Export photos to external hard drive with correct date created

What the Finder is seeing and using are the File metadata which can change each time the file is copies, moved, etc. The image's EXIF Image Creation date that is written into the file at the time the photo is taken remains with the file. However, the Finder can't read that file so you don't get the same results as you do in Photos.

After exporting a photo to the EHD download and use EXIF Viewer for Mac OS X to view the EXIF Image Created date to see if it's the same as that in Photos.

re-read the answer - you did not get it

File metadata is only about the file and is totally different from the Photo metadata - the file reflects when the file was created - the photos metadata reflects the photos data

LN

Is there a way to change the incorrect image info in the external hard drive? I don't see the "Adjust Date and Time" option outside of Photos.

Just so we're on the same page:

1 - you exported the original version via the File ➙ Export ➙ Export Unmodified Original... menu option. Right?

2 - you looked at the file with with Exif Viewer and the Capture date was wrong. Is this correct?

Then it was wrong when the file was imported into the library. Maybe the camera's date and time were set wrong. How far off was the date and time from what you think it should be?

This 5 month difference is seen using EXIF Viewer?

Old Toad wrote:

After exporting a photo to the EHD download and use EXIF Viewer for Mac OS X to view the EXIF Image Created date to see if it's the same as that in Photos.

You can also use Preview.app's "Inspector" tool (first item on Preview's "Tools" menu) to view Exif date metadata embedded in photo files. In fact, depending on the file type, the device, & software used to create the digital image, you usually can see quite a few differently named dates embedded in the file, some in the Exif panel & others in the IPTC panel or even the TIFF one (if present).

For example, in the Exif panel, you would probably see both "Date Time Digitized" & "Date Time Original." For a digital camera, for obvious reasons the two dates will normally be the same, but for photos that originally were shot with a film camera they might be different. In the IPTC panel, you might see three entries, a "Date Created," a "Digital Creation Date," & a "Digital Creation Time." This should be the same date-time metadata as in the Exif panel, but displayed using the IPTC tags. You probably would also see a "Date Time" entry in the TIFF panel if the image file is JPEG or TIFF, & that also corresponds to the Exif "Date Time Digitized" tag.

But as already mentioned, these image date-time metadata values are different from & independent of the ones you see in Finder or anything else that displays the file's date-related metadata, which is stored in the filesystem on the hard drive. The latter are managed by the OS & are not stored inside the file, & may be considerably different from the ones stored inside the file.

I have a similar issue in that some of my photos were imported into Photos directly so now when I try to move those photos to an external hard drive so I have a solid backup and can access those files with other software like Lightroom or Aperture, they're "created date" reads the date of export rather than the date of capture. This makes it very challenging to organize the images properly. Same goes for iCloud, when I download the images that are organized properly on the cloud, when they are downloaded onto my computer, the Created Dates are in correct, very frustrating. What would you recommend as the ideal way(s) to keep photos organized by they're original capture date when either exporting from Photos or downloading from iCloud? Is there a place the photos in Photos are kept on my internal hard drive that I can access those photos directly without having to open the Photos application?

You're confusing the file created date with the image created date which is added by the camera. The Finder does not read the EXIF image created date so what you want isn't possible. You need an app that can read the EXIF metadata.

A workaround is to rename the titles for the files in Photo with the EXIF created date and export the files to the Destkop with the option to use the Title as the File name. Then it's very easy to sort them by date.

To rename the title to the date use this Applescript that can be found in the Photos for Mac User Tips section: Photos for Mac: Batch Change Title to Capture Date-Description-Padded Sequential Number

re-read the answer - you did not get it

File metadata is only about the file and is totally different from the Photo metadata - the file reflects when the file was created - the photos metadata reflects the photos data

When you export a photo from Photos and import it to LR or Aperture the camera capture date will not be changed as that date is in the EXIF data within the photo

this makes no sense - what exactly are you getting at?

Same goes for iCloud, when I download the images that are organized properly on the cloud, when they are downloaded onto my computer, the Created Dates are in correct, very frustrating

and no you can not access your photos without using Photos

LN

Like I said, when I try to download images from iCloud 1) they are download with all the same date, as the day they are downloaded from the cloud rather than the day the photos was taken. 2) when downloading from iCloud, it opens each and ever single image in Preview which is so lame, and not an option that can be turned off. So if you are downloading 20 images, 20 images open.

Regarding my initial issue, I would like to move all the photos that I accidentally imported into Photos into Aperture and then have them referenced on an external hard drive. I have been able to do that with some Moments, but for some reason, some Moments will not offer the option to share with Aperture. When the option to Share a collection of Moments is not available, the only option is one by one and that is just tedious and impossible with a large library.

not being able to access or relocate you photos once they are in Photos is lame. Aperture offered that and it made it easy to back up photos in multiple places.

4flutterby wrote:

Like I said, when I try to download images from iCloud 1) they are download with all the same date, as the day they are downloaded from the cloud rather than the day the photos was taken. 2) when downloading from iCloud, it opens each and ever single image in Preview which is so lame, and not an option that can be turned off. So if you are downloading 20 images, 20 images open.

How specifically are you downloading these photos from iCloud? What app or method are you using?

Regarding my initial issue, I would like to move all the photos that I accidentally imported into Photos into Aperture and then have them referenced on an external hard drive. I have been able to do that with some Moments, but for some reason, some Moments will not offer the option to share with Aperture. When the option to Share a collection of Moments is not available, the only option is one by one and that is just tedious and impossible with a large library.

You should be able to use Photos' export unmodified originals option to copy them to any drive you want. You should be able to select multiple photos so you do not have to do this on a one by one basis.

I assume 4flytterby is having the same problem I am. I trusted that when I uploaded my files to iCloud (i.e. keeping originals in the cloud) that I would not lose any EXIF data. But it appears that we do. When we try to export files (video .MOV files in my case), the creation date info is lost EVERYWHERE. I can see that the files have the correct date "in Photo", but once exported to the desktop (using Export/Unmodified), they no longer have the creation date. The creation date has been replaced with the date I "downloaded" the file from the cloud back onto my Mac (which is the step Apple takes before the file is actually exported). This is a huge bummer, and I see no way around it.