Chapter 3. Your Photo Library

Photo editing gets all the attention, but at its heart the Photos app is a place to collect all your photos into a single place. Having a unified library makes it easy to grab photos to edit, of course, but there’s more to it than that.

The library gives order to your thousands of images, removing the need for you to track it all in folders on your Mac. Since the photos are all digital files, you can add important information to them, such as the identities of people that appear in the shots and keywords that describe what’s depicted. That data joins a host of other information that lives in the files.

And what do you do with all that information? Mark favorites, locate photos in albums and smart albums, and use the search feature to ultimately spend less time digging through your photos and more time enjoying the ones you want to see.

• Moments reveals photos in smaller chunks based on time and location.

• Collections shows you photos grouped into horizontal blocks by date, usually a few days in each block. Collections are the closest analogue to events in iPhoto.

• Years groups photos based on the year they were shot.

Switching between views is done by tapping or clicking a control at the top of the screen.

In Photos for iOS, the current view appears at the top of the screen. Tap the word at the upper-left corner to navigate to that view (3.2).

In Photos for OS X, click the navigation buttons in the upper-left corner (3.3). (If you hold over the button for a moment, a tooltip tells you where the button will take you.) The left button zooms out to the Years view; the right button zooms in to the Moments view.

In both environments, the most recent photos appear at the bottom of the list; the oldest are at the top.

To view a single photo (3.4), double-click it in any view in Photos for OS X, or, in iOS, tap it from the Moments view.

You can zoom in on the image on the Mac by dragging the size slider or using gestures (see the sidebar below). To go to the previous or next photo without returning to the Moments view, press the left or right arrow keys on your keyboard.

When viewing a single photo, the image occupies most of the Photos interface. You can also display thumbnails of other images within the same moment by clicking the Split View button or choosing View > Show Split View (3.5). Normally the thumbnails are square, but you can opt to show the images in their actual aspect ratios by choosing View > Display Square Thumbnails in Split View to toggle the setting off.

To further arrange the split view to your liking, drag the border between the image and the thumbnails to increase or decrease the number of columns that are shown (3.6).

In any of the three main views (Moments, Collections, or Years), a place name (or several) appears at the top of each group (3.8). Click it to reveal a map with thumbnails at the locations where the geotagged photos were taken (3.9).

When you zoom in to the map, the locations become more specific. Clicking a thumbnail group (indicated by a number badge for how many photos are at that location) opens a window containing those photos; clicking a single image opens the photo.

Choose between Standard, Satellite, and Hybrid renderings, and pan, zoom, and tilt the map to get different views of locations. Use the navigation controls at the lower-right corner of the window (3.10), use gestures on a trackpad, or use keyboard shortcuts combined with mouse clicks to navigate a map:

• Hold Shift and drag up or down to zoom in or out.

• Hold Option and drag up or down to tilt the map into 3D mode. Some views don’t support 3D maps.

• Hold Option and drag left or right to rotate the map around the spot where you clicked.

Click the 3D button in the middle to re-orient the map to due north.

Another way to view location information in Photos for OS X is in the Info window. Choose Window > Info to display the floating Info window. If any photos in the current view include location information, they appear as pins on a small map (3.11). When you view a single photo, its location shows up along with its other information.

Unfortunately, the Info window is just a reference: you can zoom in and out of the mini-map, but clicking the pins doesn’t take you to the photos shot at that location, as you might expect.

If you’ve turned on the sidebar, your albums are listed there; a single click on one selects it and displays its contents.

On the iPhone and iPad, tap the Albums button at the bottom of the screen to view the same groupings (3.13). Tap an album to view its contents.

When you’re viewing an album, the navigation buttons change to a single back button that takes you back to the Albums screen (3.14).

1. In Photos, a new Import tab appears at the top of the screen; click it to view the contents of the camera or card (3.15). If, instead, the sidebar is visible, look for the name of the camera or card under Import.

You may need to power on the camera or switch to its reviewing mode. Also, when you connect the camera, Photos may automatically switch to the Import tab.

Feel free to adjust the thumbnail size slider to get a better look at your photos.

2. Ensure that the “Delete items after import” checkbox is not selected. Call me paranoid, but I prefer to erase the memory card within the camera later, after I’m certain everything has imported successfully.

3. To import all the photos on the card, click the Import All New Photos button.

To import just some of the photos, click to select the items you want; you can also Shift-click or click-and-drag to select multiple images quickly. Then, click the Import Selected button to copy the image files.

If you’ve previous added photos from this source, those images are recognized as Already Imported (3.16).

A small progress wheel appears to give you an idea of how much of the import has completed (3.17). The images are copied to your library, and then show up in the Last Import album. If you need to cancel the import, click the progress wheel and then click the X button.

1. Choose File > Import, or press Command-Shift-I.

2. In the dialog that appears, navigate to the folder containing the images you want to import (3.18).

3. Click the Review for Import button. The same interface for importing photos from the camera appears.

4. Click Import All Photos to grab everything, or select the images you want and click Import Selected.

To do this, go to the Photos preferences and, in the General tab, turn off the Copy Items to Library setting. An icon on the thumbnails indicates which photos are stored outside the library file (3.19).

This setup gives you the ability to view and share files when you’re away from your Mac. If you’re not syncing photos via iCloud, you can add the images to Photos for OS X later by connecting the iPad via its sync cable and importing them as if the iPad were a regular camera.

1. Connect the camera or card to the adapter, and then plug that into the iPad.

2. Open the Photos app and tap the Import button that appears at the bottom of the screen.

3. Tap the Import All button to copy everything available, or select the photos you want to add and tap the Import button; for the latter option, you’re asked if you want to Import Selected or Import All (3.20).

Marking a photo as a favorite (all heart icons) can be accomplished in several ways (3.21):

• In the Info window, click the Favorite button.

• With the photo viewed in single image mode, click the Favorite button on the toolbar.

• When viewing the thumbnail view of your library, click the Favorite button in the upper-left corner of a thumbnail.

• Press the period (.) key.

• On an iOS device, open a photo and tap the Favorite button at the top (iPad) or bottom (iPhone) of the screen.

• In the Info window, click the Add a Title field and type a title.

• Choose View > Metadata > Titles to reveal the Title field beneath each thumbnail, and type a title there. I like this option for titles because it doesn’t require the Info window to be open all the time.

• Also in the Info window, click the Add a Description field and enter some descriptive text.

Overall, I’m not a fan of the Keyword Manager, because it’s really a cumbersome, old-fashioned way of adding and editing keywords. However, it does have an advantage: You can add frequently used keywords to the Quick Group, which assigns keyboard shortcuts to them for easy tagging.

Drag keywords to the Quick Group area; Photos automatically assigns a shortcut based on the first character of the keyword (3.26). (If a letter is already taken, Photos uses the next letter. So, “wildlife” would be W and “woods” would be O.)

You can change the shortcut key by clicking Edit Keywords, selecting one of the terms, and clicking the Shortcut button. To remove a keyword from the Quick Group, drag it out of the Quick Group area.

To apply keywords using shortcuts, make sure the Keyword Manager is open, select the photos you want to tag, and then press the shortcut key. If the Keyword Manager isn’t open, the shortcut keys don’t work.

Photos with keywords applied gain a keyword badge (3.27).

The great advantage to using ratings in iPhoto and Aperture was how easy it was to apply them using keyboard shortcuts. By adding these faux star ratings to the Quick Group in Photos for OS X, you regain the ability to rate photos by simply pressing a key (3.28).

The Photos application, both on OS X and iOS, offers two actions to weed out the less-desirable shots—and interestingly, both leave the door open in case you think that maybe an action shot of your cat that’s actually just a dark blur against a shaky background was what you wanted all along.

• In the Moments view in Photos for OS X, select one or more photos and choose Image > Hide Photo (or press Command-L), or right-click the photo and choose Hide Photo from the contextual menu (3.29). Confirm that you want to hide the photo in the dialog that appears.

• In the Moments view in Photos for iOS, touch and hold on a photo until you see the Hide option appear (3.30). Tap Hide and then confirm your action in the popup that appears.

To view photos you’ve hidden, go to the Albums view and open the Hidden album. From there you can make hidden photos visible by choosing Unhide Photo from the Image menu or the contextual menu (OS X), or touching and holding a photo and choosing Unhide from the popup that appears (iOS).

On the iPhone or iPad, do one of the following:

• Open a photo in the Moments view, tap the Delete button (the trash can), and confirm your action.

• To delete multiple photos, first tap the Select button at the upper-right corner, and then tap to select photos to be removed (3.31). In the Select mode you can also choose all photos in a moment by tapping the smaller Select button to the right. Tap the Delete button (the trash can) and confirm the deletion.

Deleted photos don’t linger forever, though. Shots in the Recently Deleted album that are older than 30–40 days are automatically removed, and the rest appear with the number of days before they’re sent to the bit compacter.

• In Photos for OS X, choose File > Show Recently Deleted (3.32). Although Recently Deleted is an album, on the Mac it’s not listed with the other albums; you can view it only from the File menu. Select the photos you want to save and click the Recover button.

• In Photos for iOS, tap the Albums button and then tap the Recently Deleted album to open it. Tap a photo to view it and then tap Recover; or, to recover multiple images at once, tap Select, choose the photos you want, and then tap the Recover button.

In Photos for OS X, you can create regular albums into which you manually add photos, as well as smart albums that display contents based on criteria you specify. On iOS, the Photos app supports regular albums but not user-created smart albums.

1. In any view, and with no photos selected, choose File > New Album.

2. In the dialog that appears, make sure New Album is selected in the Album pop-up menu and enter a title in the Album Name field. Click OK.

3. Select some photos to add to the album (3.33). You can scroll through all photos to locate them, or click the Favorites button to browse photos you’ve marked as favorites. Click Add.

The album is created with the selected images inside, and you’re switched to the Albums view with that album open.

A quicker method is to select the images you want to include in an album and then choose File > New Album. The album is created immediately with the images in place.

But wait, there’s more! It’s easy to turn a moment into a new album:

1. In the Moments or Collections views, click the Add button (+) to the right of the name of a moment or collection (3.34, on the next page).

2. Choose Album from the pop-up that appears.

3. In the dialog that appears, the location and date of the moment are used as the album name; change it if you wish. Click OK.

1. Select the photos you want to add.

2. Click the Add button (+) in the toolbar and choose Album (3.36).

3. In the dialog that appears, click the Album pop-up and choose the destination album (3.37).

Or, you can let the Photos app keep everything organized by choosing View > Keep Sorted by Date.

In an album, select the image(s) you want to remove and choose Image > Remove Photo(s) from Album, or press the Delete key. You can alternatively choose Remove from Album from the contextual menu.

1. In the Albums view, tap the Add button (+), enter a name for the album, and tap Save.

2. On the next screen, browse the Moments or Collections screen and select the photos you wish to add (3.40). You can also select entire moments to be added.

3. Tap Done to create the album with those photos included.

Just as with Photos for OS X, you can create an album by first selecting the photos you want to put in it.

1. In the Moments view, select the photos you want to add to the new album.

2. Tap the Add To button at the bottom of the screen.

3. In the Add to Album screen, scroll to the bottom of the album list and tap New Album (3.41).

4. Enter a name for the album and tap Save.

Or, when you’re viewing the contents of an album, tap Select and then tap the Add button to select more photos to include in that album.

You’ll find these in the Albums view.

For the most part, the built-in smart albums merely collect these types of images to make them easier to find. One exception is the Bursts album, where you can extract single shots from the bursts, just as you can do on the iPhone or iPad. Here’s how to do it in Photos for OS X:

1. In the Albums pane, open the Bursts smart album.

2. Double-click a burst to open it.

3. Click the Make a Selection button that appears in the upper-left corner (3.42).

4. Click the thumbnails below the photo to view each image (3.43). The circle below the thumbnails is the one that the iPhone or iPad chose as the best of the bunch; the triangle indicates which image is currently being viewed.

5. Click the image if it’s one you want to extract; a blue checkmark appears in the lower-right corner.

6. Click the Done button.

7. In the dialog that appears, decide whether you want to keep all of the photos in the burst (Keep Everything), or keep just the selected shots and delete the others (Keep Only Selection) (3.44).

• Show all photos taken between July 1 and July 15.

• Show all photos marked as Favorite that also contain the keyword “landscape.”

• Show all referenced photos.

• Show all photos captured using a Fuji X-T1 with aperture settings wider than f/2.8.

You get the idea. Now let’s look at how to create a smart album. By way of example, let’s create a smart album that finds the best photos captured in the past six months using a specific camera model:

1. Choose File > New Smart Album, or press Command-Option-N.

2. In the dialog that appears, enter a descriptive name in the Smart Album Name field (3.45).

3. Next, start defining the album’s criteria; the default is “Photo is favorite,” represented in three pop-up menus, so keep that.

The first pop-up is the thing to which you want to match, like the photo, text, or a camera setting. The second pop-up is the action, such as “is,” “is not,” “includes,” or “does not include.” And the third pop-up describes the data that should be matched or ignored.

4. Click the Add (+) button to the right of the criterion to add a new one. Not only does another set of pop-up menus appears, but a new Match condition shows up above the criteria (3.46).

The Match qualifier specifies that “any” or “all” of the conditions must be met to include an image in the smart album. In this example, choose “all” because we want only photos that are described by all of the conditions.

5. In the second condition, set it to “Date is in the last 6 months.”

6. Click the Add (+) button next to the second condition to add a third.

7. Set the new condition to “Camera Model is” and choose your camera from the third pop-up menu (3.47).

8. Click OK to create the smart album and view its contents.

When you go to the Albums view, the smart album appears with a gear icon next to the name to indicate what a smartypants it is (3.48).

The Faces feature in Photos for OS X picks out people’s faces in your photos—not just which images include shapes and colors that are vaguely face-like, but which faces belong to which people. It does require that you give the feature a nudge by identifying the folks you want, which isn’t difficult or even time consuming.

To access the Faces feature, go to the Albums view or show the sidebar. Faces appears as one of the application’s smart albums, but it’s a little more tricky than that. Double-click the Faces album to get started.

1. From the row of found faces in the Faces album, double-click one.

2. Type the person’s name in the field provided (3.49). The app cross-references your Contacts list and brings up suggestions; choose one and click Continue.

3. On the next screen, verify that the same person appears in the photos presented (3.50). If a match is incorrect, click the image to deselect it. Click Add and Continue to review more; or, click Finish Later to pick it up some other time.

4. Continue identifying faces until Photos reaches the end of its queries. The app adds many photos automatically. Click Done. The person appears in the main portion of the Faces album.

If you chose to finish verifying faces later, you can start again by double-clicking a suggested face that matches a person you’ve identified; Photos returns to the confirmation sequence. Or, double-click a person in the Faces screen and look for an Add button at the upper-right corner with the text “[Name] may be in additional photos.”

When you run across a face in the Suggested Faces row that you don’t want to identify—someone you don’t know in the background of a photo, for example, or something that isn’t a face—select it and press Delete, or right-click and choose “Ignore this face” from the contextual menu (3.51).

If not, the person is Unnamed; click the badge and type the person’s name, matching it with your contacts if applicable (3.52).

What if you accidentally approved a face that isn’t correct, or the Photos application guessed incorrectly? When reviewing a person in the Faces album, right-click the thumbnail or photo that doesn’t belong and choose “This is not [Name]” (Faces view) or “[Name] isn’t in this photo” (Photos view) (3.54).

Photos for OS X and Photos for iOS each include a Search field that’s designed to locate images fast.

1. Click the Search field and start typing a search term. That could be a keyword, location, name, camera model—pretty much anything.

2. The application starts building a list of results as you type (3.55). Select one to view the results.

The photos that appear are only those that match the search criteria (3.56). If you want to return to the full library, you can either click the Cancel button or, to view a photo in the context of other images captured with it, click the Show Moment button.

1. In the Photos app, tap the Search button (the magnifying glass icon) to reveal the Search field (3.57).

2. Tap one of the shortcut searches, or start typing a search term (3.58).

3. Tap one of the results to view the photos (3.59).