Photo Scanning Date Tip

If you've ever tried scanning old photographs and then managing them with modern software like Aperture or iPhoto, you know that date and time stamps can be a hassle. By default, a freshly scanned image will import into Aperture with the file's creation date (i.e. today's date), not the date the photo was taken. To remedy this situation, the free command line exiftool can be used with a command like the following:

exiftool "-dateTimeOriginal=1985:12:01 12:00:00-05:00" img036.jpg

The above example sets the date EXIF tag for img036.jpg to December 1st, 1985 (the time stamp is irrelevant). Even if you don't know the exact date the photo was taken, it's helpful to at least have the correct year in the EXIF tags. After setting the date, import into Aperture or iPhoto, and the photograph will be sorted correctly by date rather than appearing at the top with all your latest photos.