Understanding Metadata

[JamesMay82]

I keep 2 photo libraries for paranoid backup reasons. one is in Lightroom and the 2nd in apple photos. I just imported my old weddings photos from 2010 but when I bring them into apple photos it lists them as 2020.. I went into the light room folder on finder and the photos are listed as created in 2020 for some bizarre reason but the Lightroom library does list them as the correct date of 2010.

Any ideas why this is happening? there are a few other examples of this as well and I'd like to understand it.

 

[robgendreau]

Might depend on what info is stored in exif. Which dates did you see in Finder? file creation date? or the date the image was created? are they digital photos, or scans of photos? I'd try downloading exiftool and getting more info about exactly which dates are stored where.

 

[JamesMay82]

Thanks for the reply. Yes it says created and modified the 14th August 2020 at 18:04. the finder info button doesn't show anymore info than that. I just downloaded exif tool from the App Store and that shows the correct date and time and they call it datetimedigitised.

How come Apple Photos isn't reading this date then? and why would it be giving me the 2020 date? have I done something to the file somehow elsewhere? maybe exported it in 2020 and re imported it maybe?

 

[cthompson94]

I think it is set to default to the last modified date (someone correct me if I’m wrong), but I noticed the same thing from photos from previous cameras I’ve owned that have bounced around on different drives and when I save one of those photos into the photos app the date location is incorrect, I usually have to go in and change the date which I only do if it really is bothering me

 

[Jumpthesnark]

Sounds like your metadata is in the file, and Lightroom knows which metadata field to read it from. But the Photos app (and the Finder) are reading a different metadata field. That's why LR is reading the correct date but the Finder is not.

I just used the Finder to get info on an image I worked on two days ago, when it was downloaded from an archive. The photo was shot in September, but the Finder is reporting the image date incorrectly. It says the image was created Nov. 2, which is when it was downloaded to this Mac. Since I worked that image after downloading it, I opened up LR and went to the library. LR reports the "capture date" as Sept. 22, which is correct.

So Finder is simply using the date the image was "created" on the HD or SSD, whereas LR is reading the metadata from the field that indicates when the image was actually created in the camera.

Were your 2010 photos added to a Finder folder or otherwise imported to a computer in 2020? That would account for the time stamp you're seeing. Maybe you were importing them to a new computer on August 14, 2020 at 18:04?

 

[JamesMay82]

Sounds like your metadata is in the file, and Lightroom knows which metadata field to read it from. But the Photos app (and the Finder) are reading a different metadata field. That's why LR is reading the correct date but the Finder is not.

I just used the Finder to get info on an image I worked on two days ago, when it was downloaded from an archive. The photo was shot in September, but the Finder is reporting the image date incorrectly. It says the image was created Nov. 2, which is when it was downloaded to this Mac. Since I worked that image after downloading it, I opened up LR and went to the library. LR reports the "capture date" as Sept. 22, which is correct.

So Finder is simply using the date the image was "created" on the HD or SSD, whereas LR is reading the metadata from the field that indicates when the image was actually created in the camera.

Were your 2010 photos added to a Finder folder or otherwise imported to a computer in 2020? That would account for the time stamp you're seeing. Maybe you were importing them to a new computer on August 14, 2020 at 18:04?

Very interesting and yes thats all I can think of thats happened. I might have exported some photos from my wife's library to my library.

I do like the photos app because it works well with our iphones etc but this has annoyed my photo OCD organisation of the library.

I'll have to keep any eye on this when I do it again.

 

[robgendreau]

Very interesting and yes thats all I can think of thats happened. I might have exported some photos from my wife's library to my library.

I do like the photos app because it works well with our iphones etc but this has annoyed my photo OCD organisation of the library.

I'll have to keep any eye on this when I do it again.

exiftool (or, even easier, Graphic Converter) can transfer exif data to other places in the file, which might help. You might have to reimport into Photos, because it doesn't IIRC have a read metadata from file command like Lr or other organizers.