You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Display of portrait photos in Photos

Why are photos taken in portrait format displayed as landscape when I run an album or memory? Within the library, and/or individually, they display correctly. Using MacBook Pro and latest version of Catalina.


Thoughts?

MacBook Pro Retina

Posted on Oct 11, 2020 2:45 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 12, 2020 11:32 AM

We cannot know the schedule for bug fixes. If you want to get the attention of the developer team, send feedback about the problem. Feedback - Photos - Apple

I am not sure if this issue is a bug or an inconvenient feature. None of Apple's photo applications (Aperture, iPhoto, Photos) has ever respected the camera settings when developing RAW files. RAW files have always been treated as the naked RAW, without looking at any special settings added by the camera.


I checked just all my RAW photos taken with the Canon EOS 5D Mk II. They have all been taken in landscape orientation, so I cannot test your issue with portrait photos.



13 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Oct 12, 2020 11:32 AM in response to kerraddoo

We cannot know the schedule for bug fixes. If you want to get the attention of the developer team, send feedback about the problem. Feedback - Photos - Apple

I am not sure if this issue is a bug or an inconvenient feature. None of Apple's photo applications (Aperture, iPhoto, Photos) has ever respected the camera settings when developing RAW files. RAW files have always been treated as the naked RAW, without looking at any special settings added by the camera.


I checked just all my RAW photos taken with the Canon EOS 5D Mk II. They have all been taken in landscape orientation, so I cannot test your issue with portrait photos.



Oct 12, 2020 5:19 AM in response to markwmsn

Thanks for this.

Almost certainly a mixture of iPhone SE, Canon IXUS and Canon 5D MkII. iPhone via iCloud and or USB, IXUS via built in MacBook Pro card reader, 5D MkII via USB lead. I'll review individual photos and see if it is predominantly one source. I have 25,000 photos in the database. Also some will have been an import from my Synology NAS database as I have migrated from using Lightroom/Photoshop to Photos/Affinity.

I have been using photos for a number of years and it is only in recent versions of Catalina that this has become apparent. I'm pretty sure it's not the case that it has been a problem since first upgrading to Catalina. As I say within the Photos library and individually they dis[play correctly. Perhaps it's related to the size of the image?

Will come back to you once I've reviewed them.


Cheers,


Oct 12, 2020 9:10 AM in response to léonie

Once upon a time but the current one is new, on the MacBook Pro. Hence some imports from a separate database on the NAS (Not a Photos library). I have just run some test photo imports from the Canon 5D MkII, some taken as CR2, some as jpeg. The CR2's only exhibit as landscape (ie when I click on the thumbnails or look at them in albums or slideshows), although the thumbnails display as portrait within the library.


It appears that Photos is happy to import CR2 files but when it comes to displaying portrait files it briefly displays them (a matter of msecs) as portrait then displays them as landscape.

Oct 12, 2020 11:04 AM in response to kerraddoo

It looks like the CR2 RAW files still need rotating. Photos is showing the thumbnails in the portrait orientation, probably the embedded JPEG thumbnails created by the camera, but the RAW file behind the thumbnail has not yet been rotated. when shooting Raw, there may be a discrepancy between the camera created JPEG thumbnails and the orientation of the RAW file, when Photos creates it own preview.


Oct 13, 2020 2:03 AM in response to kerraddoo

Sorry, no, I cannot take any new photos with the Canon EOS 5D Mk II. The camera got damaged during a field experiment, so I cannot take any more new photos with it. One of the students dropped it, and it hit the ground with the lens first. I am using a different camera now.

But I am seeing the same problem for the portrait orientation RAW files taken with my Panasonic LUMIX DMC FZ300. The orientation of the RAW file and the embedded JPEG thumbnail are having frequently a different orientation. It is natural, that the camera is developing the RAW differently from Photos.

Oct 13, 2020 2:35 AM in response to léonie

That's helpful thanks. Yes, I think the issue for me is probably simply the limitations of the MacBook Pro display functionality. The images are automatically resized for display on the iPhone, iPad and Apple TV and have correct orientation. Will be interesting to see if it is corrected in the future or on newer MacBook Pros (mine is early 2015) - possibly not.


Thanks

Display of portrait photos in Photos

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.