How do I transfer my photos at full original resolution? Help!

Question

How do I transfer my photos at full original resolution? Help!

Imac 27" (Retina 5K - late 2015)

Processor 3.2 GHz Intel Core i5

Memory 8GB DDR3

Macintosh HD 1TB-fusion

OS X El Capitan Version 10.11.6

Photos Version 1.5 (370.42.0) with 2 photo libraries

Hi,

I want to transfer pictures from one photo library to the other.

My efforts so far have consisted of exporting groups of pictures from photo library 2 to an external HD and then opening photo library 1 and importing those pictures from the external HD.

The problem is that the exported pictures have a much lower resolution (smaller file size) than the original to the point that they are unusable on a 27" screen.

I have tried changing settings for quality, colour and size in the export window but I cannot get it to export at the same resolution (file size) as the original : it either exports a file about 3x the size or a file of ...kB instead of ...MB

How do I get 'Photos" to export pictures the same size as the original ??

Northernblonde.

iMac with Retina 5K display, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Posted on Nov 16, 2016 2:08 PM

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Answer 1

rkaufmann87

Level 10

148,932 points

Nov 16, 2016 2:27 PM in response to northernblonde

How to export images from Photos for Mac as unmodified originals with drag and drop

Step 1: Launch Photos on your Mac.
Step 2: Hold down the Option (⌥) key while dragging images to the Finder.
Step 1: Launch Photos on your Mac.
Step 2: Choose File → Export → Export Unmodified Original

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Answer 2

Old Toad

Level 10

217,228 points

Nov 16, 2016 3:01 PM in response to northernblonde

Export them this way:

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Answer 3

LarryHN

Level 10

106,192 points

Nov 16, 2016 5:11 PM in response to northernblonde

File size and resolution are two totally different things

TO get the exact original file export the unmodified original

TO get an edited photo export with the size as full size and the desired quality (more or less compression) settings and the resolution of the exported file will be the same as the photo in Photos - the file size is determined by the quality settings, not the resolution

LN

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Answer 4

Nov 17, 2016 3:47 AM in response to Old Toad

Dear O T,

Thank you for your reply.

Your suggested solution does indeed copy the exact same file. My problem is that the majority of my photos (80,000) have been post-processed in either iPhoto, Photos, Photoshop Elements or a combination of them. Therefore exporting the unmodified originals cancels out all those modifications and 1,000s hours of work.

Exporting the (modified) photos as they are leaves you with options that either reduce the file size, thereby reducing the quality or options that increase the file size x2, x3, x4 resulting in a library too big to fit on a 1TB drive.

I would just like to find a way to export the (modified) photos as they are (in the same file size) so that I can import them in Photo Library 1.

Alternatively if anyone nows a way of amalgamating the two libraries I would be happy to hear.

Northernblonde

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Answer 5

Nov 17, 2016 3:48 AM in response to rkaufmann87

Dear rkaufmann,

Thank you for your reply.

Your suggested solution does indeed copy the exact same file. My problem is that the majority of my photos (80,000) have been post-processed in either iPhoto, Photos, Photoshop Elements or a combination of them. Therefore exporting the unmodified originals cancels out all those modifications and 1,000s hours of work.

Exporting the (modified) photos as they are leaves you with options that either reduce the file size, thereby reducing the quality or options that increase the file size x2, x3, x4 resulting in a library too big to fit on a 1TB drive.

I would just like to find a way to export the (modified) photos as they are (in the same file size) so that I can import them in Photo Library 1.

Alternatively if anyone nows a way of amalgamating the two libraries I would be happy to hear.

Northernblonde

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Answer 6

Old Toad

Level 10

217,228 points

Nov 17, 2016 8:39 AM in response to northernblonde

resulting in a library too big to fit on a 1TB drive.

Get am external HD to house the library. An excellent and reliable source of EHDs is macsales.com.

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Answer 7

Old Toad

Level 10

217,228 points

Nov 17, 2016 9:08 AM in response to northernblonde

FWIW exporting the edited versions at High JPEG quality will give you what you want:

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Answer 8

LarryHN

Level 10

106,192 points

Nov 19, 2016 1:24 PM in response to northernblonde

With iPhoto you can merge iPHoto libraries usingiPhoto Library Manager

With Aperture you can directly merge Aperture libraries

With Photos you can merge libraries using iCloud Photo Library or PowerPhotos

You can not do anything with Photos, Aperture or iPhotos libraries using PhotoShop Elements and for PSE support you need to contact Adobe support as that is their product

LN

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Answer 9

Nov 17, 2016 2:49 PM in response to Old Toad

Thank you for your answer.

Unfortunately we don't get the option of exporting at High.jpg

The only options available are JPG, TIFF or PNG

Still unable to export edited photos at the quality they are in the original library

Northernblonde

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Answer 10

Nov 17, 2016 2:51 PM in response to LarryHN

Thank you for the tip about PowerPhotos

I have now installed the program and will try it out.

Will keep you informed

Northernblonde

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Answer 11

Old Toad

Level 10

217,228 points

Nov 18, 2016 1:23 AM in response to northernblonde

Unfortunately we don't get the option of exporting at High.jpg

You do if you export the edited version:

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Answer 12

Nov 18, 2016 1:29 AM in response to Old Toad

Apologies, I misunderstood.

I have tried the above option (and many others) but the file size (and quality) drastically reduces after exporting.

Before exporting :

and after exporting with settings you suggested:

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Answer 13

Old Toad

Level 10

217,228 points

Nov 18, 2016 2:56 PM in response to northernblonde

What size do you get if you set the JPEG Quality to Maximum.

Actually, unless you plan on printing very large photos, poster size or larger, you probably will be very hard pressed to see any degradation in image quality at the High level.

I get a variety of results when exporting as High or Maximum. For a photo of with original size of 2.5 MB

I get the following file sizes with the following exported JPEG Quality :

High Maximum

You'll notice that the image size does not change.

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Answer 14

a1chang

Level 1

10 points

Nov 19, 2016 7:35 AM in response to northernblonde

If you have a need to perform this more often, consider using PowerPhotos from fatcatsoftware. You can manage multiple libraries, copy and merge from multiple libraries with metadata.

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Answer 15

Nov 19, 2016 1:37 PM in response to Old Toad

Thanks for your help, we appreciate it. We also got varying results by exporting on maximum. 2x, 3x, 4x the original, often more. "High" exports always came in well under the original, sometimes as low as one tenth. We use the photos mostly as screensavers on a 27"Mac screen, and most of my earlier photos, taken with older and less powerful cameras, looked very bad. In the end we phoned Apple Support. Two technical advisors talked us through different ways to get the file size the same - none of their ideas worked. Then we were put onto a senior technical advisor who seemed to have the power to "unlock" more items than the previous two and we managed to do it in the end. Please don't ask me how it was done - it was done over 3 days and it was very complicated. I just followed his instructions. with the help of him pinpointing various things on my screen and in the end we got there. So all I can say is - if you need to do this, phone Apple Support. It took a while - but they were excellent.

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