Automated EXIF Processing System

This Jekyll site includes automated EXIF metadata processing to ensure all images are properly branded with professional metadata while maintaining security by removing potentially sensitive information.

Overview

The EXIF processing system automatically:

• Strips all existing EXIF data from images (removes GPS, camera info, etc.)
• Adds professional branding metadata identifying images as assets from your website
• Runs during every Jekyll build ensuring consistent metadata across all images

Components

1. Jekyll Plugin (_plugins/exif_processor.rb)

• Hooks into Jekyll’s build process using post_write hook
• Processes all images in the assets/images/ directory
• Configurable via _config.yml
• Provides detailed logging during build

2. Build Script (build.sh)

• Professional build script with colored output
• Checks dependencies (bundler, exiftool)
• Supports multiple build modes
• Verifies EXIF processing completion

3. Configuration (_config.yml)

• exif_processing section controls behavior
• Customizable metadata fields
• File type and path exclusions

Usage

Using the Build Script (Recommended)

# Basic development build
./build.sh

# Production build
./build.sh --production

# Clean build and serve
./build.sh --clean --serve

# Help
./build.sh --help

Using Jekyll Directly

# Standard Jekyll build (EXIF processing runs automatically)
bundle exec jekyll build

# Development server
bundle exec jekyll serve

Configuration

EXIF Processing Settings (_config.yml)

exif_processing:
  enabled: true                           # Enable/disable processing
  image_extensions: [jpg, jpeg, png, webp]  # File types to process
  exclude_paths: ['_site/', 'vendor/']      # Paths to skip
  metadata:
    creator: "Steve Regester"
    copyright: "© 2025 Steve Regester - Technology Consulting"
    source: "https://egeste.net"
    # ... additional metadata fields

Supported Metadata Fields

• creator - Image creator/author
• artist - Artist name
• copyright - Copyright notice
• copyright_notice - Additional copyright info
• rights - Rights statement
• source - Source URL/website
• credit - Credit line
• contact - Contact information
• keywords - Comma-separated keywords
• subject - Image subject/description
• title - Image title
• description - Detailed description

Security Benefits

Privacy Protection

• Removes GPS coordinates from photos
• Strips camera make/model information
• Eliminates timestamps and technical metadata
• Removes software information

Professional Branding

• Consistent metadata across all images
• Copyright protection
• Source attribution
• Contact information for licensing

Requirements

System Dependencies

• Ruby (for Jekyll)
• Bundler (gem dependency management)
• ExifTool (metadata processing)

Installing ExifTool

# macOS
brew install exiftool

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install libimage-exiftool-perl

# Other systems
# Download from https://exiftool.org/

Troubleshooting

EXIF Processing Skipped

If you see warnings about skipped processing:

1. Check ExifTool installation:

   which exiftool
   exiftool -ver
   

2. Verify configuration:
   • Ensure exif_processing.enabled: true in _config.yml
   • Check that image files exist in assets/images/
3. Check build logs:
   • Look for “EXIF Processor” messages during build
   • Run ./build.sh for detailed output

Build Issues

• Ensure all dependencies are installed: bundle install
• Clear caches: ./build.sh --clean
• Check Ruby version compatibility

Customization

Adding New Image Types

Edit _config.yml:

exif_processing:
  image_extensions: [jpg, jpeg, png, webp, gif, tiff]

Excluding Additional Paths

exif_processing:
  exclude_paths: ['_site/', 'vendor/', 'temp/', 'backup/']

Disabling for Development

exif_processing:
  enabled: false  # Temporarily disable processing

Build Integration

The EXIF processing system integrates seamlessly with:

• GitHub Pages (if ExifTool is available)
• Netlify (with build script configuration)
• Local development (immediate processing)
• CI/CD pipelines (automated deployment)

Metadata Verification

To verify metadata was applied correctly:

# Check a specific image
exiftool assets/images/your-image.png

# Find images with your branding
find assets/images -name "*.png" -exec exiftool {} \; | grep "Steve Regester"

Performance Notes

• Processing adds ~1-2 seconds to build time
• Only processes images that have changed (when possible)
• Minimal impact on final image file sizes
• No quality loss during processing

Professional Jekyll Site Steve Regester - Technology Consulting & Engineering Leadership https://egeste.net