When Barack Obama became the 44th President of the United States, “change” was the word everyone associated with the new administration.

For many, having a technologically adept President was one of those welcome changes. So, when Obama’s official portrait was released, it was less than shocking to learn that it was the first time that an official Presidential portrait was taken with a digital camera.

The fact that the picture was taken digitally is definitely a positive step into the 21st century. What is super neat about digital photographs is that anytime an image is taken, as opposed to film, all of the original data can be accessed, things such as date, time, camera model, etc. 

For example, Obama’s official portrait was taken on January 13th, at 5:38 pm, shot by White House photographer Pete Souza on a Canon EOS 5D Mark II.

Just as Obama has said “Transparency and rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency,” anyone with photo software can now also peek inside every officially released White House photo.

This photo was released on Obama’s change.gov