Merging Lightroom edits from exported XMP into RAW file

[schvenk]

I hope I'm posting this in the right spot.

I'm working to move my Lightroom (cloud) library over to Apple Photos, starting with the Lightroom Downloader app (https://lightroom.adobe.com/lightroom-downloader).

According to Adobe's docs, the Lightroom Downloader exports originals (mostly CR2/DNG raw files for me), with XMP sidecar files for the edits. Apple Photos doesn't import XMPs, so I'm hoping I can use ExifTool to merge those edits back into the raw files and import them into Photos.

If I run...
exiftool -tagsfromfile my-photo.xmp -all:all my-photo.dng
...and then import the resulting DNG into Photos, I can see that something happened because the photo now contains the Lightroom tags. But I don't see the edits.

Is what I'm trying to do possible and, if so, how do I accomplish it?

Thanks!
Dave

[wywh]

I believe Photos.app supports only .AAE sidecars for the pixel edit info (AFAIK .AAE comes from "Apple Aperture Edits", "Apple Aperture Extension", or something like that). I.e. if you have edited the image in iOS/iPadOS you can AirDrop it with "All Photos Data" option so the original and edited image and also that .AAE sidecar are copied to the Mac and Photos will import the edits and it is possible to continue editing or revert to the original.

Notice that macOS Sequoia 15 Photos.app does not import any metadata from image .xmp (in previous macOS it imported some). And if a movie has a sidecar .xmp, Photos.app silently ignores to import those movies <sigh>. And Photos.app exports non-standard .xmp which you have to fix with exiftool because otherwise Santiago de Chile is put to the other side of the globe in Pakistan.

So it is best to use exiftool or GraphicConverter to copy .xmp metadata (date, location, title, caption, keywords etc) to images and movies before importing them to Photos.app.

https://exiftool.org/forum/index.php?topic=12634.msg68327#msg68327
https://exiftool.org/forum/index.php?topic=14943.msg80546#msg80546

- Matti

[schvenk]

Thanks for the quick & thoughtful response, @wywh!

A few clarifying questions:

• So are you saying if a video has a .xmp file next to it, Photos will fail to import it? (Which would suggest I should batch-delete XMP files prior to import.)
• Sounds like Photos doesn't properly import XMP files anyway so I should merge their data into the image files themselves. Which is better for doing that in a batch, ExifTool or GraphicConverter?
• If Photos only supports .aae sidecars for edits, is there a way to convert the .xmp ones exported by Lightroom into .aae? Or to export .aae from Lightroom?

Thanks again.

[wywh]

A few clarifying questions:

1. Sadly the movie import flaw with .xmp sidecars has been around for a long time and it is still around in macOS Sequoia 15.0.1. That flaw is so severe that I am going to nag about that to Apple. I have reported the .xmp GPS issue to Apple's feedback page a few times during the last few years but I am not holding my breath.

2. Yes, I always edit metadata outside Photos anyway (I do not trust Photos as an archive and use it only as a viewer and a way to sync to iPad). There are minor differences how exiftool and GC insert .xmp sidecars to images and movies. exiftool does what you tell it to do and GC does what GC author has told it to do (I have nagged to GC author and he is very good at implementing reasonable feature requests). I use exiftool but recommend GC for those who happen to ask and if they are not familiar with the Terminal. But usually I am greeted with a blank stare if I propose using .xmp sidecars to migrate to/from Photos with edited metadata and original quality images and movies.

3. I guess that is not possible. I'd re-edit raw from scratch anyway and I am annoyed by the many edit related XMP lines Lightroom inserts to edited .jpg

You can test these things by Option-launching Photos and creating a dummy new library where you can mess around without touching the main library. When you are done just Option-launch Photos and choose the main library again (or just double-click it and check that it is still the system library if you need that option). Make sure the library is stored on APFS (SSD) or MacOS Extended, GUID (HDD) case insensitive volume because non-Mac formats like exFAT etc are not supported and might corrupt the library. Also check that "Ignore ownership on this volume" is set for an external volume although it should be the default.

- Matti