Migration out of both iPhoto & Photos

Question

Level 1

8 points

Migration out of both iPhoto & Photos

Hello,

Any expert guidance appreciated. I have found Photos simultaneously frustrating and underpowered at editing so am migrating to Photoshop Elements. I still have my iPhoto library intact from about a year ago as the migration (using Photos) to Photos trashed the file structure. About 40,000 photos and 200GB. So I need to get the bulk of my library out of iPhoto, hopefully preserving albums and folders, and get the last year of pictures out of Photos, both into a freestanding library of JPEGs (and I have video clips).

Is there a better approach to exporting iPhoto library to maintain file structure? iPhoto Library Manager? Power Photos? Best means to exporting the Photos library? How to merge those outputs and/or I.D. duplicates? How to export video files neatly? Thanks!

iMac with Retina 5K display, OS X El Capitan (10.11.1)

Posted on Oct 9, 2016 8:15 PM

Reply

Answer 1

LarryHN

Level 10

106,142 points

Oct 10, 2016 8:19 AM in response to SVO

For iPhoto (version 9.6.1 is needed for recent Mac OSs) select all and export using the subfolder format section to maintain folder structure

For Photos same except the subfolder structure is moments

As to importing into other programs you need to contact their support for advice - once the photos are out of {Photos that is the responsibility of the new program

as to editing - Photos is not as stronger as PSE but is much stronger than iPhoto and with the External Editors for Photos extension ($0.99 from the APp store) can use PSE as an external editor from within Photos so you keep the much better organizational power of Photos and can use any editor including PSE for editing - a total win win set up

LN

Reply

Answer 2

SVO Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 10, 2016 8:22 AM in response to LarryHN

LN,

Thanks, that's very helpful. On your last point, why do you think Photos has much better organizational power? I have the impression of just the opposite. Is there any way to override the Photos chronological organizational regime? I have thousands of photos taken on film and scanned at different points in time, unrelated to when they were taken. Can't get these to organize in Photos properly. Moreover, I want to establish manually the organization I want, by category of pictures (e.g. family, vacations, work, etc.) and folders within folders (or equiv.), like, you know, a regular computer file structure. I had this in iPhoto and could not make it happen in Photos, at least not without manually manipulating tens of thousands of files. Am I missing something here?

Also, another reason to exit Photos, my online collection is on Smugmug (iCloud is seriously overpriced above 200GB and being able to email a hyperlink is the best form of sharing) and there is zero integration with Photos as Apple is limiting uploads to 10 pics so Smugmug refuses to issue a crippled plugin as they rightly assume their users would blame them for a backward interface.

Thanks,

JD

Reply

Answer 3

LarryHN

Level 10

106,142 points

Oct 10, 2016 8:48 AM in response to SVO

Neither Photos not iPhoto physically organized photos files - both use a SQLite database to let you organize using albums adn folders which is much more powerful than a file based organization

Just one simple example by using a database one photos of my wife in Italy near the ocean in the fall can be found by the date of the photo, by looking for my wife, by looking at photos of vacations, by looking at photos in Italy, by looking at photos near the ocean and there are no duplicates - every search is looking at the exact same - photo and if I edit the photo every search brings up the same edited photos - with a file based organization you can not find photos except by the single way you file them - there is simply no comparison between the organization power of a database system and a file based system

as to your other thoughts how you do it is up to you - Photos is not the same as the way you are doing it but it is better - you have the choice and you can do it anyway you please but it is worth understanding the differences

LN

Reply

Answer 4

léonie

Level 10

200,861 points

Oct 10, 2016 9:16 AM in response to SVO

I have found Photos simultaneously frustrating and underpowered at editing

Photos editing tools are bat least as good as in iPhoto. Perhaps you did not discover the hidden advanced controls? And the access to external editors is easier.

For example to edit the light and the color:

And to organize the photos according to your needs use nested folders with albums and smart albums.

Photos on Sierra will scan for photos for categories, so you do not need to assign keywords for birthdays, beach, or similar. The image analysis will find these photos automatically.

Here is an example of over 200 photos showing a beach discovered by the image analysis in Photos:

Reply

Answer 5

SVO Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 10, 2016 10:53 AM in response to LarryHN

I am familiar with the face ID in Photos. I have no geodata- never owned a camera with GPS. How does Photos decide, for example, what is "vacations" and what is not? Can it somehow geo locate pictures? Per leonie below Photos is identifying categories of landscapes automatically now? We are never looking for a single photo, merely browsing through and enjoying what we have. But it does appear I am unfamiliar with some of Photos capabilities. I guess a big piece of my frustration is how botched the import to Photos from iPhoto was for me- it really trashed my organization. Thanks.

Reply

Answer 6

SVO Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 10, 2016 10:56 AM in response to léonie

Yup- I use the editing tools. I guess I'm just faster with PSE - maybe that is not power per se but I have a huge backlog of PP I want to do. But yes can use PSE as an external editor. This beach I.D. is a new functionality then.

Reply

Answer 7

léonie

Level 10

200,861 points

Oct 10, 2016 11:11 AM in response to SVO

This beach I.D. is a new functionality then.

Photos is using artificial intelligence to understand the contents of a photo based on whatever information is available. Id. res not only recognize beaches. You can search for cats and dogs, lions, birthday cakes, mountains, desert, etc.

It helps if the photos have GPS, but it is not necessary. You can assign locations yourself by entering the name of a place or an address.

But if you want to move on to a different software, do it. Pick the best software for the workflow you want. I picked Photos because it integrates well with my other Apple software and I like to sync photos between my Macs using iCloud Photo Library.

Reply