Export photo with metadata?

file menu ==> export

kind = jpeg

check title and keywords and location information (if you want that)

iPhoto copies the original photo to the iPhoto library (by default) including the EXIF data - changes while in iPhoto are in the iPhoto database - when you export the photo the changes are added back in so your exported photo has the EXIF and IPTC data

It has been reported that some fields can get lost and/or corrupted when you modify a photo - I've not seen that - but I've not done a lot of bringing photos out of iPhoto either

LN

Yes, you are missing something really simple. 😉

Seriously:

Select the pic in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export. Set the kind to jpeg and check the box at 'Titles and Keywords' and you'll get the Titles, Keywords and Descriptions (though the latter is not explicitly mentioned), and check the other box for the Location information. It writes the information to standard IPTC. The Exif that was captured with the photo when it was taken is exported with the file unchanged, unless you edited the date and time.

Regards

TD

I guess my confusion lies with the fact that I tagged thousands of pictures in Picasa, which iPhoto promptly ignored when I switched to a Mac.

That indicates to me that Picasa either did not include the data or it was in a non-standard field or was a non-standard entry

What metadata did you add using Picasa - and what leads you to believe that iPhoto "ignored" it?

So I'm hesitant to begin re-tagging thousands of photos if that data won't be retained.

I'd suggest you do a small test of tenor so photos as see if your specific requirements will be met

My understanding was that Picasa stored the metadata in the file itself

No idea - contact Google for Picasa support

while iPhoto stores the metadata in the database.

Yes and no - iPhoto does not mess with the EXIF and IPTC data - it does pull some out into the database and if you make changes those changes are recorded in the database UNTIL you export the photo

Which still confuses me as to why the Picasa metadata, which should be part of the thousands of photos, didn't make it into iPhoto.

That indicates to me that Picasa either did not include the data or it was in a non-standard field or was a non-standard entry

LN