Transferring Photos

[jparker402]

I have a MacBook Pro with photographs saved in Photos, and most of these photos have Info saved within them. Virtually all, if not all, are in JPEG with a few videos. Many are old family photos that I have digitized with my scanner before saving. I am old and want to be able to get these photos to my descendants. And with the exception of my daughter, none will have a Mac. I would like to know the best way to transfer these photos. I am guessing that transferring them to some type of drive would be the best way, thinking that JPEG photos will be readable to MS systems, but I do not know if there are compatibility issues regarding what kind of photo apps that could be used by the MS systems. I suspect that the info that is contained with pictures saved in Photos will not transfer, but would like to know if there are any substitute programs that might be transferrable. And if other factors are involved, I would appreciate being educated as to what to do. Thanks!

 

[Ray2]

JPEG files are generic. My experience: EXIF/metadata info within them usually is, unless the images have had the info added in Apple Photos. Apple, in its commitment to be different, places some metadata in fields that, while not unique, other viewers don’t bother scanning. Answer is, it depends what you’ve entered and what fields Apple used. I don’t go near the Photos app, having already been burned twice by Apple, Aperture and iPhoto. But I do know the exif data that follows my iPhone images into Lightroom have completely messed up exif info in certain places, like capture date.

Some apps have excellent exif readers. Seems the cheaper ones do the best job. Adobe is near useless. If there’s an issue, maybe a member of the family can download a few and let others know if there’s metadata they’re not seeing in their specific viewer.

Flash drives are cheap and can do the job. Just format in ExFAT for compatibility.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

Like Ray2 above, I've never used Photos as "a container" for my images.

The problem with Photos (and with iPhoto before it), is that besides being a pic viewer/editor, it works like a database application, sorting pics in its own fashion and putting them into its own folder/file structure that is indecipherable. This makes trying to find an individual pic (using the finder) all but impossible.

The trick here is getting all the pics OUT OF Photos and into a simple folder/file hierarchy.

Photos has an "export" feature, which seems to offer choices for both "processed" pics (pics you've applied editing to) and "unmodified originals".

I think you have to select what you want to export, and then designate WHERE you want them to go.

You would have to create some folders, and then put things where you want.

Then... move them to the drives your intended recipients can use.

This may be quite a project if you have A LOT of pics "to move".

Although I've never had a need for them, I'm thinking there are some 3rd party apps out there that can do this for you and simplify and automate the process. You'll have to search for them and try them, however.

EDIT:
I checked with a yahoo search, and it offered a few apps:
Photos Takeout
PowerPhotos (Fat Cat Software)
osxphotos (open source)
Photo Exifer
I know nothing more about the above apps other that they exist.
It will be up to you to investigate further.

 

[Ben J.]

Another non-Photos user here. Old geezer too, also trying to prepare and share all my stuff for posterity - images, my music creations, homemovies etc. I've been at it for a while, and I keep it simple. A simple folder hierarchy with years, types (slides, scans, creations etc), and I have plenty of space on googldrive to share them with family and friends.

I've been on Lightroom for twenty years, so I'm pretty much locked in to the subscription. When I feel I need to consolidate some collection of images, I export them to basic folders as jpegs, and upload to googledrive. Keep it simple.

I also have backups of everything in-house, plus a full set off site. And if they want to, my descendants would have a good chance to access the RAW files of my photos.

And I never bothered much with tags/keywords/exif etc. I think that in the future, there will be apps that can easily help sort out messy collections of images and sort them with AI, face recognition etc, much better than now.

 

[Ray2]

There are 3rd party apps that can read/view the Photos library. Perhaps trial one of these, look at their metadata info and see if you even have an issue. I know Lyn App can read the Photos Library. Take a look at Mylio. There are others.

If you have a bunch of duplicates to clean out, PhotoSweeper is excellent and can read the Photos library as well as a deep folder hierarchy.

Fisherrman's suggestion should be followed. The Photos Export function works well, pay attention to the settings you select (as in do not choose title as a file name, something Apple does). As you export each album you'll have a chance to build your, pre-thought out, folder hierarchy.

 

[jparker402]

Thank you all very much for your suggestions. I am sorely afraid that this is all too much for me to comprehend. I have tried to review some of the alternative apps suggested but just do not follow what they are for and what they could do. Until such time as someone appears physically at my door and instructs me, I am going to go with a plan I can understand. I will (1) keep using the Photos app and (2) buy a Mac for each relative that I want to give pictures to their own Mac computer to put them in. I know how to do that. But I will watch to see if AI comes up with a solution that will sort it all out without me worrying about it.

 

[Apple fanboy]

In reality this is where printing comes into its own. When my grandparents passed away all their images where printed in albums and a box or two (this was pre digital photography). They passed to my parents.
But when my Dad passes away his images are on a PC. I’ve no idea what his password is or anything. I’d say the chances of that being accessed is pretty slim.

Print your images if you want to pass them on.

My images will just go to the landfill one day I’m sure. No one to pass them on to.

 

[Ben J.]

I will (1) keep using the Photos app and (2) buy a Mac for each relative that I want to give pictures to their own Mac computer to put them in.

I suggest that you instead buy them an apple TV each - much cheaper - it has the Photos app, and lets them view your shared photo albums on their big TV screens. Of course, shared photo albums will be viewable on macs and iPhones aswell.

 

[sahnert]

Photos has an export function to do this job simply, although other tools might have more powerful features. I would use an external hard drive or USB stick with nothing else on it for clarity.

Here's how to do it for your whole library

1. go to the library view, then go to Edit > Select All
2. go to File > Export > Export ### Items (it will show you how many you are exporting)
3. Photo Kind: set to JPEG, then choose JPEG Quality: High, Color Profile: Most Compatible, Size: Full Size
4. check the box to Include: Title, Keywords, and Caption
5. for File Name, use Title if you have used the title field in the info panel, otherwise choose another option that makes sense like File Name (if you named them while scanning) or Album Name With Number if you have organized using Albums in Photos
6. Subfolder Format, if you want them all in one big group when you export, choose None, otherwise choose Moment Name to have them placed in subfolders.
7. Click Export and you will be asked to choose where you want them to be saved. An external hard drive or even a smaller USB stick based on how many photos you are sharing would be perfect. Choose the location and then click Export again
8. once you are back in the library, go to Edit > Deselect All

I think this would do exactly what you want, but if you need more control a third-party tool may be the way to go.
Here is the Apple documentation of this tool which has more details if you want
Export photos, videos, slideshows, and memories on Mac

In addition, you may want to take the time to set up a Legacy Contact for your Apple Account. This would give someone you specify access to your Apple Account and all its data when you are gone. Here is some more information
How to add a Legacy Contact for your Apple Account

 

[Ben J.]

It seems that shared albums in your Photos app can be viewed on windows PCs and Android mobiles also:

Share photos and videos with an iCloud Link on iCloud.com

In Photos on iCloud.com, share photos and videos with an iCloud Link.

support.apple.com

Like I said; I don't use Photos app myself, so I'm unfamiliar with the details, but I'm included in my daughter's album with photos of my grandchildren, and the way it works is quite simple, really:

She adds some photos to a shared album that she has included me in, either by my apple ID or my phone number, I get a notification of it, and I can open Photos app on my mac to view the new photos.

The photos are stored on apple's icloud servers, and any changes she makes are reflected in what I see.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"buy a Mac for each relative that I want to give pictures to their own Mac computer to put them in."

If you have enough money to do that, then you have enough money to hire a Mac consultant to pay you a personal visit and help you get things organized.

For long-time archiving/sharing, I'm thinking you want to get your pics OUT OF Photos and "the cloud" and INTO a general "folder-file" hierarchy that anyone can "peek into" and use. Get this set up on your own drive.

Then, buy several HARD DRIVES (I'd suggest SSDs), format them to a "universal" format such as exFAT, and put the pics onto each of them.

Then... hand them out to your descendents.
Now, anyone with either a Mac or PC should be able to access them.

 

[AlaskaMoose]

OP wrote:
"buy a Mac for each relative that I want to give pictures to their own Mac computer to put them in."

If you have enough money to do that, then you have enough money to hire a Mac consultant to pay you a personal visit and help you get things organized.

For long-time archiving/sharing, I'm thinking you want to get your pics OUT OF Photos and "the cloud" and INTO a general "folder-file" hierarchy that anyone can "peek into" and use. Get this set up on your own drive.

Then, buy several HARD DRIVES (I'd suggest SSDs), format them to a "universal" format such as exFAT, and put the pics onto each of them.

Then... hand them out to your descendents.
Now, anyone with either a Mac or PC should be able to access them.

I would just buy a few high capacity SD cards that are already pre-formatted exFat. Works well with Mac and Windows both with write and read. I have purchased sets of tree 128GB SD cards at Costco, and if I remember correctly I paid around $125.00 for the set. It came formatted exFAT, so I left them as such. Now, I also bought several 2GB SSDs last year and paid about $140.00 each; this week I was surprised as the price has gone up to over $200.00 ($240.00 or so?).

FAT32 format works well with Mac, Windows, and Linux, and gaming devices, but it has a size limit of 4GB.

 

[Fishrrman]

Moose wrote:
"I would just buy a few high capacity SD cards that are already pre-formatted exFat"

Perhaps USB flash drives would work as well or better.

128gb size would probably be enough.

Serious question for the OP:
Do you really think your relatives and descendants are going to want to look at more than 128gb worth of your old pics?

 

[AlaskaMoose]

Moose wrote:
"I would just buy a few high capacity SD cards that are already pre-formatted exFat"

Perhaps USB flash drives would work as well or better.

128gb size would probably be enough.

Serious question for the OP:
Do you really think your relatives and descendants are going to want to look at more than 128gb worth of your old pics?

I am cheap, I guess 😇

Both Lexar and Amazon 128GB thumb drives cost (each) from $27.00 to $29.00 USD. But in a lot of cases such high capacity drives aren't needed unless one plans to store lots of photos and videos. Also Sandisk 1TB at Costo and Amazon cost around $140.00 USD. I just found out that the Sandisk 2TB drives SSDs I purchased last year for $125.00 each costs $219.00 this week.

Photos and videos to distribute with children and family members just save or move to SD cards or thumb drives. Once I die then they receive everything I own in accordance to the instructions I leave behind. My ashes can be scattered in the wind out of a convertible Ferrari F80 driven at high speed, of course. 🙂