Michael Spencer

Q: Downloading from iCloud

I remain a bit confused about iCloud. I notice that all pictures from the iPhone are appearing on iCloud.com, which is fine; but what I need is local copies of all pictures and in Aperture. Is this possible?

Aperture 3, OS X El Capitan (10.11)

Posted on May 28, 2016 7:54 AM

Close

Q: Downloading from iCloud

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by léonie,Solvedanswer

    léonie léonie May 28, 2016 8:25 AM in response to Michael Spencer
    Level 10 (108,955 points)
    iCloud
    May 28, 2016 8:25 AM in response to Michael Spencer

    You can download all photos in your iCloud Phot Library using the web interface at www.icloud.com  .

     

    Open www.icloud.com ,  sign in with your AppleID, then launch the Photos.app.

     

    Open the Photos.app on that page and select the photos from the All Photos album.

    You can select a range of photos at once by first selecting one photo, holding down the shift key, selecting the last photos.

     

    Then click the download button and import them to Aperture.

     

     

    Aperture cannot sync with iCloud Photo Library, only the Photos for Mac app.

    You can stream from your iOS devices to Aperture , if you enable My Photo Stream on your iPhone, iPad, etc, and in Aperture.

     

    Or, if you sync Photos for Mac on your Mac with iCloud, you can use the "Share > Add to Aperture" command in Photos.

    That is essentially what I am doing, syncing the library with iCloud using Photos and sending the finished photos to Aperture for archiving.

  • by Michael Spencer,

    Michael Spencer Michael Spencer May 28, 2016 10:49 AM in response to léonie
    Level 2 (266 points)
    Apple TV
    May 28, 2016 10:49 AM in response to léonie

    Thanks, Leonie. I've come at this question from several different directions and gotten a response from you each time. (I'm traveling and using an old trackpad with a dysfunctional 'click' function, so not sure 'This solved…' was selected).

     

    I don't use Photos, although I may be forced into it. I do see that downloading 'Moments' is helpful, and that multiple 'Moments' can be downloaded. The confusion is exacerbated by this: after the files are downloaded they should disappear from the cloud, which they don't. This could be a case of old dog and new tricks.

     

    Rant:

    It's the CONCEPT that I don't fully grok. I suppose Apple wants us to think of the cloud as the permanent home of our photos, and that we use the pix on our devices as we need them. This is a model I can't use. I want the files on my computer and under my control.

     

    The concept further fouls things up when one device deletes a photo; user think that picture of Mom is removed from his iPhone when in fact it'

    s deleted for good.

    /Rant

  • by léonie,Helpful

    léonie léonie Jun 17, 2016 12:55 PM in response to Michael Spencer
    Level 10 (108,955 points)
    iCloud
    Jun 17, 2016 12:55 PM in response to Michael Spencer
    It's the CONCEPT that I don't fully grok. I suppose Apple wants us to think of the cloud as the permanent home of our photos, and that we use the pix on our devices as we need them. This is a model I can't use. I want the files on my computer and under my control.

     

    iCloud Photo Library is primarily a syncing service, while people are expecting it to be something completely different.  Manxy questions here are referring to iCloud as a backup service or are expecting it to be an external storage.  iCloud Photo lIbrary or iCloud Drive are not meant to be any of this.

     

    If you use iCloud Photo Library , it is a central place to store your photos with the purpose to have your iCloud Photo Library identical on all your devices.  I am using it this way and I find it very convenient.

     

    I an using four different Macs for different purposes, but I can open the Photos app on any of them and can just continue editing my photos, whether I am in my office or at home. Everything is in sync and updates across all devices.

     

    If you want to use iCloud Photo Library as an external storage it is more involved. The web interface lets you view the photos or download them from iCloud, but it is not the main interface to the iCloud Photo library.  It is really meant to be used from the Photos app on or all your devices, and then the interface is more convenient.

     

    I am using Photos to keep my all time favorite photos on all devices, synced with iCloud Photos Library, and also sync my most recent projects. When i take new photos I weed them out, delete bad shots, add titles and captions. Then I share the few photos that I will keep to Aperture and edit them there.