Today’s Question: I have trouble connecting XMP files to photos taken with an iPhone and integrating them into Lightroom Classic. Using the Apple Photos app, I go to File> Export> Export Unmodified Original for 1 photo. The “Export IPTC as XMP” checkbox is checked. This creates a DNG if I had captured in raw, or a JPEG, along with an XMP file and an AAE file. I import the DNG to my external hard drive but the XMP file doesn’t get copied along with the DNG. Any suggestions on how to clean this up? I assume having the XMP file is helpful somehow.
Tim’s Quick Answer: Lightroom Classic will ignore the XMP file for images exported from Apple Photos. Only the metadata contained within the source capture (JPEG or DNG in this case) will be preserved.
More Detail: In the context of Adobe applications, the XMP sidecar files are compatible across applications. For example, with a raw capture if you add keywords in Adobe Bridge and apply adjustments in Camera Raw, the related metadata will be saved in an XMP sidecar file. If you then import the image to Lightroom Classic, the metadata updates will be preserved. That includes the Camera Raw adjustments, which will then be reflected in the Develop module in Lightroom Classic.
This type of compatibility does not extend to non-Adobe applications. Therefore, the metadata updates applied in Apple Photos will not be included when you import to Lightroom Classic if you had exported from Apple Photos using the option to export an original. If you export a copy (with the Export 1 Photo” command rather than the “Export Unmodified Original” command) the standard metadata can be included, such as keywords. However, this would involve creating a new image file rather than the original format, which means you would not be retaining the original capture files in the context of Lightroom Classic.
Keep in mind that beyond standard metadata, the other features in Apple Photos don’t translate to Lightroom Classic in any event. For example, the Favorite (heart) feature in Apple Photos does not translate to any standard metadata value. Similarly, the adjustments in Apple Photos do not translate to adjustments in Lightroom Classic, so you would need to export a copy with adjustments if you wanted to retain the adjustments applied in Apple Photos.
In this type of situation, I generally recommend exporting the originals, importing those to Lightroom Classic, and then processing the images in your regular workflow. And XMP sidecar files for raw captures can be created automatically in Lightroom Classic to include standard metadata values as well as Develop module adjustments. That can be enabled by turning on the “Automatically Write Changes into XMP” checkbox on the Metadata tab of the Catalog Settings dialog in Lightroom Classic.
