Photo and image redaction: faces, licence plates, signs

Not all sensitive data is text. Faces of bystanders in photos, licence plates in car park scans, whiteboard shots with company names — here's what the rules say and how to handle it.

PDFs with embedded images often contain far more personal data than the text alone. Whiteboard photos, event shots in presentations, camera footage.

Types of sensitive content in images

• Faces of people who have not explicitly consented to publication.
• Vehicle licence plates.
• Name badges at conferences.
• Whiteboard content showing client or project names.
• Screens with visible data (Teams chats, dashboards).
• Location identifiers (street names, company buildings).

Approach

1. List all images embedded in your PDF.
2. For each image: what sensitive content is visible?
3. Edit: blur, black rectangle, or replace with a placeholder.
4. Re-export to PDF.
5. Verify: zoom in on the redacted areas. Still readable?

Blur vs. black rectangle

A blur looks cleaner than a black bar, but beware: a light blur can still be partially reversed by deblurring software. For highly sensitive content, use a solid black rectangle or replace with placeholder text.

GDPR framework

Faces are personal data. Publishing them without a legal basis is a violation. When in doubt: blur.

See also: redaction guide, GDPR overview.