diff --git a/Tests/test_file_tiff_metadata.py b/Tests/test_file_tiff_metadata.py
index 4339c946c..0adbaf016 100644
--- a/Tests/test_file_tiff_metadata.py
+++ b/Tests/test_file_tiff_metadata.py
@@ -390,3 +390,16 @@ def test_tag_group_data():
 
     assert interop_ifd.tagtype[2] == 7
     assert base_ifd.tagtype[2] != interop_ifd.tagtype[256]
+
+
+def test_empty_subifd(tmp_path):
+    out = str(tmp_path / "temp.jpg")
+
+    im = hopper()
+    exif = im.getexif()
+    exif[TiffImagePlugin.EXIFIFD] = {}
+    im.save(out, exif=exif)
+
+    with Image.open(out) as reloaded:
+        exif = reloaded.getexif()
+        assert exif.get_ifd(TiffImagePlugin.EXIFIFD) == {}
diff --git a/src/PIL/TiffImagePlugin.py b/src/PIL/TiffImagePlugin.py
index 699eb33e0..46798871e 100644
--- a/src/PIL/TiffImagePlugin.py
+++ b/src/PIL/TiffImagePlugin.py
@@ -830,7 +830,8 @@ class ImageFileDirectory_v2(MutableMapping):
                 else:
                     ifh = b"MM\x00\x2A\x00\x00\x00\x08"
                 ifd = ImageFileDirectory_v2(ifh, group=tag)
-                for ifd_tag, ifd_value in self._tags_v2[tag].items():
+                values = self._tags_v2[tag]
+                for ifd_tag, ifd_value in values.items():
                     ifd[ifd_tag] = ifd_value
                 data = ifd.tobytes(offset)
             else: