Exporting photos from apple photo library

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Level 1

5 points

Exporting photos from apple photo library

When I transfer photos from the apple photo library to a hard drive, apple changes "date created" to today's date or a random date. So when I click command+I to show information about a photo, in the photo library it shows the correct date but when I transfer these photos to a hard drive, the date changes.

I tried exporting photos, tried copy/paste, everything is in vain. I even exported the whole photo library and although the photo there are in the right position (they have the correct date), not apple computer cannot open these files.

Why is it always so hard with apple? I really love their products but stuff like this makes me frustrated.

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 11.6

Posted on Feb 9, 2022 8:56 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

TonyCollinet

Level 7

23,972 points

Feb 9, 2022 3:15 PM in response to tetiana_phx

Hi

You need to distinguish between the file metadata (information about the file) and the image metadata (information about the image in the file)

If you copy a file the copies creation date will normally be set to the date the file was copied. The image metadata inside the file (which you can view in preview with the inspector window, iptc tab) will show the image capture date.

Summary:

The File metadata is kept in the file system, and represents when that copy of the file is created or modified

The image metadata is kept inside the file, as exif and IPTC data. This won't change when you copy / move the file.

(Depending on your system version, if you export unmodified original from photos, you will usually get a file with the same creation date as the image) 

You can also see the two different dates in finder, as shown in the screenshot with finder in column view. This is from an image I exported from photos in july 2019 - so the file has been created and last modified then, but the content creation date is still showing 2011...

However, finder (which is a file manager) can only sort by file dates, not by the photo metadata. You need a photo app for that.

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Answer 2

tetiana_phx Author

Level 1

5 points

Feb 10, 2022 11:39 AM in response to TonyCollinet

Hi Tony,

Thank you so much for such a detailed explanation. I found in the finder the metadata for my photos. However, I exported 4 unmodified original photos, and only one of them showed the real metadata. The other three photos showed "content created" the same as "created."

The screenshot above shows the correct "content created" date.

The other three photos (as shown above) show the same "content created" as "created." However, when I go to the photo library and look at the information about these photos, they all show the real date on them which is January 5, 2017.

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Answer 3

Feb 10, 2022 6:31 AM in response to tetiana_phx

I just thought of a good analogy for this:

If you deposit an old $20 bill in the bank, and come back later, withdraw $20 and they give you a crisp new bill, are you going to complain because they gave you a new bill? "But I keep track of my money by serial number!"

Photos works in images. It considers files to be fungible, simply containers for images and metadata.

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Answer 4

léonie

Level 10

197,751 points

Feb 10, 2022 7:56 AM in response to tetiana_phx

Are you using iCloud Photos?

When you are using iCloud Photos and "Optimize Mac Storage" even "File > Export > Export unmodified Original" may not be able to save the original file creation date. Photos will create a new file, when it has to download the file from iCloud back to your Mac.

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Answer 5

tetiana_phx Author

Level 1

5 points

Feb 10, 2022 11:05 AM in response to Keith Barkley

Hi Keith,

Have you heard of false analogy?

"false analogy

a type of informal fallacy or a persuasive technique in which the fact that two things are alike in one respect leads to the invalid conclusion that they must be alike in some other respect."

https://dictionary.apa.org/false-analogy

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