diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 5e4a755a..cdf61d62 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1702,7 +1702,7 @@ Substitution                    Description
 {lf}                            A line feed: '\n', alias for {newline}
 {cr}                            A carriage return: '\r'
 {crlf}                          a carriage return + line feed: '\r\n'
-{osxphotos_version}             The osxphotos version, e.g. '0.42.78'
+{osxphotos_version}             The osxphotos version, e.g. '0.42.79'
 {osxphotos_cmd_line}            The full command line used to run osxphotos
 
 The following substitutions may result in multiple values. Thus if specified for
@@ -3561,7 +3561,7 @@ The following template field substitutions are availabe for use the templating s
 |{lf}|A line feed: '\n', alias for {newline}|
 |{cr}|A carriage return: '\r'|
 |{crlf}|a carriage return + line feed: '\r\n'|
-|{osxphotos_version}|The osxphotos version, e.g. '0.42.78'|
+|{osxphotos_version}|The osxphotos version, e.g. '0.42.79'|
 |{osxphotos_cmd_line}|The full command line used to run osxphotos|
 |{album}|Album(s) photo is contained in|
 |{folder_album}|Folder path + album photo is contained in. e.g. 'Folder/Subfolder/Album' or just 'Album' if no enclosing folder|
diff --git a/osxphotos/_version.py b/osxphotos/_version.py
index ecb85206..e2f3567a 100644
--- a/osxphotos/_version.py
+++ b/osxphotos/_version.py
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 """ version info """
 
-__version__ = "0.42.78"
+__version__ = "0.42.79"
diff --git a/osxphotos/photoinfo/photoinfo.py b/osxphotos/photoinfo/photoinfo.py
index eb0cac08..a3678f72 100644
--- a/osxphotos/photoinfo/photoinfo.py
+++ b/osxphotos/photoinfo/photoinfo.py
@@ -564,7 +564,12 @@ class PhotoInfo:
     @property
     def title(self):
         """name / title of picture"""
-        return self._info["name"]
+        # if user sets then deletes title, Photos sets it to empty string in DB instead of NULL
+        # in this case, return None so result is the same as if title had never been set (which returns NULL)
+        # issue #512
+        title = self._info["name"]
+        title = None if title == "" else title
+        return title
 
     @property
     def uuid(self):
diff --git a/osxphotos/phototemplate.py b/osxphotos/phototemplate.py
index 51fd56de..47e25b6c 100644
--- a/osxphotos/phototemplate.py
+++ b/osxphotos/phototemplate.py
@@ -1004,6 +1004,9 @@ class PhotoTemplate:
         elif self.dirname:
             value = sanitize_dirname(value)
 
+        # ensure no empty strings in value (see #512)
+        value = None if value == "" else value
+
         return [value]
 
     def get_template_value_pathlib(self, field):