How do I get photo number to show up under each photo

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Level 1

13 points

How do I get photo number to show up under each photo

In order to use a photo, it is essential for me to be able to see the photo number under each picture. It might say DSC_1500 or IMG-2109. When I am sorting a batch of photos by quality, I need to be able to write a list of chosen numbers. Right clicking and asking for "info" to then see the photo number absolutely does not cut it for me. How do I get the photo number to show up. I tried View/Metadata/Titles but that only caused text titles to show up and if I'd left the photo number on when I added a title, then the photo number showed up too. In iPhoto the photo number is under each photo.

I will go back to iPhoto if I can't get the number to show up under each photo in the "Photos" app.

Please let me know if there is a way to make the numbers show on all photos with some setting in the menu.

Thank you.

HP Pavilion dv7-OTHER, Windows 7, Home Premium

Posted on May 17, 2015 7:39 PM

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Answer 1

kelliann1 Author

Level 1

13 points

May 18, 2015 3:09 PM in response to LarryHN

Larry HN and Rysz --

I don't want to do a batch change, though. I want the number of each photo to show underneath the thumbnail of the photo. With a batch change, as I understand it, all photos included get the same "title". Is this assumption correct?

This is crazy! Apple *has* to know that people refer to their photos by number for a variety of reasons. For example, so responders can be specific about which photo they want or like. It is an extra step and a royal pain to have to manually add "titles" to each photo so this can be done. What if you have 40 photo thumbnails you are sending - imagine sitting there typing 40 different "titles" to differentiate among them. Makes me really angry that Apple could be so careless and thoughtless about needs of all users.

I don't care if they don't update iPhoto, frankly. It works fine and I would be happy to use it as-is for the next 10 years if need be.

I am really frosted over this whole thing.

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Answer 2

Rysz

Level 8

44,521 points

May 17, 2015 8:22 PM in response to kelliann1

Can't be done in this version of Photos. Although you could search this forum for an Apple Script that will transpose image name go image title.

You could mark the desired photos as Favorites, instead of writing their numbers.

iPhoto remains fully functional, if you want.

You can request features, point out bugs, etc, at Apple Feedback pages.

Or directly for here Photos.

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Answer 3

LarryHN

Level 10

106,192 points

May 17, 2015 9:23 PM in response to kelliann1

as to editing in Photos and seeing the edits in iPhoto -No -- Two separate libraries and nothing done in one is reflected in the other

for the script to make the title the file name - see Photos for Mac - specifically Script: Batch Changing the Titles to the Filename w/Extension

And while anything is possible, since Apple has announced no more support to iphoto I seriously doubt that they will continue keeping it up

LN

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Answer 4

kelliann1 Author

Level 1

13 points

May 18, 2015 6:15 PM in response to R C-R

I just read the link given above to the script information and then went here Re: Re: Where are photo file names? to read more discussion (I read the first page of it). I have not ever done this before but I found Automater and found Run Apple Script and now have the window open for pasting in a script. I am not sure I understood all of the discussion that well but it seems most folks wanted to get rid of the extension in the filename. Removal of extensions is ok with me, but what I also want to do is to keep any additional words I have added to the file name.

For example, I may have DSCN_2030 "Waterlilies" by Monet

Is there a script for that? I could try reading all the pages of the discussion but I am not sure I would recognize it if it is there!

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Answer 5

kelliann1 Author

Level 1

13 points

May 17, 2015 8:57 PM in response to Rysz

Thank you. I don't know how to do anything with an Apple Script though. I will return to iPhoto and offer feedback on Photos app. Too bad... I like the expanded editing ability. Maybe I can occasional edit in Photos app and see the changes in iPhoto, I hope. Lack of photo numbers is a complete dealbreaker for me. I hope they keep iPhoto, that's all I can say.

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Answer 6

R C-R

Level 6

17,810 points

May 18, 2015 3:41 PM in response to kelliann1

What you are calling "the number of each photo" is just the name of the file that the photo data is stored in. This name is part of the file system, not a part of the photo file itself. Typically, a camera will assign a numeric file name like DSC_1500 or IMG-2109 to a photo, but these file names are not even necessarily unique -- for example, if you erase & reformat a camera's storage system, it may start all over again with an 0001 numeric suffix or something like that.

Moreover, because different file system may have different constraints on file names (like case sensitivity, prohibited characters, or maximum name lengths), you can't even be sure the filename will be unaltered if the photo file is copied or uploaded to a drive using a different system.

Because of this, long ago standards like IPTC & Exif were developed to store the name of the photo, referred to as its title, embedded in the file itself. Hundreds of apps support these standards, making this the only reliable way to refer to a photo, particularly if you want something that will keep working in the future.

The batch change Automator action mentioned earlier was developed for this reason -- it embeds the title in the photo if it doesn't already have one -- & the info léonie included in the tip explains why you might have thought iPhoto was displaying a name (which is a title) when it was instead just displaying the filename.

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Answer 7

kelliann1 Author

Level 1

13 points

May 18, 2015 5:39 PM in response to R C-R

Hmm well, I did know that the "number" is the file name. However, iPhoto calls it the "title." (View/Titles) So I was sticking to that terminology. So far I have not had the troubles you mentioned regarding that file name. Whether that photo is on my PC or an external hard drive or on the Mac, it always has the same file name. Maybe I have been lucky. But it is a good thing to know that there could be trouble and it is not totally reliable.

So then, I will try the batch change to make the individual file names visible. Yes, I did misunderstand that - saw "batch" and remembered the time when I first started with photography that I inadvertently changed the photo file name to something like "Snowstorm in Pittsburgh - for every photo I'd taken. LOL.

I am way too lazy to open photoshop for minor editing so I was intrigued by Photos' additional editing tools. After I read the message pointing out that there are separate libraries I thought about doing an edit in one and then importing it into the other as an individual photo. I guess I will play with that idea just to see if it works. Seems like it should.

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Answer 8

Rysz

Level 8

44,521 points

May 17, 2015 9:19 PM in response to kelliann1

I did not mean for you to write the script, but to search for it on this forum.

Anyway, here's the link Script: Batch Changing the Titles to the Filename w/Extension

courtesy of forum member léonie

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