

What is EXIF Data?

EXIF, or Exchangeable Image File, is metadata or information that is stored when you take a digital photograph. This is descriptive information that gives you specific details about the photograph. This could include items like the camera that was used, the shutter speed, date, time, whether a flash was used, the exposure, and so on.

When Should You Display This Information?

EXIF Data can be particularly useful for professional photographers, or those trying to improve on their photography skills. This is because it records the specifics of when and how an image was taken. This allows the photographer to better understand what worked (and what didn’t).

Understanding this information also means understanding how you can adjust the image by making changes to some of these factors. Changing the shutter speed or the exposure, or adding a flash, could result in a very different photo. This data can also be used when editing the photo.

But many photographers also choose to display this information with the image. This helps others to understand how a photo was taken, while also showing the date and time, and what camera was used. All of this can help other professional and amateur photographers to better understand the art of photography.

However, when it comes to displaying photos on your website, this data can increase your file size. This can have an impact on your page speed. So while this is a great addition to a gallery for photographers, it is still a good idea to optimize images and only include this data where necessary.

FooGallery and EXIF Data

The great news for those wanting to display EXIF Data, is that FooGallery PRO now allows you to do so. You can include this information with your gallery images and use the thumbnail EXIF icon to indicate the presence of EXIF data in your galleries.

EXIF Data on FooGallery PRO lightbox

The FooGallery PRO lightbox can be set up to display your EXIF Data (as in the above screenshot). This info shows below the caption area and gives details about the camera, aperture, date, and so on.

Your gallery thumbnails will also indicate the presence of EXIF Data by showing a small EXIF icon in one of the thumbnail corners.

EXIF Icon on gallery thumbnails

Displaying Your Data

We’ve made it simple to display your EXIF metadata, while also giving you a few options in terms of styling.

You’ll find these settings in the EXIF tab of your gallery settings, where you’ll need to enable them for the galleries in which you want them to show. Once enabled, you can tweak the settings to suit yours, and your users’ needs.

EXIF Data settings in FooGallery PRO

The first option is to choose the position of your thumbnail icon, such as bottom left or top right. You can then choose a light or dark theme for your icon. Alternatively, you can set it to None if you prefer not to have this icon on your thumbs.

The Attribute Layout refers to the way in which the EXIF attributes show on the image, when opened in the lightbox. The attributes show an icon, along with the corresponding word and the value for the image. Here’s how this appears when the lightbox captions are set to appear on the left of the lightbox.

Exif attributes displayed in the lightbox

By default, the layout is set to Auto. This adjusts how much information is shown, depending on the size of the screen. So a mobile user might only see the icon, while someone on a desktop would see the icon, word and value, as shown above. You can alternatively set the Attribute layout to Full, Partial or Minimal.

Regardless of the layout you choose, there is a tooltip which shows the value for each attribute on hover. (This displays on tap for mobile users.)

For more info on these and other settings, take a look at this document.

Final Notes

With this new feature, you can now use FooGallery PRO to display the EXIF data for your photos.

We’ve kept this feature as lightweight as possible, but have still given you several options for customizing it. To add to this, EXIF Data works with the FooGallery PRO lightbox, which you can customize to show your captions and this metadata effectively.

All of this means that you now have even more options for creating stunning and unique photo galleries!