Data or Process That Differentiates Newly Captured Photo/Video Vs. Existing Photo/Video?

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Level 1

12 points

Data or Process That Differentiates Newly Captured Photo/Video Vs. Existing Photo/Video?

The heart of what I'm trying to get is: how do you know a newly created photo in iOS was generated by the phone that captured it versus any other photo in the camera roll? In other words, what quantifiable data/metric either 1) differentiates a newly created photo or video from any other photo or video in a person's camera roll or 2) could be used to ascribe the picture or video to that device?

In order to answer this, I think one direction to take this exploration is a focus on the input/output data recorded in iOS when a photo or video is captured and how iOS processes them. Is the user-inputted click of the camera that initiates photo or video capture recorded in iOS? Are the signals generated by the CMOS chip in the camera (which quantifies the light hitting it such that the real-life snapshot can be represented by pixels on a digital screen) recorded or accessible by iOS? Is there any additional output data with the newly captured photo/video that marks it as having just been created, or is there any process running parallel to the image/video creation that could be used to 'tag' the output photo/video as a product of a live image/video capture? Any and all information would be much appreciated.

iPhone 6s, iOS 11, Not particular to any iPhone/OS

Posted on Jan 10, 2018 4:35 PM

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Answer 1

VikingOSX

Level 10

125,368 points

Jan 11, 2018 10:37 AM in response to CryptoMike

The EXIF data in the image will show the phone make, model, lens data, and the origination date of the photo. Other photos from the same camera will vary by the date originated. An image downloaded from the Internet may (most likely) or may not have had its EXIF data scrubbed for privacy, and if intact, an SLR camera detail, or Photoshop would clearly not have originated from the phone. You will need an iOS EXIF viewer to drill into these image details. There are some in the iOS App Store.

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Answer 2

Yer_Man

Level 10

166,224 points

Jan 11, 2018 10:42 AM in response to CryptoMike

I am trying to find a way to prove the integrity of a photo so that a photo taken with the iPhone camera can be marked as being an original, or organically created, as opposed to photos that have been edited or taken from the internet

There is no way. The metadata that might prove it - the Exif - can be easily overwritten. it'll take you about 3 minutes with your favourite search engine to figure out how.

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Answer 3

Jan 11, 2018 7:17 AM in response to CryptoMike

I am a bit confused about what you want to do, but the EXIF data should have the time of capture.

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Answer 4

CryptoMike Author

Level 1

12 points

Jan 11, 2018 9:04 AM in response to Keith Barkley

I am trying to find a way to prove the integrity of a photo so that a photo taken with the iPhone camera can be marked as being an original, or organically created, as opposed to photos that have been edited or taken from the internet. In order to do this, I figured the best place to start would be to determine what is fundamentally different between organically captured photos and ones that are edited afterwards/downloaded from the internet.

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