I Love my Mac, but...

[Pachimac]

I am sure not loving APPLE right now!!! With the latest two OS's, they messed with iPhoto. I have used iPhoto for the entire time I've taken digital photos. I jumped into Lightroom when I had a short stint of shooting RAW, but went back to iPhoto.

We updated our OS, and got the new version of iPhoto - now simply called PHOTOS. The first thing it did was eat all my photos from 2019-to the last half of 2021. I talked with the geniuses and they said "That's a known issue. That's why you back up your photos somewhere else. Just go to the cloud and reinstall them. " Um, I don't use the cloud. Updating the OS should not wipe out my. photos, but it did. Lucky me.

So, then I figure - well I've lost my photos and I've backed everything else I have up, lets just get my computer fully updated. So I did.

Photos has a new naming system. It names the photos (and I'm NOT KIDDING) something like this - well exactly like this. This is a photo I took of our dog getting a bath. It should be named IMG_8957, but the NEW Photo app named it 0A4F1FE8-B3D0-4907-A73F-2A33310E455A.jpeg. It's just thrown in with all the other photos in the originals file. No date, so every single photo is just thrown into a haphazard file named "Masters" - completely out of order. So now I have to first change my entire computer to list files by date, grab the group from each YEAR, and then one by one change the file name and put them into the correct date folders.

Once that is done, then I am migrating completely to Lightroom, and Photos can kick my patootie!!! This would have to happen in the middle of MOC, so it's exceedingly difficult to find photos to scrap with unless I go way back. SOOOO, if you see a lot of heritage pictures, this is why.

I will never switch back to PC - I just don't like Windows at ALL - but man, I am PO'd at Apple for this fiasco. If Steve Jobs were still alive, this would have NEVER happened. He was all about eases of use!!!

Thanks for listening. Back to my photos...

 

[elseepe]

Ugggh. I think I saw something about this a little while back. I switched to Mac in 2014, but coming from a windows PC I could never really wrap my head around iPhoto and not understanding where it was actually storing my photos, so I kept using Lightroom. I guess I’m glad I never switched my photo system. Sounds like a pain and seems like a complex change for it to have renamed everything.

sounds like it at least kept your dates.

 

[Pachimac]

Ugggh. I think I saw something about this a little while back. I switched to Mac in 2014, but coming from a windows PC I could never really wrap my head around iPhoto and not understanding where it was actually storing my photos, so I kept using Lightroom. I guess I’m glad I never switched my photo system. Sounds like a pain and seems like a complex change for it to have renamed everything.

sounds like it at least kept your dates.

Any advice on how to import photos from my phone to Lightroom?? I can't figure it out. I know how to get old photos, but not the new ones.

 

[keepscrappin]

Any advice on how to import photos from my phone to Lightroom?? I can't figure it out. I know how to get old photos, but not the new ones.

Try dropbox. You can install the app for free. I use it to get my iphone photos to my pc.
Here's a referral link that will give us both free space.
https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/AACgDiR2Wr1gX-FEG7rZDFJye9L9dmwkNws?src=global9

I move about a month at a time from my phone to dropbox. Then, I move the photos from dropbox to a folder by month and year on my pc to free up space on my dropbox. Last, I copy the photos to an EHD and my amazon drive (free with prime) so I have another photo backup. Once they are on your mac or EHD you could add the folders to lightroom. HTH

 

[Pachimac]

Try dropbox. You can install the app for free. I use it to get my iphone photos to my pc.
Here's a referral link that will give us both free space.
https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/AACgDiR2Wr1gX-FEG7rZDFJye9L9dmwkNws?src=global9

I already have a drop box - sorry I can't give you a referral prize! I think I figured it out - I have to do something similar as you do. I have to open a program called Image Capture and have it get the photos off my iPhone and it has an option for the destination to be LightRoom.

 

[keepscrappin]

I already have a drop box - sorry I can't give you a referral prize! I think I figured it out - I have to do something similar as you do. I have to open a program called Image Capture and have it get the photos off my iPhone and it has an option for the destination to be LightRoom.

Np, glad you got it figured out... nothing worse than not having access to your photos, especially during MOC.

 

[Pachimac]

Np, glad you got it figured out... nothing worse than not having access to your photos, especially during MOC.

I know, right?? I look forward to MOC all year long and I've had so many computer issues!! I am so mad that I upgraded. I had a stable OS and a great copy of Photoshop just the way I liked it!!

 

[michelepixels]

I see you found Image Capture, but you can import directly from the phone into Lightroom too. That's how I do it. Primarily because I like to change the file name (YYYY MM DD title) and apply other stuff at import.

I'm sorry to hear about the Photos fiasco. Like Lisa, when I switched from PC to Mac in 2011, the native Photos app didn't make sense to me. I was used to navigating my file folders for my photos and digiscrap stash, and wanted to continue to do so. And furthermore, Photos does not let me caption my photos and embed those captions into the metadata to be visible in other places. That's very important to me. So in all these years I have avoided the Photos app.

I hope you find some photos you'd like to scrap in the disorganization and this doesn't hold you back from MOC.

 

[elseepe]

Any advice on how to import photos from my phone to Lightroom?? I can't figure it out. I know how to get old photos, but not the new ones.

I have the Adobe photography plan and use mobile Lightroom app to sync my photos into desktop Lightroom. Then you can move to appropriate folders in Lightroom.
Otherwise you should be able to import from a device. I haven’t done this in forever.

 

[Pachimac]

I see you found Image Capture, but you can import directly from the phone into Lightroom too.

I haven’t found it yet! How do you do it @michelepixels ?

 

[gonewiththewind]

@Pachimac I believe @bestcee imports directly to Lightroom as well. I like to manually copy mine over from Google Photos.

 

[bestcee]

Any advice on how to import photos from my phone to Lightroom?? I can't figure it out. I know how to get old photos, but not the new ones.

I already have a drop box - sorry I can't give you a referral prize! I think I figured it out - I have to do something similar as you do. I have to open a program called Image Capture and have it get the photos off my iPhone and it has an option for the destination to be LightRoom.

Oh! I can help! And it's super fresh in my mind because it's January and a new year.
Be Right back!

 

[bestcee]

Okay, So first: I have all my phone photos upload to Dropbox.
Then, I set up the Auto Import on Lightroom. Go to File - Auto Import. Click Enable Auto Import. Then under that, click Auto Import Settings.
Click on the Watched Folder and navigate to where your photos are. I use my Dropbox folder.
Then, choose where you want the photos to go. (This is why it's fresh for me). I have every year's photos in a different "year" folder. So, 2022. Then, I separate out all the camera photos into Dropbox.
Below, you can change other settings like file naming, auto develop (maybe your camera is always underexposing), add metadata, etc. I don't do any of those.

My phone adds my photos to Dropbox. My phone and Computer sync. When I open up Lightroom, I get a Importing process and it automatically pulls photos from my Dropbox folder to my computer folder named "Dropbox 2022". I don't have to do anything but open Lightroom. Before Dropbox was so picky on how many devices can access it, I used to have Nick and Matthew's phones also upload to my Dropbox. Sigh, those were the days! Now, I'll usually just download photos from Nick's Google Photos and then put them in my computer Dropbox folder.

(I made you a little video. No sound though!)

 

[Pachimac]

@bestcee Thank you sooo much!!!I will check it out tomorrow. Melissa is playing D & D with her cousins and I have no access to the computer!

 

[michelepixels]

I haven’t found it yet! How do you do it @michelepixels ?

You didn't find Image Capture? Image Capture is just one of the default programs on the Mac. But you have to look for it in the Applications folder; they don't place it on the dock for us. I use it rarely, when I want to import a phone photo really quick for a scrapbook page, so I keep it on my dock. Do you know how to do that? After opening it, right click on its image in the dock, then select Keep in Dock.

For both Image Capture and Lightroom, I plug my iPhone into my iMac with a charging cable. Image Capture is somewhat basic but powerful. You select the image(s) you'd like to transfer to your computer and choose where you want then to be (desktop, a particular file on any hard drive) and it speedily imports them.

With Lightroom, it's simple after you've set it up once. The Import button is in the lower left corner when you are in the Library module. When you click on the import button, you get a dialogue box with many choices. I think it's small the first time you open it; I get the bigger, more detailed box by clicking on the arrow in the lower left corner. Then I go from left to right. First select the source of the photos; my iPhone in this case. The phone has to be unlocked. The images will appear in the center pane. By default all are selected, but you can uncheck any you don't want. There are buttons at the bottom to help with speedier selection too.
Then, above the middle pane, choose Copy. The other options only apply if you're moving photos from one hard drive to another.
Finally, in the right pane there are so many options (here's where I apply import presets and rename my files) but only one you must do. You must choose a destination for your photos. Just navigate your files and select the folder where you want this batch of photos. At the top, there is a checkbox for creating a new folder and you can indicate different ways to organize the photos in those dropdown boxes.

Then click on Import in the lower right corner and in a minute or two, depending on how many photos you're importing, you'll see the photos in the Library module.

I wrote this as I'm about to transfer this week's phone photos to my computer. I hope I explained it well. Feel free to ask for clarification.

 

[Pachimac]

@michelepixels Thank you!!

It seems my library pane doesn’t have an import button. When I use the option through the menus up top, the phone is not shown in the pane of available devices.

I can and did use Image Capture, so I guess that will be the way I do it.

 

[michelepixels]

@michelepixels Thank you!!

It seems my library pane doesn’t have an import button. When I use the option through the menus up top, the phone is not shown in the pane of available devices.

I can and did use Image Capture, so I guess that will be the way I do it.

Was your phone plugged in and unlocked? That's very strange there wouldn't be an import button. Oh! Are you using the mobile/cloud version of LR? I'm using classic and not very familiar with the cloud version. I have PSCC but still use Classic LR because I had been using it since 2011 and when I briefly tried the cloud version it seemed like they removed some functionality.

Image Capture is sufficient and fast though. I just prefer LR because it can automatically change the file name and add my name to the metadata and stuff like that, all during import.

 

[Pachimac]

Was your phone plugged in and unlocked? That's very strange there wouldn't be an import button. Oh! Are you using the mobile/cloud version of LR? I'm using classic and not very familiar with the cloud version. I have PSCC but still use Classic LR because I had been using it since 2011 and when I briefly tried the cloud version it seemed like they removed some functionality.

Image Capture is sufficient and fast though. I just prefer LR because it can automatically change the file name and add my name to the metadata and stuff like that, all during import.

I am using the cloud version, and yes, my phone was plugged in and unlocked. I had read that you need to make sure your phone doesn't go to sleep, so I turned off the sleep option.

 

[michelepixels]

I am using the cloud version, and yes, my phone was plugged in and unlocked. I had read that you need to make sure your phone doesn't go to sleep, so I turned off the sleep option.

Ah, ok, I'm sorry I don't know much about the cloud version. I decided to install it and play around with it and I'm still not impressed. I definitely couldn't use it with the low limit of 20Gb! I guess there's a workaround, but I'm not up for changing my photo processing routine at the moment.
But if you want to use it, the reason you don't see an import button is that you just drag and drop photos if they're already on your computer, or you install LR on your phone and import them there.

 

[Karen]

Oh gosh! What a pain with those random file names. That would drive me crazy! I sure hope you're able to figure out a better solution with Lightroom that works for you.