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Q
qseep
Known Participant
July 1, 2023
Answered

Lost caption when importing from iPhone

  • July 1, 2023
  • 5 replies
  • 2350 views

I'm using Lightroom Classic 12.4 on macOS 13.4.1 (M1) and iOS 16.5.1.

 

If I take a photo with the Photos app on the iPhone, then enter a caption, then import new photos to Lightroom Classic using a USB cable, then the caption is nowhere to be found in the metadata on the imported file.

 

On the other hand, if I AirDrop the same photo to my Mac, the caption metadata is present (from exiftool):

 

[IFD0] ImageDescription : Photo caption test XZX
[XMP-dc] Description : Photo caption test XZX
 
Why is Lightroom dropping the captions on import? This is annoying because it's nice to be able to type captions when I take the photo. If I have to enter them later into Lightroom I might forget what I wanted to write.
 
BTW I do not use Lightroom CC or any Adobe cloud storage. Please do not suggest that as I do not want to pay for their cloud storage - I have enough other cloud storage.
    Correct answer s92348851

    I think I found a solution to this as it was also driving me crazy. I recently purchased a Sandisk Extreme PRO Dual Drive flash drive to back up my iPhone photos while traveling. When I downloaded photos from my iPhone photo roll onto the flash drive and then imported the photos from the flash drive to Lightroom Classic, the captions from the iPhone imported into the Caption field in Lightroom! Finally!

    5 replies

    S
    s92348851Correct answer
    Participant
    April 24, 2025

    I think I found a solution to this as it was also driving me crazy. I recently purchased a Sandisk Extreme PRO Dual Drive flash drive to back up my iPhone photos while traveling. When I downloaded photos from my iPhone photo roll onto the flash drive and then imported the photos from the flash drive to Lightroom Classic, the captions from the iPhone imported into the Caption field in Lightroom! Finally!

    GoldingD
    GoldingD
    Legend
    July 3, 2023

    Apparently in MAC iOS when you save that captain, the iOS places it in a metadata field called Description. (or the MACOD does that during import)

     

    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253512649

     

    So, it places it in a field that LrC might not deal with.

     

    They are not equivalent

     

    https://photography.tutsplus.com/tutorials/caption-description-title-alt-how-to-add-semantic-information-to-images--cms-25299

     

    I would imagine that some metadata editor could deal with this post process.

     

    hmm, not a nice solution for most of us, but see:

    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254014186

     

     

    johnrellis
    johnrellis
    Legend
    July 3, 2023

    Out of curiosity, I investigated various paths of extracting a photo from the IOS Photos app after setting the caption of the photo in the app. I used Exiftool to look for that caption anywhere in the metadata, not just the industry-standard fields.

     

    My conclusion: The IOS Photos app is storing the caption on the side in a proprietary location rather than in industry standard fields in the photo.  The app sends the caption to Icloud, which sends it to Mac Photos, but not in an industry-standard metadata field.

     

    Various extraction paths I tried:

     

    Mac Image Capture > Mac Desktop: No caption was extracted.

     

    IOS Photos app > Icloud > Mac Photos app: The Mac Photos app shows the caption.

     

    Mac Photos app > File Export Unmodified Original > Desktop: The .heic has no caption.

     

    Mac Photos app > File Export Unmodified Original, Export IPTC as XMP > Desktop: The .heic has no caption, but the exported .xmp sidecar has the caption in the industry-standard field XMP:Description.

     

    Mac Photos app > File Export as JPEG > Desktop: The exported .jpeg has the caption in the industry-standard fields EXIF:ImageDescription and IPTC:Caption-Abstract.

     

    IOS Photos app > LR Mobile: LR Mobile shows no caption.

     

    IOS Photos app > LR Mobile > LR Cloud > LR Classic: LR Classic shows no caption.

     

      Q
      qseepAuthor
      Known Participant
      July 1, 2023

      Perhaps there is a better iPhone app for taking photos that will store captions in a proper metadata field like Caption or Title?

      Q
      qseepAuthor
      Known Participant
      July 1, 2023

      Wow, the captions do not even show up in the Mac Photos app if I import to that. Apple needs to get their act together.

       

      https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252465243

      Q
      qseepAuthor
      Known Participant
      July 1, 2023

      I meant that I take the photos with the built-in Camera app.

       

      If the answer is that I can add captions using the Lightroom iPhone app, I can live with that as a workaround, as long as I don't have to use cloud storage.

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