Getting photos out of Mac Photo into LR 6?

[anneh0296]

Just installed LR 6 on a Mac. How do I get photos out of Mac Photo app into LR6. The import function of LR does not see photos in the  Mac Photo Library.

[Steveatesh]

Personally I would go to Import in Lightroom then navigate to the actual folders your photos are stored on your hard drive and import them from there. My understanding of Photos on the Mac is that it merely points to the photos on your hard drive (like LR does) rather than contain them in a folder of its own.

[Conrad C]

Steveatesh wrote:

My understanding of Photos on the Mac is that it merely points to the photos on your hard drive (like LR does) rather than contain them in a folder of its own.

No, like iPhoto, Photos doesn't merely point to the photos, at least not by default. By default, Apple designed both programs to copy images into the Mac's private photo library. To make iPhoto or Photos import by reference (link) instead, you have to open Preferences and turn off "Copy items to the Photos library." So that's one solution, but it only works for images you haven't imported yet. That's because, if you've already imported images into Photos with that option on, there's no way to make Photos convert them to referenced images. They are trapped inside the Photos library.

Steveatesh wrote:

Personally I would go to Import in Lightroom then navigate to the actual folders your photos are stored on your hard drive and import them from there.

Because of the way Photos stores images, it won't work that way. If the preference above was not changed before importing images, the actual folders where the photos are stored will be inside the private Photos Library inside the Pictures folder. But if you try to navigate to it in the Lightroom import dialog box, Photos Library won't show up. That's because it isn't a folder, it's an OS X package, because Apple does not want you messing around with the contents of the Photos Library.

There is a workaround that will let the Lightroom import dialog see the photos inside the Photos library. But I'm not going to describe it, because it also lists the multiple versions of each photo that Photos creates when you import an edit an image, and you don't want those in Lightroom. Apple tries to keep users out of the Photos library because if you move or modify images behind the back of Photos, the Photos database can become confused and corrupted very quickly. So if you want use Photos images in Lightroom, it's safer to get your masters out of the Photos library and import them into Lightroom from there.

For example, in Photos, select all the photos you want to manage with Lightroom, and choose File > Export. Export them to a normal folder, and in Lightroom, import them with the Add option to catalog them at that location.

Another option is to right-click Photos Library and choose Show Package Contents to force it open. In there you'll see a Masters folder. That contains your unmodified originals. Copy the Masters folder (don't move it) to a location outside Photos Library and import that folder to Lightroom from there. Whatever you do, don't change anything inside the Photos Library package.

[anneh0296]

I found that you have to open the Photo library by option click to show contents then copy photos out of the masters folder to a new folder out of the Photo library. Then point LR at the images that have been “freed”

[Conrad C]

Yes, that's another way to do what I said in my last paragraph. Except that Option-click won't work; to open an OS X package like the Photos Library you want to Control-click (the alternate way to right-click).

[jonathanp41403920]

Thanks for the advice Conrad. Any thoughts please about how to get all the latest versions of my photos "freed" from Apple? i.e. I have over 17000 photos in the OS X package, many of which I've edited and many of which I've added titles and keywords. They're all stored in Events. if I just export the masters, I'll lose all the edited photos (which are the photos I want to keep, along with just the masters of photos I haven't yet edited).

I have further challenges to get to LR6 which are that I'm still on iPhoto (but a version old enough that isn't supported by the LR importer - just fyi, I hadn't updated it due to concerns about later versions of both iPhoto and the OSX I'd read from others on user forums). LR also needs me to upgrade my OSX but in doing that, I run the risk of iPhoto being replaced by Photos which I don't want).

I also don't want to lose the titles and keywords of photos I have in iPhoto when moving to LR6, and I've read that the Events will be lost too so that all the imported photos

One step at a time though.........if I can find an answer to my first question above that might help me sort out a migration path to LR6

If my only option results in me only having my 17000+ photos in LR6 unsorted into events (even folders would do) and without the edits I've made, or the titles and keywords I've added, I think I'll end up stuck where I am

[Conrad C]

jonathanp41403920 wrote:

Thanks for the advice Conrad. Any thoughts please about how to get all the latest versions of my photos "freed" from Apple? i.e. I have over 17000 photos in the OS X package, many of which I've edited and many of which I've added titles and keywords. They're all stored in Events. if I just export the masters, I'll lose all the edited photos (which are the photos I want to keep, along with just the masters of photos I haven't yet edited).

You might have figured this out already, but when you export from Photos (File > Export) you see two commands: Export X Photos/Items, and Export Unmodified Original/Item for X Photos. To get the latest versions, you must use the first command, Export X Photos/Items. That will export each photo with its Photos edits.

If you want the latest versions you can't use the earlier advice to dig out the Masters folder because those are only the originals without edits. Getting images out of the Masters folder is the same as choosing Export Unmodified Original, which is not what you want.

jonathanp41403920 wrote:

how I can replicate that in LR so that all photos that I have in an iPhoto Event end up grouped together in LR? I don't want to have to go through 17000+ photos and re-group them after importing to LR

In Photos, when you choose File > Export X Photos/Items, at the bottom of the export options dialog box in the File Naming section is an option called Subfolder Format. By default it's set to None, but you can choose Moment Name. That will create subfolders that are supposed to correspond to the event/album/moment names in your Photos organization, and of course Lightroom can preserve that folder organization when you import.

Unfortunately when I tried this, while Photos did create subfolders the "Moment names" it used didn't always match up with what I saw inside Photos. But the fact is, that's probably the best you're going to do out of Photos. You may have to look over the folders that Photos exports and correct some folder names later, which is possible either before or after you import those folders into Lightroom. But if you decide to rename the imported folders after importing them into Lightroom, you must do it within Lightroom.

[jonathanp41403920]

Thanks again Conrad - only problem is that I have iPhoto not Photos and therefore the Export options/tool is different.

In iPhoto I tested exporting one of my iPhoto Events to my desktop using the 'Sequential' option in the 'Filename' dropdown in the Export tool. It asks for a prefix which it then applies to every exported photo (followed by sequential numbers). I'm thinking that if I use the iPhoto Event name as the prefix each time I export an iPhoto folder, that at least will help me to associate any photos that I later import into LR, with their original Event. I guess I could export them to different folders based on the prefix I assign. I have 233 iPhoto Events so I'd end up with 233 folders but that might be better than 17000+ photos in one folder.

[Dutchess23]

I'm just really surprised that Adobe, working so closely with Apple these days, has not found a solution to this ridiculous conundrum. I actually exported from iPhoto into Elements once and ended up with innumerable folders with ridiculous file names. For both iPhoto users and Photos users there must be one developer on the team who can figure out how to export these images or better even, link these images to the Masters package so that going your images show up in Lightroom with all the meta data and moments properly in folders but are unlinked upon import much like the move from iPhoto to Photos, by using hard links. That would save space on the hard drive and make the move a lot more palatable. I think Lightroom would be the top choice if Adobe could manage that . Thanks for the suggestions though.

Sent from my iPhone

[ParkerArrow · Accepted solution]

Yes, right you are. But in my opinion this is due the the restrictions of apple. When I realised that I can not acces my photos via the finder anymore I directly stopped using Photos and switched to a different way of sorting my pictures.

Lets hope that there is a solution in the near future.

[smoranc]

Hello everyone. We had the same problem with a student a few days ago. We tried almost all the above but found out that the best way to do it right is as follows:

1. Open iPhoto.

2. Go to "All Images".

3. Select all your images.

4. Export them into a new folder on your computer or external hard disk.

5. Once Step 4 is done (could take a while depending on how many pics you have), go to LR and import directly from the new folder just created with all your images.

I hope this helps. We tried and  confirmed that this is the best way to do it.

Cheers,

Sergio MC

[jonathanp41403920]

It does help Sergio thank you.  A few questions please before I proceed though:

1. Did the photos (in iPhoto) have any titles or keywords and did they successfully appear in LR after importing from the new folder? (I see in the iPhoto Export tool that if I select the JPG option, there is a check box for including titles and keywords).
2. Did you end up with just the latest version of each photo that had been in iPhoto? In other words, if the photo had been edited in iPhoto did you get the latest modified version, or if the photo had never been edited did you get the original, master version?
3. I presume you didn't get both the Master version and the modified version of any photo when you exported from iPhoto?
4. Did your student have photos arranged into Events in iPhoto? If so, any idea how I can replicate that in LR so that all photos that I have in an iPhoto Event end up grouped together in LR? I don't want to have to go through 17000+ photos and re-group them after importing to LR
5. The method you've kindly outline suggests that all photos were exported in one bunch ("All Images") from iPhoto. I think I might have to do it iPhoto Event by iPhoto Event i.e. one Event at a time. This might help me retain some sort of folder structure. It also might help me with photo filenames - when I open the iPhoto package contents (either Master or Modified), I can see that some of the current filenames are actually the same. This is because the iPhoto naming convention only caters for 9999 photos. (The filenames look like DCSO6734.JPG). So, once iPhoto reaches DCSO9999.JPG, it starts naming files again from the start. That's OK in iPhoto as long as there aren't more than 9999 photos in any one Event because iPhoto knows that file DCSO6734.JPG in one Event is different to file DCSO6734.JPG in another Event. However, if I export all my photos from all Events, I think I'm going to end up with duplicate filenames for different photos. Do you think I can get round that by using either the 'Use album' or 'Sequential' options in the 'Filename' dropdown in the iPhoto Export tool?

[Mohit Goyal]

Well, you cannot migrate your images directly from Photos App to Lightroom like Aperture.

You need to export out your images from Photos App and save it on the machine somewhere, then Lightroom would able to see your images and can import/Add your images in the software so that you can edit them further.

Also, you can refer the discussion on the same: Re: How to import photos into LightroomCC from Mac Yosemite Photos app?

Regards,

Mohit

[lyssam51337183]

One important note when it comes to exporting images from Photos: the process flattens the file. As far as I can tell – and please correct me if I'm wrong – there is no option to export a RAW file in RAW form. I don't want to loose all that valuable editing data when my images are converted from RAW to jpeg, png, or tiff.

Does anyone know if Sierra improves anything about this ridiculous mess?

[tovarpardo83]

Well I'm exactly in the same predicament with a 900GB+ and 48,000 photo library stuck inside the Mac OS X package.

So far I've used the "Show package contents" option initially described by Conrad on his 4/16 reply to take out my photos and import to LR.

I haven't figured out a way to export from Photos the edits applied to the RAW file though, so what I'm doing is keeping a reference JPEG of how it looked after PP together with the original RAW in LR.

Bottomline: I will be able to get my Photos out of the proprietary Apple package format, but will be VERY time consuming and will force me to manually reprocess any past RAW files if I ever need to.

[jonathanp41403920]

I was on an older version of iPhoto (08) and Snow Leopard and wanted to trial Lightroom before I potentially buy it. I exported my 18500 photos from the iPhoto package to 240 named folders on an external drive. To do that I used the export function in iPhoto, selecting 'Current' (to get the latest, edited versions of my photos) + the highest JPG quality + 'Title' (if my iPhoto copy had a title) or 'Use album' (if the photos didn't already have a title) which gives the exported file a new name based on the Album name but in sequential order. I also ensured that 'Keywords' were selected in the Export dialog box.

I then had to upgrade MacOs to El Capitan (my iMac won't take Sierra but El Capitan should be ok) and obtain the trial versions of Lightroom and Photoshop. So far, its mostly going well. I've imported a few of the photos from the external drive and they seem to be the edited versions. They also have the filenames I exported them with and I'be been able to do a few basic edits in Lightroom.

One problem I have is that I can't seem to find the keywords that were associated with some of the photos in iPhoto now that I've imported them into LR. As mentioned, I checked the Keyword option when I exported from iPhoto. My trial copies run out in a few days so I'm hoping to resolve this before then. Any ideas please?

[keithciociola]

Did you wind up satisfied with the migration from Photos to Lightroom? I'm considering doing the same thing, but like you, I have a huge investment in keywords and descriptions that I don't want to lose. That would be devastating.

[jmad70]

the workaround that I've found is to use Lightroom for iPad or iPhone. you can import from and save to photos/camera roll in there. the apps are also quite good for quick/minor touch ups but of course you'll need your Mac for more serious work.

[ronphotoblue-ADqZ8o]

You say you stopped using Photos and switched to a different way of sorting my pictures. What way was that?

[treyp29211446]

I have the same issue. Lightroom Classic says my photos library needs to be newer than 9.5.1. I'm running Monterey, so clearly it's newer. Photos integration is a simple thing that every other application seems to handle just fine. Why Adobe can't figure it out is beyond me. The "workaround" suggested are not well thought out. Adobe just needs to get on it.

[johnrellis]

See @treyp29211446's other post and continue discussion there:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/mac-photos-integration-broken/m-p/12779...

[Eric265699800uw3]

Adobe Lightroom (and other Adobe products) DOES NOT support read or import from Apple Photos (the current product that's integrated with MacOS).  After calling technical support, their only suggestion is to re-import raw files (without edits or flagging or file names or folders).  With years of photos that have been organized in Apple Photos, this is not a viable migration solution.  To compound the issue, Adobe's marketing materials imply that importing from Apple Photos is availble functionality (note to Adobe: Photos and iPhoto are not synonyms -- they are different products (iPhoto being the order product which is no longer supported on recent MacOS releases)).  

It would be best if Adobe started to support Apple Photos import (an Adobe product functionality and design choice).  Given that there seems to be no plan to do so, sales information should be updated to accurately represent the capabilities.

I cancelled the product after just a few days because it did not support the advertised functionality, and Adobe support had no reasonable solution.

[johnrellis]

This needs clarification.  There are two distinct products, Lightroom Classic (the original folders-based Lightroom) and Lightroom, the cloud-based family of products (Lightroom Mobile, Web, and Desktop).  Thanks to Adobe for such perspicuous naming.

Lightroom does indeed let you add photos from your Mac Photos library via the File > Migrate From command.  

Lightroom Classic can't import photos directly from your Mac Photos library, but you can import them from Mac iPhoto using the built-in Aperture/iPhoto Importer Plugin (which is quite buggy).

To get Mac Photos into Lightroom Classic, you can migrate your Mac Photos to Lightroom, and then sync those photos from Lightroom to Lightroom Classic.

Alternatively, you can use the third-party Avalanche program to migrate from Mac Photos to Lightroom Classic. Many users have reported good experience with Avalanche, and unlike other options, it preserves the edits you've made in Photos as edits in Lightroom Classic Develop.

I'm not aware of any Adobe web pages that misstate the capabilities of Lightroom and Lightroom Classic in this regard.  If you've encountered any, please post their links here so Adobe can correct them.

Regarding Adobe tech support, they have a reputation for misleading and incorrect statements.