Why does nobody talk about how AI image tools quietly strip the camera data from every file
I run a small print shop side gig out of my garage in Boise and last month a guy brought in three AI generated landscape shots on a flash drive, all marked as his own photos. Every single file had zero EXIF data, no camera, no lens, no timestamp, just a blank slate that no real camera on earth produces. Meanwhile the actual photos he shot on his Canon showed up with full metadata, so it took me about two minutes to figure out which was which. I know it sounds petty but this is how you catch people entering fake work into local art shows. Has anyone else been checking file data on submissions, or am I the only one doing this?
Man, that has to be frustrating when you are just trying to do right by the local art scene and someone rolls in with files that are basically naked. You are not being petty at all, checking metadata is one of the few things a small shop can actually do to protect real photographers who put in the work. A blank EXIF sheet on something claiming to be a photo is a huge red flag, real cameras always leave some kind of trail even if it is just basic stuff. Keep doing what you are doing, because the folks entering shows with fake work are counting on nobody bothering to look.