Search images in finder by Exposure Program

The following works:

Although third-party applications like the free ExifTool show the name string of the exposure mode, Apple has decided to assign an integer value instead, which if you know it is 3, then you can search for Aperture Priority AE taken images.

When you select an image in the Finder and press option+cmd+i, that get info panel will tell you the exposure program in text. Same story if you open the image in Preview, press cmd+i, and choose the following:

But Apple's Spotlight search, which is what you are using in that Finder cmd+F dialog, wants to be a contrarian and work from an integer value rather than plain text, and that is why you must use the example that I showed earlier with the Raw Query, or if you add Exposure Program to the list of Kind selection menu options, you can say:

Exposure program is n

where as far as I have discovered, n is among the following:

• 0 : Not Defined
• 1 : Manual
• 2 : Normal Program
• 3 : Aperture Priority

There is no readily discoverable Apple documentation on the above. Either the integers end at 3 with Aperture Priority or I don't have images here that reflect other than the above.

Is there anywhere in apples manuals or help pages that I can read more information about this?

How would one know that integers were opted for and what number is assigned to what mode.

Where does all this info live?

Spotlight Metadata Attributes is Archived, and I don't know of an active document. It lists that as a string, not a number.

Assuming there is no updated attribute list, you can see what is stored for different files with the metadata list command in Terminal,

mdls filePath

You won't see all of the options or what they are coded to, but you will see what type of data to use.

Combining that with the Info in Preview can help fill out the code table.