Finding RAW files that were imported through iPhoto/Photos

[Abak671022]

I have some old photos that I have on a laptop that were imported off my camera's SD card directly into iPhoto/Photos (not sure at what point they were imported whether it was before or after the switch).  I know..I know this is bad.  Anyway in the past when I have found a photo I wanted to deal with I've just "exported original file" and the .nef file is exported from Photos.  I've come across a couple of photos from a session I know were all taken in RAW, but now when I try to "export original file" from Photos, all I'm getting is a .jpeg file and some associated .aae files with the same img name as the .jpg files.  Anyone had this happen before?  Where are my RAW files?  I have other backups I can probably dig up from somewhere as well as the original SD cards the photos were taken on, but they aren't as easily accessible at the moment.  Thanks for any info you might have on this

Ashley

[Damien Symonds]

As far as I can tell, aae files are Apple's equivalent of xmp files - that is, they are small data files that store the info about your edit of the photo.

I know that doesn't help with your actual question, though.  I hope Brian will be able to help you with that.

I'm curious to know, though, how you feel so sure that you shot those photos in raw format.

[Abak671022]

Well it was a group of photos from my maternity session...I had actually pulled one of the pics from the session to practice in the RAW class.  All the photos from the session were pretty terrible (I pretty much handed the camera to my MIL and didn't really check the settings until we were done bc the mosquitos were getting us pretty badly...so I know they didn't get switched from RAW) but there were a couple of our family and then one of me and my daughter that I wanted to try and salvage...I did use one of the family pics in the RAW class but the one of me and my daughter is the one that's exporting as a .jpg.  I had cropped the picture in Photos to send to a family member but even after I clicked the "revert to original" it still didn't give me the raw 

[Brian]

Oh boy, iPhoto. SMH.

From the looks of things, you have tried the File --> Export and set the kind to "Originals?"

You might have to go digging and do a image recovery on the cards from the photo shoot. iPhoto is an evil little program that is notorious for doing stuff like this. Don't expect it to be your friend or to maintain your files, even if you "know" you shot in RAW, iPhoto could have eaten the files. It's sometimes unpredictable.

[Abak671022]

Ahhh ok thanks...I am certain I still have the SD card from the original session, and these photos I never had imported to my main computer where I do most of my work. 

[Abak671022]

At least I know better now, right