How do I retain metadata on pictures when exporting?

Question

Level 1

4 points

How do I retain metadata on pictures when exporting?

I have seen this problem posted here and I also have failed trying to export my iphone pictures that are saved on my mac running Big Sur 11.6 to an external drive.

My workaround for now is to open a terminal and find the folder with the photos (something like Users/Mac/Pictures/Photos Library.photoslibrary/originals/*) and copy everything to an external drive (cp *.* /Volumes/ExDrive/MyFiles/Pictures/copies). The copied files retain their metadata but have long hexidecimal names. I have renamed them all using the date they were taken.

MacBook Pro (2020 and later)

Posted on Nov 6, 2021 10:07 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Nov 6, 2021 10:22 AM in response to DCW54

1 - be very careful fettling inside the library - change ANYTHING in there and you can break it and stop it working at all.

2 - A better workaround is to export as TIFF or PNG, then convert to JPG using an external app (eg preview). This should retain metadata.

To be honest, i thought this had been fixed in 11.6 - yep, just checked a file I exported earlier today, and a jpg has all metadata, including keywords added using the Photos app.

What metadata are you missing?

Reply

Answer 2

Old Toad

Level 10

215,954 points

Nov 6, 2021 10:50 AM in response to DCW54

That problem has been fixed with Photos V 7.0 in Monterey.

As I recall you can export the image as a tiff and keep the metadata and file name intact. But that could increase the storage requirements by about 25 fold.

However, you can create a tiff to jpeg conversation app with Automator that will cover the image files back to jpeg by dropping them on the converter app and reducing the size back to about what the original jpeg size was.

Personally, upgrading to Monterey would be the easiest all around. There has been some issues with laptops with T1 chips and Monterey. Read this article before moving on up: Apple firmware fix for a bricking bug

Reply

Answer 3

Nov 6, 2021 12:15 PM in response to DCW54

Data and time are there also. In previews inspector you can see it in the IPTC tab. Do not confuse this with the file date/time you see in finder. They are not the same.

Finder shows the creation date of the file (when you exported it). The image creation date is in the files metadata. Sample from the file exported today:

Reply

Answer 4

DCW54 Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 6, 2021 11:11 AM in response to DCW54

Thanks, I did not see that update. I will try that next.

Reply

Answer 5

DCW54 Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 6, 2021 12:58 PM in response to TonyCollinet

Yes you are correct. I was using the "get info" option. Thanks!

Reply

Answer 6

DCW54 Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 6, 2021 11:09 AM in response to TonyCollinet

Ahh, your point is well taken. Of course I should have said to backup everything in your Photos album manually if these aren't already backed up to icloud. The library does stay intact if the cd, ls and cp commands are used (nothing else). Anyone who is not familiar with these commands should seek help on line or from someone who knows linux/unix.

I just tried your suggestion and the file did retain the GPS location but the date and time the photo was taken is missing (these are the two parts of the metadata that I need). Also this requires two exports and I have around 3,500 photos and would take a bit of time.

Reply

How do I retain metadata on pictures when exporting?

Similar questions