Editing With the Photos App

Take a look at the editing controls in the new Photos app on the Mac. You can use automatic settings and filters to quickly change the look of your photos. You can also rotate and crop photos, and use precise color adjustments. Some controls only show you limited settings until you reveal more controls. You can also remove imperfections or whole objects from photos.

Comments: 64 Responses to “Editing With the Photos App”

    Bob Douglass
    9 years ago

    Gary-
    Thank you!
    Very nice overview of Photos App.
    Keep up the good work.
    Bob

    Andrew Phair
    9 years ago

    Fantastic. Thank you.

    Bill (William)
    9 years ago

    Thanks from me, too.

    Mark
    9 years ago

    Very nice overview Gary.

    Kerrie Redgate
    9 years ago

    Thank you, Gary. Very clear, as usual. But if the images can't be used in Photoshop, etc, does this mean the photos can't be saved as jpg or png? If not, what is the format? I can't find this on the Apple site. Thank you!

      9 years ago

      I'm sorry, but I think you are misunderstanding something. The images are just in their original format. Usually this is jpg for most cameras. Sometimes RAW or other formats. Photos doesn't use a special format or anything.
      And they certainly can be used in Photoshop. Try it. What I am saying is that there is no easy "edit in an external editor" function in Photos -- something that would allow you to take the photo into Photoshop and then back into Photos very easily. You just have to do it the hard way by exporting the photo to the Finder as a file. Then editing it in Photoshop. Then importing it back into Photos.

        Kerrie Redgate
        9 years ago

        Oh! Thank you very much, Gary. Yes, I did misunderstand that. Apologies! Thank you for your swift response, and great demo!

    Luigi
    9 years ago

    Hi Gary,
    very concise and clear as always; thanks.
    My question regards the opportunity to geotag those photos that don't have that meta-information because they have been shot with cameras that didn't offer that feature yet.
    Differently from iphoto, I don't see this option available in the new Photo app; is that the case?
    Thanks in advance for your guidance!

      9 years ago

      Right. There is no way to do that in Photos. Request it as a feature from Apple if you want it.

    Mike Goodman
    9 years ago

    Hi Gary, as ever great tutorial. I notice, however, that when you attempt to delete an image, it no longer goes into the trash bin. Having deleted a number of photos in this new way, I've found that memory space is no longer freed up as before. I'd be interested to hear your comments concerning this.
    Mike

      9 years ago

      Choose File, Show Recently Deleted to manage the Photos "Trash."

    Mike Goodman
    9 years ago

    Yes, I've done that already. A message appears, 'Are you sure that you want to permanently delete these photos' and when you do so they disappear, but not as before into the trash.
    The point I was trying to make, is that having done this with many photos it does not seem to free up any more memory!
    Thanks

      9 years ago

      The "Recently Deleted Photos" IS the trash. Not sure what you are looking for here -- a second tier trash?
      As for freeing up storage, I'm not sure. Perhaps you need to wait for clean-up to occur. Did you try quitting and restarting Photos? How are you determining whether storage (I assume you mean storage, not memory) is being freed? Just checking the Photos library file size?

    Mike Goodman
    9 years ago

    Yes, I'll try that. However, I'm sure that in iPhoto when you cleared the trash from the application it went directly to the trash bin in the dock, which you then had to empty a second time. This, obviously is no longer the case.
    Many Thanks for your help!

      9 years ago

      Right. That makes sense considering how putting items into your local Finder's trash for confuse things when it came to iCloud.

    Kath
    9 years ago

    Hi, since migrating to Photos, I now find that I have both a Photos library as well as the old iPhoto library (both of which are around 10 Gb.) Is it safe for me to delete the old iPhoto library, as it is likely to contain the same photographs?
    Kath

      9 years ago

      Yes. I would archive it (good to do on a regular basis anyway) before deleting it.

    Dave
    9 years ago

    As always another great help video. I feel much better about Photos now, Thanks.

    Kath
    9 years ago

    So, am I right in thinking that these are duplicates of the same photos in the old iPhoto library that were transferred during the migration process.
    Thanks

      9 years ago

      Right. The Old iPhoto library wasn't deleted (could you imagine the outcry if Photos did that?). So once you run Photos for the first time and it converts your iPhoto library to your Photos library, you end up with the old and the new. I archived my old iPhoto library (why not, hard drive space is cheap and it is a good idea to archive your photo library occasionally anyway) and then deleted it.

    Jim Goddard
    9 years ago

    Great Info!
    Thanks

    Kath
    9 years ago

    Thanks a lot. Appreciate your assistance!

    Paul Reber
    9 years ago

    Thanks Gary. Great job. Enjoy your vids very much. Paul

    Scott Beattie
    9 years ago

    Hi Gary - Just curious to know if there is any type of editing option to magnify a portion of a photo. I can do this in "Preview" using the Loupe tool from within the shapes menu of the markup tool bar. I find that I am using the magnify feature a lot - and it would be nice if it were available within Photos app. Just making sure I am not missing something obvious.

      9 years ago

      There is no loupe tool, but you can certainly magnify the whole image to view a portion using the slider in the toolbar or the keyboard shortcuts.

    Andy Clark
    9 years ago

    Hi Gary, As always a really useful and informative piece. Really appreciate this introduction to editing in the Photos app. Thank you!

    John Vertolli
    9 years ago

    Hi Gary- Does the IPAD have both the photos library and the iPhotos library on it now as well as my Macbook? I noticed my memory on the iPad took a huge hit when I updated my iPad to photos. If so, does archiving my iPhotos library on the Macbook solve this or is there an iPad fix?

      9 years ago

      With iPhoto the photos didn't exist in the cloud. The way you put them on your iPad would be to sync through iTunes. You can still do that with Photos, but it is unnecessary. Do one or the other, but not both. Check in iTunes to see if you are still syncing from iPhoto (or Photos).

    Donna Gordon
    9 years ago

    Very clear and concise. Thank you. I always enjoy your videos.

    Dan McNeil
    9 years ago

    Very nice video, Gary. One thing I've noticed is that when I am editing using adjustments the only choice in undoing a single adjustment change is to revert back to before any adjustments were done. I clicked on B&W accidently but to undo that adjustment only was not doable. If I made all the color and/or light adjustments that I wanted, how could I keep them in place if I just wanted to experiment with B&W. Thanks for your easy to follow tips.

      9 years ago

      Filters don't need to be undoable simply because they are like switches -- you turn them on or off. Turn on "Mono" and then click "Mono" again to turn it off. Or, just click "None."

        Dan McNeil
        9 years ago

        Thanks Gary. A little more exploring on my part, but I see the solution now to my question/concern. Very clear, helpful & useful.

    Robyn
    9 years ago

    That was very interesting Gary...what a gorgeous dog! Love him.

    Linda
    9 years ago

    Gary,
    Love your videos. Very helpful. I am trying to figure out how to get to the original photos. I want to do a photo album and I copied photos from an album (ported over from an event in iPhoto) but all I got was a small copy with "Thumb" in front of photo name. This, of course isn't large enough to make a dent photo in an album. Suggestions?

      9 years ago

      Drag and drop out of Photos will work for most things.

        Linda
        9 years ago

        Thanks, will give that a try.

    Norm Dinger
    9 years ago

    Gary. I find the Edit tool to be not as good as in iPhoto due to the fact each photo has to be clicked Done after being edited. Then you have to open the Edit tool again for the next Photo. In iPhoto you could still stay in the same Edit mode and just move to the next photo without clicking Done. Your comment on this would be appreciated.
    Thanks Norm.

      9 years ago

      Watch the video again. I show you exactly how to edit multiple photos quickly right at the beginning (0:20 to 0:45).

        Norm Dinger
        9 years ago

        Thanks for that. I was clicking done after each photo. Norm.

    Scott Griswold
    9 years ago

    Gary thank you..I have not switched yet.. How do I archive my iPhoto and will it still be like it is now? and still usable. will it just archive a copy of the iPhoto in its entire setup as it is? 36k plus photos

      9 years ago

      I would just archive your iPhoto library. Take the whole file and put it on an external drive or however you prefer to archive things. Leave iPhoto (the app) where it is.

    Dave H
    9 years ago

    Thank you for your sage advice. One annoying feature I've found since I've downloaded my first photos onto Photo - I take RAW images and process them in my computer - previously in iPhoto. Each time I move to the next photo I have to re-select the editing tools that I want access to. This slows the process of editing CONSIDERABLY and is very annoying. Any idea how I can "lock in" the editing tools I want access to?

      9 years ago

      When I move from photo to photo the way I do in the first minute of the video, the editing tools stay the same.

    Dave H
    9 years ago

    One small additional point - if I migrate my photos ( RAW files plus metadata) from iPhoto to Photo, will it transfer the metadata without me having to re- edit all my photos?

      9 years ago

      Seems like all of the metadata stays the same. Try it and see.

    Musicman
    9 years ago

    Hi Gary, i echo the others about the very informative video. My question is how do I delete duplicate photos? for some reason they do pop up when syncing.
    is there a way to do it without going one by one.? idid try a third party app but no luck with photos.

      9 years ago

      If you are using iCloud to store your photos, you shouldn't also be importing them in when syncing. There's no "automatic" way to delete duplicates -- Photos tells me when I try to import a duplicate and makes me confirm that I want to do it. I would start by investigating why you are getting duplicates and change that process/behavior. Then manually go through your photos to make sure you are deleting the duplicates carefully.

    Scott Beattie
    9 years ago

    Hi Gary - Is there any way to change the location information of a photo - if it is incorrect - or missing? Scenario 1 - I import a photo that has no GPS data - and I want to assign a location to the photo. Scenario 2 (GPS data is wrong and not sure why) - I have 40 photos showing as Lake George, CO and they should say Longmont, CO. (All photos with the wrong GPS data were taken in the same location). I am pretty sure I could do this in iPhoto. Info pane in Photos doesn't allow change.

      9 years ago

      No, there is no way to do that in Photos. Request that as a feature from Apple if you want it.

        Scott Beattie
        9 years ago

        Thanks for clarifying. I think I will request this feature. It's like the GPS info was incorrect on the day the photos were taken (because the location was incorrect back when I took the photos and always showed the wrong location even before Photos (but never got around to researching or addressing it back in iPhoto).

        Scott Beattie
        9 years ago

        Well - If somebody else is having this particular issue - (in my case it was 52 photos with incorrect location info) - what I did to work around the issue was to open the old iPhoto library (with iPhoto) - use iPhoto to correct the location of all 52 photos - then export them as JPEG including new location info - maximum resolution - then import the photos into Photos app. Then delete the originals with the wrong location info. This took some time and was an acceptable fix for me - but painful

    Dave H
    9 years ago

    Is it possible to place my Photo library on an external hard drive. like I was able to do in iPhoto? Not sure that I want to store all my photos on iCloud, where my continued access is dependent on my paying for the storage for ever and a day! Also downloading my entire library of photos will use a heck of a lot of data.

      9 years ago

      Yes, you can move the library anywhere you want and choose not to use iCloud if you wish.

        Dave H
        9 years ago

        Thank you for that - how does one open a new library on an external hard drive? iPhoto allowed one to swop between libraries and locations and start a new library but I don't see an equivalent in Photo

          9 years ago

          Hold down the Option key and launch Photos.

            Dave H
            9 years ago

            Wohoo - it works! Thank you . It isn't very intuitive! :>)

    Bill Hartman
    9 years ago

    Why the the change to this new software??? Seems to me Aperture was better for all editing tasks

    Bill Hartman
    9 years ago

    Why this new and "improved" software? Seems to me that Aperture was much better for editing functions than this new ap.

      9 years ago

      I'm not Apple. You'll have to ask the heads of Apple for a real answer. But Photos does do one thing that Aperture didn't -- it syncs and stores all of your photos in the cloud. Huge feature for many people, including me. It is also easier to use than Aperture. Maybe not for you, but I can certainly see it is going to be easier to use for a lot of people.
      As a developer, I can see that Apple is trying to get out of the "software must be everything to all people" business and instead create easy-to-use consumer software that will work for most people, while leaving pro-level software to other companies. Why should Apple compete with Lightroom/Photoshop when their mission is to sell hardware?

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