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Photo guidelines
ViewMatch Pro is driven by the photo's embedded EXIF metadata — focal length, GPS, heading, tilt and capture time — which describes the geometry of the original frame. The image straight from the camera is always the safe choice. But "unedited" is stricter than strictly necessary; here's the real rule.
The real rule
Don't change the geometry, and keep the metadata. Edits that only change pixel values (color, exposure) leave the match intact. Edits that change pixel positions (cropping, straightening, lens correction) silently break the agreement between the image and its EXIF — even when the EXIF survives the save.
✓ Safe edits (metadata kept, geometry untouched)
- Exposure, white balance, curves, contrast, saturation, clarity / dehaze
- Sharpening and noise reduction
- Small spot healing / dust removal
- Converting RAW/DNG to JPEG — if your exporter keeps the metadata (Photoshop "Save As" and Lightroom Export with metadata enabled do; see the RAW caution below)
✗ Breaks the match (even though the EXIF may survive)
- Cropping — the recorded focal length describes the original framing
- Straightening / rotate-to-level, perspective or keystone correction
- Lens / distortion correction, including automatic profile corrections
- Panorama stitching, multi-frame HDR merges, generative fill / expand
✗ Strips the metadata entirely
- "Save for Web" and most social-media, messaging and email "optimized" exports
- Screenshots of a photo
- Most online converter / compressor sites
RAW caution. Raw processors (Camera Raw, Lightroom and phone raw pipelines) often apply lens profile corrections by default when developing a RAW or DNG — for many mirrorless and phone lenses the correction is built in and easy to miss. A "color-only" raw edit can therefore still change the geometry. If you develop from RAW for ViewMatch, disable profile / geometry corrections and any auto-crop — or simpler, shoot RAW+JPEG and give ViewMatch the out-of-camera JPEG.
How you'll know
ViewMatch checks the metadata it needs the moment you select a photo — the confirm screen shows exactly which tags were found (focal length, GPS, orientation). If an edit stripped something, you'll see it immediately. What no software can detect is a silent geometry change with intact EXIF — that's why the rules above are about geometry, not about editing in general.
Questions? support@viewmatchpro.com