# Confused about migrating from Apple Photos to Lightroom - newbie!



## kris8686 (Feb 19, 2022)

Hi - I am brand new to Lightroom and to this Forum. I have 46K photos in my Apple Photo Library on my Macbook (running Big Sur, and also on iCloud) and I am considering switching over to Lightroom (I believe I signed up for the trial version of the cloud-based LR, running on my Windows laptop). I was reviewing how to migrate Apple Photos Library to LR here https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-cc/using/migrate-apple-photos-library.html and here https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-cc/kb/known-issues.html#apple-photos-migration  -- but I got worried because:

It says I can only migrate Apple Photos Library once, and I don't know what that means (does it mean LR will only accept it once or Apple will only let me migrate it out once?)
I will lose a lot of things in the migration, like edits to photos, location, and slo-mo videos
You can't post directly from Lightroom to Facebook
I'm not sure if all the people (faces) tagged in Apple Photos will migrate over. And if not, is Lightroom easily able to search people (hopefully more effectively than Photos)?
I would like to find a better photo software program than Apple Photos, and stop using it. I find Photos clunky and am surprised that it has not improved much in the ~14 years I've been using it (and its predecessor iPhoto).  I use it almost entirely for personal reasons, or for posting photos on my professional social media pages. 

Features that are important to me are facial recognition, automatically identifying duplicate or similar photos so that I can quickly delete the duplicates, the ability to easily post photos and videos into social media (LinkedIn,  Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube), the ability to easily share photos with friends via email and text, and the ability to easily organize and sort photos into albums so that I can generate holiday cards and printed photo albums. I would like the albums in my Apple Photos Library to migrate over. And I want to be able to use this on my Windows laptop along with my iPhone.

But I'm scared to "pull the plug" and migrate. What if I screw it up or LR is not the right solution for me?! Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

thanks,
Kris


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## clee01l (Feb 19, 2022)

Every thing will remain as it is and safe. Your Apple Library is a package folder and remains intact when you migrate it to the Lightroom Classic Catalog. You will not be able to migrate that one Apple Library to that same Lightroom Catalog file but the one time. If you continue to add new photos to the Apple Library, you won’t be able to use the Migration process to add those same photos to the Lightroom Classic Catalog file 

Apple Photos has two options for storing the master image files. One option is to store the images by reference and the image files remain outside of the Apple photo library package. The other option for the Apple Photos library is to store the master image files in side a folder inside the Apple Photos Library package. 

Lightroom Classic only stores images by reference and never hides them inside the Lightroom Classic Catalog file. When you migrate to the Lightroom Classic catalog, the process will copy any master image files that are stored and hidden inside the Apple Photos Library Catalog to a folder outside of the catalog. (This will effectively double the storage space for those images). If you are already storing Apple Photos by reference outside of the Library, Lightroom Classic can use the same image file that Apple Photos does BUT when both Apps are managing the same file any moves or deletions by one app will not be seen by the other. 

If you have more than one Apple Photos Library package, you can migrate each into the same master Lightroom Classic catalog. If you some how botch the migration to the master Lightroom Classic Catalog, you can start over again with a backup copy of that master catalog. So it is always a good practice to make a copy of your master Classic catalog file before embarking upon any serious work such as migration to Lightroom Classic from an Apple Photos Library. 

Some tips from an long time Lightroom user that has a lot of Apple devices. iCloud does not play well with Lightroom Classic, You can with a lot of manual effort manage images in Lightroom Classic and get a copy to iCloud. You can get access to iCloud images and import them to a Lightroom Classic catalog by first getting them to the Apple Photos Library to have a local copy to import into Lightroom Classic. 

I have found it easier and simpler to not use iCloud at all but instead use the Adobe Cloud as a means to share images between Apple devices and Lightroom Classic. If you have the Photography Plan subscription, you also have the Lightroom app and the Adobe Cloud which can sync photos from iPhones, IPads to the Adobe cloud and then down to Lightroom Classic master catalog. 

I uninstalled the Apple Photos app on my Mac so that it does not try to import every photos that it sees being copied to the hard drive. On my iPad/iPhone devices I have the Lightroom App set to automatically grab and import any photo from the camera roll. I can also use the Lightroom app as a camera instead of the photos app on my mobile devices to bypass the camera roll completely.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## clee01l (Feb 19, 2022)

More: 

Facebook removed the API that let apps like Lightoom and Photos send images directly to Facebook. Instead now you need to export a Lightroom edited image to the filesystem and use Facebook to upload the the image.  On mobile devices, there is a Share option to share to Facebook.  This does not exist in Lightroom Classic hence the manual export.

When migrating an Apple Photos library, Originals images remain unedited.  Apple Edited images will be created as a derivative image and these will be added to the Lightroom Classic Catalog as a separate image File. 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## mikebore (Feb 19, 2022)

The OP has Lightroom v5.2....I think she maybe wants to migrate to Lightroom Cloudy, although the links she quoted are for Classic.


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## clee01l (Feb 20, 2022)

mikebore said:


> The OP has Lightroom v5.2....I think she maybe wants to migrate to Lightroom Cloudy, although the links she quoted are for Classic.


Sorry I was on Tapatalk which does not reveal that information.

Everthimg  I said about Migrating to Lightroom Classic can be applied to Lightroom except that your Master images are stored in the Adobe Cloud instead of locally.   I don’t know if the Migration to the Adobe Cloud also generates derivative images of your Apple Edits  but I suspect that it does.


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## kris8686 (Feb 21, 2022)

Thank you SO much Cletus for your quick and detailed reply, I truly appreciate it!  And also Mike for your catch about which version I'm using.  A few follow-up questions and comments:

I  don't know if my Apple Photo images are currently stored by reference (and the image files remain outside of the Apple photo library package), or if the master image files are stored inside a folder inside the Apple Photos Library package. How would I find that out? Does it matter for when I migrate to Lightroom?
Related, when I migrate to the Lightroom Classic catalog if image files are stored and hidden inside the Apple Photos Library Catalog and copied to a folder outside of the catalog (effectively double the storage space for those images), do I need to be concerned about having enough space on my Macbook? As I mentioned I have about 47K photos and an old 2016 Macbook.
I will sign up for whatever version of Lightroom makes sense for me. I just signed up for the free trial a few weeks ago, and it doesn't tell you if you signed up for Classic or Cloud or something else.  I do want to be able to edit and manage my photos on Windows (Microsoft Surface Book 2), my iPhone 12, and I think it would be smart to have the photos saved in the "cloud." But from your message, it does seem like I would want to get the  Photography plan  ("If you have the Photography Plan subscription, you also have the Lightroom app and the Adobe Cloud which can sync photos from iPhones, IPads to the Adobe cloud and then down to Lightroom Classic master catalog."
If I'm reading your message correctly, there is no downside to me migrating to Lightroom, correct? I'm not going to lose photos from Apple Photo Library and the worst-case scenario might be I don't end up liking Lightroom and decide to stop using it. Correct?
From your vantage point, are there any features in Apple Photos that I will lose if I switch to Lightroom? I realize I'm asking this to a group of Lightroom enthusiasts and experts, but I'm wondering nonetheless!
thanks!
Kris


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## clee01l (Feb 21, 2022)

kris8686 said:


> Thank you SO much Cletus for your quick and detailed reply, I truly appreciate it!  And also Mike for your catch about which version I'm using.  A few follow-up questions and comments:
> 
> I  don't know if my Apple Photo images are currently stored by reference (and the image files remain outside of the Apple photo library package), or if the master image files are stored inside a folder inside the Apple Photos Library package. How would I find that out? Does it matter for when I migrate to Lightroom?
> Related, when I migrate to the Lightroom Classic catalog if image files are stored and hidden inside the Apple Photos Library Catalog and copied to a folder outside of the catalog (effectively double the storage space for those images), do I need to be concerned about having enough space on my Macbook? As I mentioned I have about 47K photos and an old 2016 Macbook.
> ...


So Which Subscription Plan???
The Lightroom Plan stores all of your images and work in the Adobe Cloud.
The Photography Plan stores all of your images locally and your work on this images in a catalog file. 

Both plans  offer basic photo editing capabilities.  The Photography plan is a little more full featured and allows printing with a great deal of control over the print product.  The Lightroom app probably has all of the features found in the Apple Photos app.
There are some inconsistencies between the two products like how keywords are treated and a few other differences.  In Lightroom, Recovery from mistakes is a little lacking. If you delete an image, you only have 60mdays torecoverit from a "trash" album.   With Lightroom Classic, your images are stored locally and your system backup app (TimeMachine)  can recover from mistakes made far into the past.  For that reason you have more control over the image files that you own. 

1. In Photos Preferences under the iCloud Tab,  The option to Download originals to this Mac indicates to me that originals are available by reference.   On the General tab there is a check box for importing labeled "Copy Items to the Photos Library".  If checked it would imply there image files are not stored outside of the Library package.     The terminology has changed since I last used the Photos app.  So, I think these are the indicators.   The easiest solution would be can you see all of your original image files in the Photos folder outside of the Photos Library Package.
2.  In Lightroom (not Lightroom Classic),   you have an option to store your original images in a local folder on any locally attached drive.   If you choose to do that, Lightroom will mark a new copy of your originals and this will effectively double your images storage.  If you choose to only store images in the cloud, Lightroom should not add a significant amount of disk space used. 
2a. In Lightroom Classic you get option to catalog originals and also to catalog a derivative copy of your Apple Photos edits to this originals. 
3.  Lightroom Classic works with two cloud storage areas. Images that originate in Lightroom and are stored in the Adobe cloud are full size images and do count against your Plan storage limits.  This can hurt if you have the 20GB storage plan  and require a lot of manual effort to keep yourself inside your plan limits.   The good news is that Lightroom Classic syncs UP from the catalog and sends Proxy image files that are 2560px on the long edge.  These do not count against your plan limits and the storage of these has no limits.
4. If you have "burst" photos it appears that Lightroom (not Lightroom Classic) will only  import one key photo from the burst.  I have not discovered any other "gotchas".   Burst photos are like shooting in "machine gun mode"
5. I have not discovered any Apple Photos Features other than the one I mentioned in #4 about burst images.  I am far from being an Apple Photos expert.  If you want to put images into the iCloud from Lightroom it is not an automatic process like it is in Apple Photos.  

I am very comfortable with Lightroom Classic having used the product before the cloud and from Version 2.x.  I have the 1TB Photography plan.  I like the integration with Lightroom inspits of its inconsistencies.  I have been able to fully integrate my workflow.  I now do my importing into Lightroom from my iPadPro and the images are in my Lightroom Classic catalog by the time I get home (or up stairs) to my iMac.  Lightroom has a good tie in to another Adobe web product "Portfolio"   Have been developing my own web site using Portfolio for sharing my image albums.  https://cletuslee.work.  I have found that I do not need Apple photo products.  Adobe has an integrated solution that gets me sharing all of the images anywhere.


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## prbimages (Feb 22, 2022)

Also worth noting that with the Photograph Plan, you also get Photoshop.


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## kris8686 (Mar 11, 2022)

Thank you all, and sorry for my delayed reply!!

Is there a way to migrate from Apple Photos in iCloud to Lightroom? I've been trying to download the originals to the Apple Photos Library on my Mac so that I can migrate from there, but after doing this for 48 hours straight, only about 8K photos have downloaded of 49K, and today it seems to be completely stuck and none have downloaded.  And I'm concerned I won't have enough space on my Macbook anyway since it's old (2016).  I know Cletus said iCloud does not play well with Lightroom but I'm wondering if I can migrate from there. Thanks!


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## Johan Elzenga (Mar 11, 2022)

AFAIK, there is no way to migrate directly from iCloud to Lightroom. You must get the originals locally first. What I do not understand however is why it would take that much time to do this. Are you on some ultra slow internet connection?


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## kris8686 (Mar 11, 2022)

Thanks Johan, I don't understand it either! During the past 24 hours, zero photos downloaded, but it's not telling me why. I've been monitoring the internet speed and it's been quite high. This morning on Ookla the speed was 450 download and 55 upload.

When I upgraded to OS Big Sur last month, it took two full weeks (nonstop) for all the photos to go through whatever process the upgrade put it through (I can't remember what the message said exactly but it was something like searching for duplicates and grouping photos, and there was a status bar tracking the very slow progress).

I really appreciate this forum, it's so helpful to be able to ask questions and get advice!


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