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NMUG Photos for OS X Monday, February 15, 2016

George Rubin

Take Control of iCloud, Fourth Edition

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Photos: Apple’s Photos for Mac app runs in 10.10.3 Yosemite and later. You’ll find help with importing iPhoto libraries,

iCloud Photo Library, organizing and editing photos, sharing photos online, creating projects such as cards and calendars,

and more.

Importing from a CameraIf you’re shooting photos (or capturingvideo) with a standalone camera, orwith an iOS device that isn’t syncingwith iCloud, you’ll get your files intoPhotos by attaching the device or itsmemory card to your Mac. When you attach a device that yourMac registers as one containing photosand/or videos, the Import pane (or Im-port section of the sidebar) appearsautomatically, ready to gobble yourmedia files.

Photos Eliminates RedundancyWhen you attach a device, Photos scansits contents and compares them to itscurrent library. If Photos finds the sameimages in both places, it collects theseitems at the very top of the Importpane, marked as Already Imported ②. Below that, it shows photos that aren’tyet in the library, labeled as New Items.

Select Photos to ImportIn most cases, you’ll want to click Im-port All New Items. But to import only certain items: 1. Click to select those items—selec-

tions are indicated by a dimmedimage with a blue checkbox at itslower right ③.

2. Click Import Number Selected ④. Photos can automatically delete whatyou’ve just imported and free up spaceon your memory card or device. Selectthe Delete Items after Import checkboxin the Import pane. This saves a step,but adds some risk in the case of a cor-rupted import. (I haven’t seen one ofthose in years, though.)

Tip: Select Open Photos for This Deviceif you want Photos to open every timeyou attach that particular device;uncheck it if you’re annoyed by the applaunching when you plug in the device.

② Photos doesn’t want to waste your time withitems you’ve already imported into its library.

③ Items selected for import are dimmed andsport blue checkboxes.

④ Click the button on the left to import onlyselected images.

Synchronize Watches… Go! You can batch-adjust the date and timeof selected images you’ve imported intoPhotos by choosing Image > AdjustDate and Time. If you have images fromcameras whose clocks weren’t quite syn-chronized, this tool can help put the im-ages back in proper order.

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Manage Your Photos As we’ve seen, iCloud’s main modus operandi is “just put all my data everywhere,” and you’ll undoubtedly want to include your photos and videos among that data. iCloud handles photos and videos using iCloud Photos, which is actually a collection of three different features.

The first two—iCloud Photo Library and My Photo Stream—are for syncing photos. iCloud Photo Library, which was introduced in iOS 8.3 and came to the Mac in OS X 10.10.3 Yosemite with the release of Photos, keeps your entire photo library in sync automatically across your devices via the cloud, but counts synced photos (and videos) against your iCloud data storage quota. My Photo Stream, on the other hand, doesn’t affect your storage quota but makes only your most recent photos available on all your iCloud-compatible devices. (The two sync methods have other differences, too, as I explain ahead.)

The third feature, iCloud Photo Sharing, makes it possible to share photo streams with other people—although shared photo streams follow different rules from My Photo Stream.

These three features can be confusing individually, and they overlap in various ways. In this chapter I untangle them for you, explaining which feature does what, and which you should use in various situations.

Note: I also compare the Dropbox Camera Upload feature to iCloud’s various offerings in the sidebar at the end of this chapter, iCloud Photos vs. Dropbox Camera Upload.

Warning! If you use Photos to store photos of, shall we say, an intimate nature and want to reduce the risk that they’ll escape onto the Internet, don’t enable any of the syncing features discussed in this chapter! See Manage iCloud Security and Privacy for details.

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Compare iCloud Photo Options

iCloud Photo Library and the older My Photo Stream both sync photos across your devices via the cloud, but they differ in almost every other detail. You can use either or both, though most people will probably find that iCloud Photo Library alone is all that’s needed, as it essential-ly makes My Photo Stream superfluous (at least for those who have paid for enough iCloud storage to hold all their photos and videos).

iCloud Photo Library I say more about iPhoto Library ahead in Use iCloud Photo Library, but for now, here are its main characteristics:

• Gives you a single library across your Macs and iOS devices, and the iCloud Web site (using the Photos app on each platform)

• Supports both photos and videos

• Counts against your iCloud storage quota

• Can store as many photos as you like, for as long as you keep paying

• Works over Wi-Fi or cellular connections

• Replaces Camera Roll (and the My Photo Stream album) in iOS

• Disables copying photos directly from a Mac or PC via iTunes sync

• Uploads original, full-resolution photos but optionally stores smaller, optimized copies on each device

My Photo Stream My Photo Stream has been around since the beginning of iCloud, although it has changed a bit over the past few years. You can learn all about it in Use My Photo Stream. For now, notice how, in contrast to the iCloud Photo Library features listed above, My Photo Stream gives you more in some ways, but less in others:

• Supports photos only

• Doesn’t count against your iCloud storage quota

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• Stores only your 1,000 most recent photos on each device

• Stores photos online for 30 days

• Uploads original, full-resolution photos, but downloads smaller versions on iOS devices

Choose a Photo Syncing Method If you want to sync your photos, should you use iCloud Photo Library, My Photo Stream, or both? There’s no right answer, but let me call your attention to a few important factors:

✦ If you’re using Photos on both OS X and iOS, iCloud Photo Library will give you the best experience. But My Photo Stream is support-ed in Windows, whereas iCloud Photo Library is not.

✦ If you want to continue using iPhoto or Aperture rather than switching to Photos, and you want iPhoto or Aperture to have easy access to all the photos you take with your iOS device, you’ll want to use My Photo Stream. The reverse is also true—My Photo Stream gives your iOS device access to photos you import into iPhoto or Aperture.

✦ iCloud Photo Library doesn’t subject you to the fussiness of time or numerical limits, and supports both videos and transferring data over cellular connections. But…

✦ iCloud Photo Library will almost certainly require you to pay for additional iCloud storage space, if you’re not doing so already. Of course, if you’re already paying for extra space, you might as well get your money’s worth by storing your photos online too.

You can use both services together without any adverse effects (as far as I’ve seen), but I also don’t know what additional benefit My Photo Stream provides when iCloud Photo Library is enabled. Person-ally, I have iCloud Photo Library turned on and My Photo Stream turned off.

iCloud Photo Sharing iCloud Photo Sharing is separate from iCloud Photo Library and My Photo Stream—you can use it to share photos regardless of whether you use either, both, or neither syncing method.

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Sync with iCloud Using Photos While Photos works fine as a standalone image library, it can also connect withApple’s online service, iCloud. With the new iCloud Photo Library feature, all yourdevices can view items stored in a single online library—and add new items, too.When you use iCloud Photo Library, you have access to every item in your mediacollection from any device ①. (For more information about iCloud Photo Library,see Joe Kissell’s iCloud FAQ.)

① Check the iCloud Photo Library box in Photos > Preferences > iCloud to sync with iCloud.

Uploading your library to iCloud adds convenience and a measure of safety to yourphoto collection, but there are numerous complications to this process, too.

Set a System Photo LibraryiCloud syncing will work only with asingle library on your Mac, which Applerefers to as the System Photo Library.It’s generally the first library that youopened when you started Photos. Youcan have as many libraries as you like(see Use Multiple Photos Libraries), butonly one can sync to iCloud. To change the System Photo Library: 1. Hold down the Option key and

launch Photos. 2. Select the library that you want to

sync via iCloud, and click ChooseLibrary.

3. Choose Photos > Preferences > General.

4. Click the Use as System PhotoLibrary button ②.

Warning! Make a backup of your photolibrary before syncing. Your old iPhotoor Aperture library might suffice.

The Cost of Cloud Storage Apple has become much more aggres-sive in how it prices its cloud storagelately. As of this writing, just about everyApple ID comes with 5 GB of storage forfree. 50 GB of iCloud space (includingnot just your photos but your iOS back-ups and iCloud Drive files) costs $0.99per month, 200 GB costs $2.99 permonth, and 1 TB costs $9.99 per month. That’s comparable to Google Drive andDropbox, which charge $9.99 permonth for 1 TB. But Amazon now offers unlimited photo storage free for Primemembers and $11.99 per year for every-one else, and Google Photos offers freeunlimited storage space—so long as yourphotos are limited to 16 megapixels andyour video files to 1080p.

② Click Use as System Photo Library to makeyour currently open library iCloud eligible.

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Turn On iCloud SyncingRight now, iCloud syncing is an all-or-nothing proposition. To turn it on,choose Photos > Preferences > iCloud and select the checkbox next to iCloud Photo Library. Photos immediately be-gins uploading the entire contents ofyour library to iCloud.

Choose to Keep Local CopiesI have 13 years of digital-camera files inmy photo collection, so many that I usean external USB drive to store them. (The drives inside my computers aren’tbig enough!) What that means, though, is that I can’tbrowse my entire photo collection oradd photos to it without finding andplugging in that drive. With iCloudsyncing, though, you can use Photos tobrowse your entire collection without it consuming all your disk space. By default, in Photos’ iCloud prefer-ences, the Download Originals to ThisMac option is turned on, which meansevery photo you see in your Photos li-brary resides on your Mac’s drive. But if you change that setting to Opti-mize Mac Storage ③, Photos no longerfeels the need to store all your files lo-cally. If you try to edit (or view at a largesize) an image that isn’t on your Mac,Photos downloads the image fromiCloud and then presents it to you. Pho-tos may delete images from your driveto save space, confident that the masterfiles are in the cloud.

Warning! If you don’t have a Mac some-where that’s set to download all the files in your iCloud Photo Library, you’re rely-ing on Apple to keep your photos safefrom harm. iCloud is not a backup! Setat least one Mac to download every-thing—and then back up that Mac withTime Machine or some other local back-up, an online backup service, or both.

③ These two choices in Photos’ iCloud preference pane determine if your entireiCloud library is stored on your Mac.

Merge Libraries in iCloud A common question about Photos ishow to merge multiple libraries into asingle iCloud collection. Often this isbecause someone has multiple libraries(perhaps including some convertedfrom iPhoto and/or Aperture) or photosscattered across multiple computers. (For more methods of merging iPhoto libraries, read Consolidating iPhoto Li-braries, earlier.) Libraries on just one Mac:First allow one library to completely up-load to iCloud. Then switch to another library and make it your new SystemPhoto Library (see Set a System PhotoLibrary), and then turn on iCloud PhotoLibrary in the preferences and wait forall those items to sync to iCloud. Youcan repeat this process as necessary.(And yes, it will try—not always success-fully—to not upload duplicate items.) (To speed up the process a bit, selectthe Optimize Mac Storage option, soPhotos isn’t trying to download yourentire library every time. Once you’vesettled on a single library file that you’regoing to use from here on out, you canturn on the Download Originals to ThisMac option if you want to ensure thatyour Mac contains every single file inyour iCloud library.) Libraries on multiple Macs:If the Macs are logged in to the sameiCloud account, Photos will take care of everything when you turn on iCloud Photo Library—and all those libraries willmerge together.

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Using My Photo StreamIf you don’t want to commit to iCloudPhoto Library, you can still use Apple’siCloud servers for more basic sharingof photos. Photos for Mac supports Apple’s My Photo Stream feature,which has been in iOS since version 5. My Photo Stream doesn’t use youriCloud disk allowance, but it is con-strained to your 1,000 most recent im-ages (no video). Still, if you turn on My Photo Streamin Photos > Preferences > iCloud ③,Photos will automatically import (toyour System Photo Library) photostaken on any iOS devices also usingMy Photo Stream and signed in to your iCloud account. Photos also exportsimages added to that library to MyPhoto Stream. Photos for Mac will let you use My Pho-to Stream and iCloud Photo Library si-multaneously. This is useful if you havedevices running older iOS versions thatdon’t support iCloud Photo library.

Using iCloud Photo LibraryWhen you turn on iCloud Photo Libraryon an iOS device (via Settings > Photos& Camera), you get the same storagechoice as in Photos for Mac ④—you canforce the iOS device to download yourentire library, or optimize your libraryfor space and download full-resolutionversions only when necessary. Once you turn on iCloud Photo Library(and give it time to sync), your iOS de-vice’s photo collection will mirror theone in iCloud. You’ll see albums (butnot smart albums) in the Albums paneand all your photos in the Photos pane. Edits you make on any device will auto-matically sync to all the others.

Note: For great, detailed informationabout the difference between My PhotoStream and iCloud Photo Library, checkout this excellent article on iMore.

③ Turning on My Photo Stream will let yousync recent images (but not videos) from otherdevices.

④ Turn on iCloud Photo Library in the iOSSettings app, in the Photos & Camera settings,and you can choose whether to downloadeverything or just keep low-resolution previewson your device.

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Which should I use? iCloud Photo Sharing or My Photo Stream

Because Apple includes both iCloud Photo Sharing and My Photo Stream in iCloud thishas become confusing to some people. Let’s bring some clarity to the issue by going overyour options.

My Photo Stream is the most simplistic of the two options. It lets you store photos thatyou have taken with your iPhone or iPad and save them for 30 days. This allows you tostore them or your Mac or PC granted you have your iCloud setup. The catch is that inorder to back up your photos you’ll need to save them to your Mac OS X or iOS device.

Using iCloud Photo Sharing with iCloud Photo Library is the more ideal situation. With thePhoto Library, all the videos and photos you take are kept up to date throughout all yourApple devices. Using iCloud Photo Sharing you can share your files with friends andfamily. You can share specific folders to groups of people you invite via email or evensubscribe to other people’s shared albums.

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iCloud Photo Sharing options

With My Photo Stream there is no charge, however using iCloud Photo Library you’ll needto sign up for an iCloud storage plan. The first 5GB are free, if you need more you can optin for 50 or 200GB which would cost you $0.99 or $2.99 per month respectively. Withvideos that initial 5GB can fill up fast so we would recommend you start with 50GB, afterall its only roughly $12/year, and cheaper than most cloud storage plans.

iCloud Library will automatically sync all your files between devices, where as My PhotoStream will not. Turn on iCloud Photo Library and if you choose to use My Photo Stream itwill appear in under the All Photos tab inside the Photos app similar to the way all yourother photos and videos are organized by Year, Collection and Moments.

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My Photo Stream / iCloud Photos

Your home computer will use My Photo Stream to download and store your files in highresolution. Where as your mobile devices, including Apple TV will use size-optimizedresolutions in order to save space in those devices where space is limited.

However, using iCloud Photo Library you will be able to store full-resolution files (iCloudphotos and videos) on all your Apple devices. Unfortunately you can not use iTunes tosync albums and photos from iCloud Photo Library. As well, be careful because your fileswill be removed if you quit using the service, although you will be warned.

So no you don’t need to use both My Photo Stream and iCloud Photo Sharing. It’s simplereally if you don’t pay for iCloud storage then use My Photo Stream, if you do pay foriCloud storage then use iCloud Photo Library in conjunction with iCloud Photo Sharing.

Lastly if you are using iCloud storage and iCloud Photo Library go through all your devicesand make sure everything you need is enabled. Check all the options on each device andmake sure My Photo Stream is disabled. Using iCloud storage with iCloud Photo Library isthe easiest way to keep your photos and videos synced and up-to-date across all youriOS, Mac or PC devices.

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1/27/16, 9:29 AMiCloud Photo Library and Photo Stream: What's the difference? | iMore

Page 1 of 5http://www.imore.com/icloud-photo-library-and-photo-stream-whats-difference

iCloud Photo Library and Photo Stream: What's the difference?

What's the difference between iCloud Photo Library and My Photo Stream?

With iCloud Photo Library, you can store all your photos in iCloud with no limits, unlike thetraditional Photo Stream we've been accustomed to for the past few years. As long as youhave enough iCloud storage , iCloud Photo Library will save all your photos. But whathappens to your regular Photo Stream when you enable iCloud Photo Library? And moreimportantly, where did all your synced albums go? We've got the answers to thesequestions and more!

An overview of the differences between iCloud Photo Library and PhotoStream

There are a few key differences between iCloud Photo Library and Photo Stream that youneed to remember. Before we start: It's important to note that at this time iCloud PhotoLibrary is still in beta form; as such, we recommend always backing up any photos youplan to store on the service. That caveat over with, it's time to break down what eachservice offers and how they differ. Here's a brief overview:

Regular Photo Stream:

Only stores your most recent 1000 photos or the last 30 days of images, whicheveris greaterDoes not use your iCloud storage allotmentCompatible across all devices including iPhone, iPad, Mac, and PCStores web-optimized versions of your photos, which may degrade qualityDoes not upload and sync videosYou can still sync photos and albums from your Mac or PC via iTunes when PhotoStream is enabled

iCloud Photo Library:

Stores all your photos and personal video and has no limits as long as you have theiCloud storage space to support itUses your iCloud storage allotmentAccessible on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and online via iCloud.com

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Stores full-resolution photos on the server and on your devices and supports manyfile formats including JPG, RAW, PNG, GIF, TIFF, and othersUploads and syncs videos as well as photosYou can not sync albums and photos from your Mac or PC via iTunes when usingiCloud Photo Library, and any existing albums will be removed when you enable theservice

I've enabled iCloud Photo Library, my Photo Stream is completely gone!Why?!

Your Photo Stream isn't technically gone. Since iCloud Photo Library now stores all yourphotos instead of just the most recent 1000 or last 30 days, it'd be confusing to divide up

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your Photo Stream and Camera Roll. As such, anything that appears in All Photos isbacked up to iCloud Photo Library and available on any iOS device with iCloud PhotoLibrary enabled.

If you switch on the "Upload to My Photo Stream" option in Settings > Photos & Camera,your last 1000 photos/last 30 days of images will still get uploaded to Photo Stream, andwill display on a Mac, PC, or iOS device (with iCloud Photo Library enabled). Note: If youhave multiple iOS devices, make sure to turn iCloud Photo Library on for all of them ornone of them — if you have one device with iCloud Photo Library enabled, but anotherwith just Photo Stream enabled, those devices won't talk to each other, and you won't seephotos from one on the other.

How to enable or disable Photo Stream on iPhone and iPad

You can tweak a few settings as to how your iPhone or iPad handles your iCloud PhotoLibrary images on device. Currently, you can choose to either store web-optimizedversions (thus saving storage space), or download and save high-resolution copies toyour device. If you aren't sure where to find this setting, you can follow our guide:

How to save space on your iPhone or iPad with iCloud Photo Library

Can I still access photos on my Mac or PC if I enable iCloud Photo Library?

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Yup! You can access your entire iCloud Photo Library on the new Photos for OS X if you'rerunning OS X 10.10.3 or later, or via iCloud.com. As with your iOS deices, if you're going touse iCloud Photo Library, the best way to keep your images in sync across platforms is tomake sure you have both iCloud Photo Library and Photo Stream enabled on all yourdevices.

So how do I get the photos on my Mac or PC to iCloud Photo Library?

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You can use Apple's Photos for OS X app , if you're running OS X 10.10.3 or later. You canread more information about this in our Photos for OS X Ultimate Guide, linked below.

Updated at 4/8/15 to address Photos for OS X's release.

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1/27/16, 9:44 AMHow to enable or disable Photo Stream on iPhone or iPad | iMore

Page 1 of 3http://www.imore.com/how-enable-or-disable-photo-stream-iphone-and-ipad

How to enable or disable Photo Stream on iPhone or iPad

Photo Stream is a feature available to iCloud users: It automatically syncs images you takeacross all your devices . That means the picture you took on your iPhone at the beachwill automatically be viewable on your iPad, no cords or syncing required. On iOS devices,Photo Stream will save either your 1000 most recent pictures or the last 30 days' worth ofimages, whichever is greatest. All you have to do is enable Photo Stream on all yourdevices. The best part? It doesn't even use your iCloud storage!

How to enable or disable Photo Stream on your iPhone or iPad

1. Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.2. Tap Photos & Camera.3. Turn On or Off the option for Upload to My Photo Stream.

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You can also find the same option to turn Photo Stream on or off under Settings > iCloud> Photos. Keep in mind that if you're disabling Photo Stream, the photos currently in yourPhoto Stream will be removed from that particular device. This is an ideal option if you

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don't want your photos going to a shared device that is tied to your iCloud account.

It's also good to remember that there are differences between iCloud Photo Library andyour Photo Stream. Disabling Photo Streams won't disable iCloud Photo Library, and viceversa. If you have iCloud Photo Library enabled, you won't see a separate section for yourPhoto Stream in the Photos app, as all your photos are uploaded to the cloud (and theydo count toward your iCloud storage space). Photo Streams, on the other hand, are stillsubject to the 1,000 photo limit or most recent 30 days rule, and are separate from yourCamera Roll. If you want to learn more about either, you can do so via the links below.

Learn more about Photo StreamLearn more about iCloud Photo Library

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How to free up storage space on your iPhone or iPad with iCloudPhoto Library

If you're running out of storage space on your iPhone or iPad, iCloud Photo Library canhelp!

iCloud Photo Library, part of Apple's iCloud service, now gives you a more convenient wayto organize and store all your photos and videos across all your devices. Make an edit onyour iPhone, and it's automatically updated on your iPad. Not only that, iCloud PhotoLibrary gives you the option to only keep storage optimized copies of your photos andvideos if you choose in order to save storage space. For some people, that could mean afew gigabytes of extra storage. All you've got to do is change some settings!

How to save storage space with iCloud Photo Library for iPhone and iPad

Keep in mind that in order to optimize your photos, you must have iCloud Photo Libraryturned on. If you don't have it turned on yet, I suggest checking out our guide and thencoming back to this page —

How to enable iCloud Photo Library on iPhone and iPad

Once you have iCloud Photo Library enabled, all you've got to do is follow these steps tooptimize your storage where photos and videos are concerned —

1. Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.2. Tap on Photos & Camera.3. Tap on Optimize Storage.

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That's it! iCloud Photo Library will switch to only storing storage optimized versions ofyour photos and videos. It may take some time in order for any changes to be apparent sogive it a while to update your library. This is especially true if you have a lot of photos.

If you ever decide you'd like full resolution images again, just change the option back. Butkeep in mind you can do this on a per device basis so if you have an iPhone and an iPad,you can always store full versions on one and optimized on the other if that's moreconvenient.

Give it a try and let me know if it frees up any storage space for you. And if so, how muchdid you get back?

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Importing from DiskTo add files to the Photos library thatare already on your Mac, drag themdirectly into the Photos pane or chooseFile > Import. If you’ve set the sidebarto be visible by choosing View > Show Sidebar, you can see the results of yourfile import by selecting Last Import in the Albums section of the sidebar.

Tip: To stop Photos from opening everytime you plug in any device, openTerminal and enter: defaults -currentHost write com.apple.ImageCapture disableHotPlug -bool YES

Editing before ImportingIf you want to edit photos with a sepa-rate app, such as Photoshop, it’s easierif you do it before importing it into Pho-tos. Photos lets you copy and paste ad-justments to only one image at a time,so if you want to apply a specific effectto a whole bunch of images, you may prefer to use an external tool.

Adding Location DataBeginning with Photos 1.1, you can addor edit geolocation data within the app,for individual images or large batches,by entering that data in the Info window(see Use the Info Window). However, if you shoot photos with adigital camera that doesn’t have GPSfeatures, you can record your positionas you shoot using a GPS logging appsuch as Geotag Photos and attach it to your files later. If you use this approach,you’ll want to apply those GPS logs be-fore importing the files into Photos.

Managing Files Yourself By default, Photos imports all your filesinside the Photos Library, essentiallyoutside of your control. If you don’t like the idea of submitting toPhotos and letting it control everythingfor you, you can manage your media theold fashioned way—in the Finder. To do this, choose Photos > Preferences > General, and uncheck the “Copy items to the Photos library” box. If you leave this option turned off,Photos will respect your location prefer-ences. Photos marks images imported by thismeans with a small icon—of an arrow coming out of a box—in the bottom-left corner ⑤.

⑤ A user-managed image (left) has a whitebox and an arrow in the bottom-left corner. If Photos can’t find that file, the white box turns into a yellow alert symbol (right).

All edits you make to the photo will bestored inside the Photos library, but ifyou delete the original file in the Finder,Photos won’t let you edit that file again.So all the responsibility for managingyour files is up to you. User-managed files also won’t sync toiCloud. You can copy selected files intothe Photos library by choosing File > Consolidate.

Share this tip and chapter on “In El Capitan, Photos has been updated to let you add or edit geotagging

data directly from the Info window.”

Discuss “Import Your Files into Photos” via

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The System Photo LibraryTo simplify the process of syncing fileswith iCloud, Apple has limited Photosto a single System Photo Library. Thisis the library that’s capable of syncing to iCloud (see Sync with iCloud UsingPhotos). There can only ever be one ③.

Note: You can designate a new SystemPhoto Library at any time. To do so,open a different library, select Photos >Preferences > General, and click the Use as System Photo Library button.

Which Library Is Which?In order to help you differentiate be-tween libraries in the Choose Librarydialog, Photos adds the phrase SystemPhoto Library after the library that’s ca-pable of syncing with iCloud. If the li-brary you’ve opened most recently isnot your System Photo Library, Photosadds the phrase Last Opened after that library. If you click any library, Photosdisplays the entire file path in text justbelow the list of libraries.

Repairing a Bad LibraryIf Photos begins misbehaving, Applehas provided the capability for Photosto repair its own libraries ⑤. From the Choose Library window, se-lect the library you want to repair, holddown the Command and Option keys,and click Choose Library. (If you launchPhotos with Command and Optionheld down, your current library will berepaired.) Photos asks if you want to repair yourlibrary, and then sets about trying to fixwhat’s wrong.

③ If you’re not using the System Photo Library,you’ll find no iCloud options whatsoever in thePhotos preferences.

Switching Libraries in the Finder Another way to switch between Libraryfiles quickly is by opening a new onein Finder. If you double-click a Photos library in Finder, Photos will open andask if you want to switch libraries ④.

④ When you double-click a Photos library inthe Finder, Photos asks if you want to switchto that library.

Click the Switch button to open thelibrary.

⑤ Hold down the Command and Option keyswhen opening a library (or the Photos app itself) to kick off a repair process.

Share this tip and chapter on “Hold down Option when you open Photos to switch between libraries, or

Command-Option to repair your library.”

Discuss “Use Multiple Photos Libraries” via

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Navigate the Photos Interface In many ways, the Photos interface is a study in minimalism: there’s less of the chromethat was part of iPhoto and Aperture; and most of the action takes place in a singlewindow, which by default you navigate through in a series of panes ①. It’s very mucha design influenced by iOS 8 and Apple’s recent shift in interface philosophy.

① The default Photos interface has a single window with a set of buttons at the top.

Fortunately, display options abound, including an iPhoto-style sidebar and customthumbnail sizes. Let’s explore them.

Button Bar vs. Sidebar Many single-window Mac apps, includ-ing iTunes and iPhoto, historically fea-tured a large sidebar on their left sides.By default, Photos doesn’t display asidebar, instead offering buttons at thetop of the window that let you togglebetween different panes. If you prefer the old approach, witha sidebar that shows you every album, slideshow, and project that you’ve cre-ated in this library, you can get it back.Choose View > Show Sidebar and those buttons wink out as the sidebar appears.

Two Sides of the Same Coin The Photos interface varies based on whether or not the sidebar is visible. The buttons at the top of the window(when the sidebar is hidden) are thesame as the main sidebar sections. The stuff listed below each sidebar section (for example, the albums listed in theAlbums section) also appears at the top level of the pane that displays when you click the corresponding button. I’ll try to mention both paths, but it’ll behelpful to keep in mind that it’s just twodifferent ways to show the same stuff.

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The Photos Pane As you might expect in an app calledPhotos, the Photos pane (or the Photossection of the sidebar) is the most im-portant part of the app. This pane con-tains every media file in your library. You can zoom in and out on your col-lection by clicking the left and right ar-row buttons at the top-left cornerof the window ②, or if you’re using atrackpad, by pinching two fingers to-gether (to zoom out) or spreading twofingers apart (to zoom in).

Map ItAt the most zoomed-back view, Photosshows your files in collages of tinythumbnails, organized by year. Eachyear’s header also lists all the locationswhere you took photos during thattime. This is actually how you browsegeolocations of images in Photos; ifyou click a header that lists locations, Photos shifts to a map populated by allthe photos in that collection ③. When zoomed out, you can click anddrag over the thumbnails to see a larg-er version of each image as you moveover it ④. Release the button and Pho-tos opens the image you were viewing.

Find Moments Zoom in one step to the Collectionsview and you see slightly larger thumb-nails grouped around shorter periodsof time. Zoom in once more and yourCollections are broken down further into Moments. These are what Photos considers “events,” but unlike in iPhoto they can’t be manually organized—Pho-tos uses date and location information to create these events. Again, locations are in the header; clickthat header to see your event’s photos on a map.

Keep Your Sidebar Clean If you keep the sidebar visible, you canminimize visual clutter by hiding thecontents of a particular sidebar section. Move your pointer over a section head-er in the sidebar and the word Hide ap-pears to the right. Click it, and the con-tents of that section are temporarily hid-den. To reverse the process, move yourpointer over the header and click Show.

② Use the arrow buttons in the top-left cornerto zoom in and out of the Photos view (or usetwo-finger pinch gestures on a trackpad).

③ When you click a header that lists placenames, you see a view of geotagged photos on a map.

④ Click and drag over a thumbnail collage tosee larger versions of the photos.

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Perform Quick Group ActionsPhotos provides some handy buttonsto let you perform quick actions on a moment. Three buttons appear on thefar right side of the header ⑤: • Play lets you kick off a slideshow

of all the photos in that event. • Add adds the event’s photos to

an album or project. • Share lets you share photos via

iCloud, social media, AirDrop, orother methods.

View Thumbnails Keep zooming in the Photos pane andyou find yourself in Moments view look-ing at a series of thumbnails. This view is the one you’ll likely spendthe most time in. You can tell you’rein this view because a small slider ⑥appears on the left side of the title bar.Use it to control the size of the thumb-nails on your screen. Once you’re at thumbnail level—andthis is true when you’re browsing the contents of albums in the Albums pane,too—you can interact with your photosindividually ⑦. Select a photo by click-ing it, or open it at full size by double-clicking.

Tip: If your image is a live photo froman iPhone 6S or 6S Plus, it’ll come to life when you hover over it!

Customize Your View You can choose what information dis-plays in Photos by toggling on and offthe items in the View > Metadata menu. In addition to titles, you can choose todisplay icons indicating whether an im-age has keywords, has been edited, itsfile type, and more (for a full list, see theMetadata Mania sidebar, later).

⑤ The three buttons at the far right of amoment’s header let you quickly create aslideshow, add items to a project, or shareitems with friends.

⑥ The presence of this slider (right) in thePhotos pane means you’re in thumbnail view;you can use it to adjust the size of thumbnails.

⑦ Once you’re in thumbnail view, it’s all aboutinteracting with individual items.

Things to Do with a ThumbnailWhen you’ve selected an item: ✦ Favorite it: Press Period (.). ✦ Flip: Choose Image > Flip Horizontal

or Image > Flip Vertical. ✦ Rotate: Press Command-R to rotate

clockwise. To go counter-clockwise,press Command-Option-R.

✦ Zoom: Press Space bar. ✦ Edit: Press Return. ✦ Hide: Press Command-L. ✦ Duplicate: Press Command-D. ✦ Delete: Press the Delete key.

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Add Info about Your Photos Apple knows most of us don’t have a lot of time to organize our photo libraries.(That’s why Photos uses dates and locations to automatically group events together.)But Apple can’t divine everything about the contents of a photo library via analgorithm—at least, not yet. That’s why Photos contains a set of simple organizationaltools that let you embed even more meaning into the images you’ve captured ①.

① If I had a favorite view of my photos, it would probably be quite similar to the Favorites view.

Play FavoritesSome of us like to precisely quantifythings. I knew a kid in high school whoactually rated every movie he watchedon a five-star system. (He grew up tobe a movie critic—true story!) But after years of watching how people use pho-tos, Apple has decided that most of uscan’t be bothered with complex ratingssystems, so it has removed the star rat-ing system (see Catch a Falling Star Rat-ing) with a simpler approach: Favorites. In Moments views, all your Favoritesappear with little white hearts in theirupper-left corner ②. Awwww. (There’seven a subtle drop shadow, so if thetop-left corner of your photo is entirelywhite, you can still see the heart.) A view of all your favorite photos ap-pears in the Albums pane (or Albumssection of the sidebar). Click Favoritesand you’ll see just your very best shots,as judged by you!

Note: If your iPhone uses iCloud PhotoLibrary, your Favorites will be syncedwith the Photos app on the Apple Watchby default.

② Find the fave: it’s the one with the white heart in the upper-left corner. (The toolbox inthe lower right corner of that image indicatesthat it has been edited.)

Instafave! To make a photo a Favorite: ✦ If you are viewing a single image, click

the heart button located on the rightside of the toolbar ③.

③ Show your love with the heart button ✦ Select it and press the Period (.) key. ✦ Select it and choose Image > Add to

Favorites. ✦ In the Info window (press Command-

I), click the heart at the upper right.

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Use the Info Window If you’re looking for smart-album inspi-ration, a good place to start is the Infowindow. Loaded with details about the currently selected image ⑤ or images,the Info window is one of the most valu-able bits of real estate in Photos.

Note: This topic covers what you can do in 10.11 El Capitan with one image selected. If you’re in 10.10 Yosemite or you’ve selected more than one image, you’ll have slightly different options.

How to Display the Info WindowSelect an image that you want to seeinformation about and then do one of the following: • Press Command-I. • Control-click the image, and choose

Get Info. • Choose Window > Info. • When you’re zoomed in to a single

photo, click the Info button on the right side of the title bar.

What You Can See and Do The top portion of the window shows: • The title you’ve given the image

(which you can edit) • The image’s base filename • Date and time the image was taken

(see Synchronize Watches… Go!,earlier, for how to modify this)

• If it’s a Favorite; the heart icon will befilled in (click the heart to toggle it)

The next section down, shaded in gray,displays metadata (also known as EXIFdata) from your camera, including: • Camera name and type of lens • Image dimensions, file size, and file

format • ISO, f-stop, flash, white balance, and

aperture settings

⑤ The Info window is packed with behind-the-scenes information about your photo.

Note: You can’t edit any EXIF informa-tion in Photos itself, though you can doso via an external editor and then manu-ally import the images. See Import YourFiles into Photos for more.

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Below the EXIF data, you can: • View or edit a description • View or edit keywords • View any recognized faces—and even

add new faces if viewing the imagein full-size view (double-click the im-age’s thumbnail to switch views)

• View, add, or edit the location whereyour photo was taken

Filling in the Blanks The Info window isn’t just for looking.It’s also a good place to enter a title, description, location, and keywords. You can do this for one image or (as ofPhotos 1.1) a whole batch of selectedimages. All the usual Mac selection tricks work when you select images, so you can, forexample: ✦ Press Command-A to select all photos

in the smart album, or any album, thatyou are currently viewing.

✦ Command-click one photo and thenanother (and another…) to pick pho-tos scattered in the current view.

✦ Select one image and then hold downShift while you click another to selectall the images in between as well asthe starting and ending image.

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Organize with KeywordsIf the binary nature of Favorites doesn’twork for you, you can get as specific asyou like in organizing your photos byassigning them keywords. Keywordscan be just about anything—you get toname them and assign them.

Assign Keywords1. Select a single image, or even a

whole group of them, in the mainwindow.

2. Choose Window > Info (Command-I) to open the floatingInfo window.

3. Click in the keywords section(if you don’t have any keywords already visible, it will be labeledAdd a Keyword) and enter key-words, separated by commas.

Manage KeywordsIf you maintain a large list of keywordsand want to see them all, choose Win-dow > Keyword Manager (Command-K) to open the Keyword Manager ④. You can use the Keyword Manager toassign keywords to photos, or to edityour list of keywords. To edit your list,click the Edit Keywords button in theKeyword Manager to see the ManageMy Keywords view ⑤. From here, youcan add, delete, and rename keywords,as well as manually assign a keyboardshortcut to a keyword.

Add to the Quick GroupYou can drag keywords from the lowerKeywords list up into the Quick Groupfor quicker access. Photos automaticallyassigns a keyboard shortcut to it—forexample, it assigned the letter s to my Softball keyword.

Star Ratings Forever? Don’t want to give up on rating yourphotos via star ratings? No problem!Assuming you’ve imported an existingiPhoto or Aperture library with star rat-ings, you’ll see that you have keywordsfor every permutation of star rating. Open the Keyword Manager, and thendrag those keywords into the QuickGroup area. Photos will assign themshortcuts by default—probably the nu-merals themselves. Once that’s done, there’s nothing stop-ping you from keeping the KeywordManager open and just pressing 1, 2, 3,4, or 5 for each photo. Granted, Photoswon’t display the stars, but you’ll begathering the same rating information.

④ The Keyword Manager lets you addkeywords to photos with a keystroke.

⑤ Click Edit Keywords to see the Manage MyKeywords view, which lets you rename, delete,and add keywords, as well as define shortcuts.

Note: Keyboard shortcuts for keywordsare functional only when the KeywordManager is visible.

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Organize by FacesAt the beginning of this chapter I said that Apple couldn’t divine the contents of a photo via an algorithm. Okay, that’s not entirely true. Faces—a feature from iPhoto and Aperture—can identify peo-ple in photos by recognizing their facial features.But for Faces to work, you have to tell Photos who you know and train it a little bit. Faces lives at the top level of the Albums pane ⑥. To see all the photos of a particular per-son, double-click a large bubble.The small bubbles at the bottom repre-sent people Photos doesn’t recognize. Double-click one of those to kick off a training session, in which you’ll give the person a name and verify that the circled face in various photos is, in fact, that person ⑦. You can also drag one or many of those lower bubbles onto an already-recog-nized face to automatically assign it to that identity.Once you do some basic work, Faces is kind of a marvel. Now that I’ve set up Faces, when it’s time to find photos of my family for our holiday cards and an-nual calendars, I can create a smart al-bum that displays all photos containing all four of our faces (see Define Smart Albums in Photos). It’s sobering to dis-cover that in a full year, you were pho-tographed with your family fewer than ten times.

Note: You can modify a photo’s title, description, and location (geotag) when you Use the Info Window.

⑥ Bubbles in the main section are people Faces knows; the bubbles along the bottom represent unrecognized faces.

⑦ If you hover over a photo during face train-ing (left), Photos zooms in close on the face you’re meant to identify (right).

Note: You can also tag faces via the faces section of the Info window, if you’re into that. Currently, this works only when the photo isn’t in a thumbnail view, so double-click the thumbnail first.

Fix Your FaceIf you don’t like the picture that repre-sents you (or someone else) in Faces:1. Double-click the face.2. Select a picture you like better. 3. Choose Image > Make Key Photo

(Command-Shift-K).Photos reassigns the default image.

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Make Albums in Photos Just because Apple has put effort into automatically organizing your photos doesn’tmean you can’t do it yourself if you prefer. After all, there’s only so much nuance acomputer can bring to organizing our photo libraries. You can create arbitrarycollections of items in the Albums pane ①.

① The Albums pane also shows Photos-generated collections, not just the albums you made yourself.

Find Your Albums At the top of the Album pane, you’llfind a group of automatically generatedalbums. An All Photos collection lives here, as do images filtered via Faces,the most recently imported set ofimages, Favorites, and media withspecial attributes: panoramas, videos,slo-mo and time-lapse videos, selfies,screenshots, and bursts. Below the My Albums line, you’ll findthe albums you create, both manuallyand via smart albums (see Define Smart Albums in Photos).

Make a New Album • Start with a blank canvas: Choose

File > New Empty Album. • Start with selected photos: Select

the photos, and then Choose File >New Album (Command-N) ②.

Sorting Your Albums A new feature of Photos 1.1 is the capa-bility to sort your albums. To do so, clickthe Albums tab (or the Albums headerin the sidebar) and choose a sort optionfrom the View > Sort submenu. You can sort them by name or date. Photos 1.1 also has enhanced in-album sorting; see the sidebar Sorting Photosin Albums, slightly ahead.

② When you choose File > New Album, Photosprompts you to name the album or choose theexisting album to which you’d like to add theitems you selected.

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Add Photos to an Album Unless you’re very lucky and select justthe right images for your album the firsttime, you’ll probably want to add itemsto your album afterward: • Easy add: Select those items in

Photos and choose File > New Album (Command-N). This seems counterintuitive—after all,that’s a command to create a new album—but the resulting dialog alsolets you pick an existing album ③. Choose the album you’d like to addthe images to, click OK, and they areadded.

• Sidebar add: If the sidebar is visible,you can add photos to an album bydropping them over the album in thesidebar ④.

Note: When you’re in an album, press-ing the Delete key doesn’t remove aselected photo from your library, justfrom the album you’re currently viewing.If you want to remove that item from theentire library, press Command-Delete.555

Organize Your AlbumsPhotos lets you organize albums byplacing them within folders: • Create a folder: Choose File > New

Folder (Command-Shift-N). • Populate a folder: Drag one or more

albums into it. • Look in a folder: If the sidebar isn’t

visible, double-click the folder. If thesidebar is visible, click the triangle tothe left of the folder name.

• Delete a folder: Control-click it and choose Delete Folder.

③ You can add selected items to an existingalbum by choosing File > New Album.

④ If the sidebar is showing, adding photos toan album is even easier—just drag them in.

Sorting Photos in Albums In most parts of Photos, your items areautomatically sorted by date and time,with older items at the top and neweritems at the bottom. (Alas, you can’t re-verse the order as you could in iPhoto.) Albums in Photos 1.1 are different. You can sort the photos within albums bydate (with oldest or newest on top) or bytitle. And if you’d prefer to organize thealbum yourself, you can always dragphotos into any order you like. (Automatically generated albums, likethe ones Photos makes for Favorites and the like, can’t be manually organized.) If at any time you’d like to force analbum you’ve manually organized backinto a sorted order, choose an item from the View > Sort submenu.

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Define Smart Albums in Photos Smart albums are a great way to collect items based on their attributes, whetherthey’re inherent to the item itself (such as what camera took the picture) or basedon information that you’ve added (such as keywords). Smart albums let you slice your library in endlessly interesting ways ①.

① This smart album displays only images containing the faces of me, my wife, and our kids, asrecognized by the Faces feature of Photos. We are really terrible about taking group pictures.

Create a New Smart Album 1. Choose File > New Smart Album

(Command-Option-N). 2. In the dialog that appears ②,

name your smart album. 3. Define the rules of your album as

described ahead in this chapter. 4. Click OK.

Note: In the Albums pane and theAlbums section of the sidebar, a smart albums always stands out: a small gear

icon appears next to its name.

② The basic Smart Album dialog.

Editing Smart Album Settings You can always edit the settings of yoursmart album later to change or fine-tunewhat it searches for: ✦ Select a smart album and choose

File > Edit Smart Album; or, ✦ Control-click the album itself, and

choose Edit Smart Album.

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Choose Smart OptionsPhotos lets you find photos and videosbased on more than a dozen different criteria (see the nearby “Conditions YouCan Choose“ sidebar for a list). If youcan imagine a way to slice your Photoslibrary, you can probably find a way to make a smart album to do it: photos ofyour cousin taken in May 2007; iPhonephotos tagged with the keyword Family;favorite images without written descrip-tions… the works. Smart albums work by respondingto different conditions, such as [Face] [includes] Grandma Mary or [Keyword] [is not] [Vacation]. You only need one condition in a smartalbum, but they become more powerfulwhen you add more conditions ③ byclicking the plus icon to the right ofthe first condition.

Expand or Shrink the SearchYou can set a smart album to match any of the conditions you set, or all of them, by changing the pop-up op-tion just above the stack of conditions.This option can result in very differentsearches. The Match All of the Following optionis best when you’re trying to capture a small group of items—think of the stackof conditions as a set of statements separated by the word “and”: show me photos with the keyword Vacation and the keyword Holiday. Each condition narrows the search results to fewer items. In contrast, think of the Match Any ofthe Following option as conditionsseparated by “or” ④: show me photoswith the keyword Birthday or the keyword Vacation. Each condition finds more items.

③ This smart album uses four different rules,and is set to match all conditions. (The totalitems matched is listed in the lower-left corner.)

Conditions You Can Choose There are plenty of different kinds of data that you can use to build a smart album, including: ✦ Items in a specific (non-smart) album ✦ The date the image was taken ✦ Description text you entered ✦ Faces identified in an image ✦ The name of the original file ✦ Keywords ✦ Favorites ✦ File type (image, movie, raw) ✦ If an image has been edited ✦ If an image contains geotagging ✦ Model of camera ✦ If the camera flash was used ✦ Type of lens used ✦ Camera settings, including aperture,

focal length, ISO, and shutter speed

④ Using the Match Any option lets you gatherimages with different attributes together in asingle album.

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Process Your Photos Even professional photographers take pictures that aren’t quite up to snuff. The goodnews is, Photos has a bunch of simple tools that can improve your images quickly andwithout a lot of fuss. Just select an image and press Return (or if you’re viewing asingle image, click the Edit button in the top-right) to access the editing tools ①. You can move between photos with the arrow keys, and click Done to exit the view.

① The Edit pane in Photos consists of a large preview and a strip of buttons down the right side.

In this chapter, I focus on the “quick-fix” options. For more advanced users, Photosalso offers a whole suite of editing tools for precise color and tone correction (seethe next chapter, Edit Your Photos).

Auto Enhance The first thing you should try whentouching up a photo is to click the En-hance button. Photos analyzes yourimage and makes guesses about theproper levels, color, and more. Since it’s operated by a computer andnot a human, the Enhance button won’tsolve every problem. Sometimes it willmake your photo look worse, and othertimes it can be a bit too timid ②. But it’s always worth a try if you’re not confi-dent using the more advanced featuresunder the Adjust button.

② The Enhance button tries to improve yourphoto (the right one is better than the left), butit doesn’t overdo it.

Edit without Fear You can always go back to your originalimage: click the Revert to Original but-ton in the toolbar or choose Image >Revert to Original. This feature is alsoavailable in the Edit pane. Photos alwaysstores a copy of your original image.

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Rotate The Rotate button lets you quicklyrotate your image in 90º increments(counterclockwise by default, clockwiseif you hold down the Option key). Youcan also rotate counterclockwise bypressing Command-R (or Command-Option-R for clockwise). For a finer increment of rotation, try theCrop feature’s Auto button, described next.

CropCropping is a more complex feature.When you click the Crop button,Photos shows several options.

Straighten Crooked PhotosIf you click the Auto button, Photosmakes its best guess at aligning yourphoto so that horizontal surfaces aretruly horizontal ③. If you prefer to align your image manu-ally, just drag the wheel to turn yourimage. You can use the grid overlay tohelp with alignment.

Change the CompositionTo better focus attention on your sub-ject, it can help to crop out extraneousparts of the image. You can crop theimage by clicking and dragging fromany corner. As you move the box, a gridappears. This can help you crop ac-cording to the photographic rule of thirds, for more attractive compositions. If you’re unsatisfied with the crop you’remaking, you can always click the Resetbutton to go back to the uncroppedversion of your image. If you’re satisfied, press Return (to stayin editing mode) or click the Done but-ton (to save your crop and return toyour library).

③ An image before (left) and after clicking theAuto button in the Crop interface. Note howthe horizon is level in the right image.

The Flip and Aspect Buttons Click the Flip button to flip your image horizontally (or vertically if you Option-click). Click the Aspect button to constrain the crop tool to a specific aspect ratio—useful if you’re planning to make printsat a specific size, for example.

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Add Filters If you’ve ever used Instagram, youknow the appeal of filters—effects thatadd a distinct look to your images byadjusting the color, contrast, and more.Not to be outdone, Photos comes witheight custom filters, all accessible byclicking the Filters button. These filters vary in style, but I wishthere were more of them ④. Photos provides several different black-and-white effects (Mono, Tonal, Noir), somemoody color palettes (Fade, Process,Instant), and color enhancers (Chrome,Transfer). Click a filter a second time to turn it off.

Fix Red EyeFlashes let you take pictures in darkspaces, but they have the unfortunateside effect of producing red eye—when the eyes of your subjects fill with de-monic fire. Photos automatically detectsimages with red eye, and adds a RedEye icon to the Edit pane.

Note: If you always want to see the RedEye icon, choose View > Always ShowRed-eye Control.

In most cases, you can trust Photos toremove red eye for you. Click the RedEye icon and then click the Autobutton. The app highlights all the de-tected red eyes in the image and zapsthem away ⑤. If the Auto button doesn’t quite do it foryou, you can choose a target size withthe Size slider and then click the red eyes to let Photos work its magic. In myexperience, this feature works shock-ingly well.

④ The eight filters in Photos show some seri-ous color variation.

⑤ An image before (left) and after the auto-matic red-eye feature in Photos.

Explaining Red Eye The red-eye effect happens when thelight from a flash bounces off the backof a subject’s eye. It’s more common infair-skinned subjects, especially thosewith blue eyes. That describes three-quarters of my family, so we break outthe red-eye removal feature often.

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Edit Your Photos Basic adjustments of the kind I described in the previous chapter, Process Your Photos, are often all you need to make your photos come to life. But sometimesyou need to take total control over the situation. The tools under the Adjust and Retouch buttons in the Edit pane of Photoslet you apply numerous adjustments (and retouching) to make your images look their best ①.

① Exterminate your images’ flaws with the Adjust controls in the Edit pane. (Note the strip of imageson the left. That’s the split view, which you can turn on by choosing View > Show Split View.)

Adjust Your PhotosOne of the most important things tounderstand about editing your imagesusing the Adjustments pane—especiallyif you’re coming from iPhoto—is thateverything you do is non-destructive. Every adjustment can be turned on andoff at any time by clicking the checkicon, even after you’ve “saved” yourchanges by clicking Done. Togglingadjustments on and off can be helpfulin deciding if they really improve yourimage.

Adjustments and Aperture Adjustments as a concept will be newto iPhoto users, but if you’re familiar with Aperture, you’ll find the Adjustmentspane in Photos quite familiar. Photos doesn’t offer quite as manyadjustment options as Aperture did,but the way they work is quite similar. There’s an Add menu from which youcan add adjustments to a stacked list.You can turn adjustments on and offwith a checkbox.

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Add AdjustmentsWhen you click the Adjust button,any applied adjustments appear in astack on the right side of your photo.You can add or remove adjustments byclicking the blue Add button at the topof the pane and selecting one of theten items listed there.

Note: If you clicked the automatic Enhance button, you’ll see the specific enhancements Photos applied in this pane.

Fine-tune SettingsWhen you hover over an adjustment ②,additional controls appear to the right: • Auto: Click this button, if offered,

and Photos takes its best guessabout how to adjust your photo.

• Extra controls: Most adjustmentsalso offer a disclosure caret that you can click to reveal more detailedcontrols. These controls are generally the indi-vidual components that make up theoverall adjustment; for example, thesimple Light adjustment is made upof six separate components, each ofwhich is individually adjustable.

Note: To make a radical adjustment,hold down the Option key. Some con-trols will zoom out, providing you withan even more extreme range of settings

• Menu: The Levels adjustment offers a menu button so you can choosewhich set of levels to adjust.

Note: If you find you’re using certainadjustments a lot, click the Add buttonand select Save as Default to make the current selection of adjustments appearby default on every image you edit.

② Hover over an adjustment to reveal the Autobutton and, often, an offer to show more ad-vanced settings.

Ten Ways to Adjust Your Photos Here’s a list of the ten adjustment op-tions available by clicking the Add but-ton at the top of the Adjustments pane: ✦ Histogram: Not actually something

you can adjust; it shows you the tonalrange of your image.

✦ Light: Makes your image darker orbrighter. Includes separate controlsfor Exposure, Highlights, Shadows,Brightness, Contrast, and Black Point.

✦ Color: Makes the colors in your imagemore or less vivid. Includes controls for Saturation, Contrast, and Cast.

✦ Black & White: Converts your imageto monochrome. Includes separatecontrols for Intensity, Neutrals, Tone,and Grain.

✦ Sharpen: Makes edges crisper andbetter defined. Includes separate con-trols for Intensity, Edges, and Falloff.

✦ Definition: Adds contour and shape,midtone definition, and local contrast.

✦ Noise Reduction: Reduces graininess,useful for low-light conditions.

✦ Vignette: Darkens the edges of theimage. Includes controls for Strength,Radius, and Softness.

✦ White Balance: Lets you remove colorcasts by setting a new white point.You can balance color with neutral gray, skin color, or manually.

✦ Levels: A classic control to adjust thetonal range and contrast of a photo,including black point, white point,shadows, midtones, highlights, andeven individual adjustments of red,green, and blue channels.

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Retouch Your Photos The retouching tool, accessible byclicking the Retouch button in the Edit pane, is a simple brush tool thatlets you remove dust, blemishes, andother unwanted junk from images ③. The large slider on the right lets you sethow big you want the brush to be. Ifyou’re removing a dust speck or blem-ish, make the brush roughly the size ofthat item, then click it. (It helps to bezoomed in close when using this tool.) If that doesn’t satisfy you, increase thebrush size or click and drag across theitem. Apple suggests dragging in a se-ries of short strokes to blend an item into its surroundings. If the brush makes bad assumptionsabout what you’re trying to do, you canoverride these by Option-clicking thetexture or color you want the brush toemulate. Then click the item you wantto eliminate.

Note: If you just get frustrated and wantto go back to square one, don’t worry. Inthe Retouch pane, click the Reset buttonat the bottom to erase all your work. Or,click the Reset Adjustments button atthe bottom of the Adjustments pane.870

Edit with Extensions A banner new feature in Photos 1.1 is support for extensions. Written by non-Apple developers, these programs canprovide powerful features that are be-yond the scope of the Photos app. Forexample, I’ve used MacPhun’s $18Tonality ④ to go far beyond the basicPhotos filters and make breathtakingblack-and-white photos. If you’re yearning for better editingtools, it’s worth a peek in the Mac AppStore to see what’s on offer (I discussthe first few in my Six Colors articlePhoto Extensions come to Photos 1.1).

③ Use the Retouch tool to remove dust and blemishes from your images.

④ The Tonality extension lets you turn yourimages into beautiful black-and-whites.

Copy and Paste Adjustments Let’s say you have a batch of imagestaken under similar conditions, and youwork hard to create the perfect set ofadjustments to make one of those im-ages look great. How can you apply thatwork to all of those other images? With the edited image open in the Editpane, choose Image > Copy Adjust-ments to copy the adjustments you’vemade. You can’t apply these adjustments to abatch of photos at once, unfortunately.But once you copy one photo’s adjust-ments, you can rapidly spread thoseadjustments to other photos by usingthe arrow keys and the Image > PasteAdjustments command (Command-Shift-V).

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Enable Extensions To activate installed extensions: 1. Open the Edit pane in Photos and

click the Extensions button,which sits at the bottom of the stack of buttons at the right side ofthe screen. The first time you click,you’ll see no extensions.

2. Choose More. The Extensions pane of System Pref-erences opens, with the Photos itemselected ⑤.

3. Check the boxes next to the ex-tensions you want to enable, andthen quit System Preferences.

In Photos, click the Extensions but-ton again to choose an enabled exten-sion ⑥. To disable an extension, follow theabove procedure, but deselect the ex-tension in System Preferences.

Work with an Extension Once you choose an extension, itappears in the Photos editing windowuntil you click Cancel or Save Changes. Unlike Photos’ built-in editing tools, youcan’t toggle the edits you make in ex-tensions on or off. When you begin tomake an edit in an extension, Photosmakes a copy of your image in its cur-rent state, and when you click SaveChanges to exit, Photos saves theresult. You can always revert back toyour original image, but you can’t pullout any intermediate steps.

⑤ The Photos view of the Extensions systempreference pane is where you enable exten-sions.

⑥ Click the Extensions button to choose an extension to use.

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Make Slideshows in Photos There was a time that I made a lot of iPhoto slideshows. While those days have largelypassed, I can’t go to a school function without seeing at least one. Photos provideseight different slideshow themes ①, and if you’re the type who wants your slideshowsjust so, you have a lot of power to control exactly how your slideshow behaves.

① The Vintage Prints theme may be my favorite of the Photos slideshow themes.

Create a Slideshow 1. Select a group of images, and

choose File > Create Slideshow. 2. Give your slideshow a name, and

click OK. A new entry appears inthe Projects pane (or Projects sec-tion of the sidebar if it’s visible).

3. In the slideshow editor that opens,you can organize the images,choose a theme and music, anddetermine how long yourslideshow lasts, as I describe next.

Choose a Theme Click the Theme Picker button at the right and then click a theme name. You can re-order the images in allthemes, but some themes are evenmore editable.

Direct Ken Burns Some slideshow themes aren’t particu-larly customizable, beyond the orderof the images and the text. But the Ken Burns theme, which slowly pans andzooms across a still image, is. When Ken Burns is selected in the Theme Picker, a Ken Burns Effectbutton appears in the lower-left cornerof every image. Click it and two morebuttons appear. Use the In-Point button to set how you’d like your photo to look when itfirst appears on screen. Use the Out-Point button to set the appearance of the photos when it’sabout to transition to the next photo inthe slideshow. (Photos will set a defaultmovement if you don’t customize aphoto’s zoom and pan.)

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Pick Some Music Though themes come with defaultmusic, you can opt to override thatselection and choose one—or even many tracks—from your iTunes libraryto play during your slideshow. To reveal the music picker, click theMusic button. The Selected Music section ② lists the music that will playwith your slideshow. To preview themusic, move your pointer over a trackand click the Play button that ap-pears to the left of the track name.To delete a track, click the delete button. To pick different music, click the disclo-sure caret next to the Music Libraryheader to display music from iTunes.(You can also choose music from otherthemes or even from Apple’s Logic mu-sic app from the pop-up menu that ap-pears.) Click the Search icon to search youriTunes library, or just scroll through.When you find a track you want to add,click it; it’ll appear in Selected Music.You can drag tracks around in SelectedMusic until you get the order you want.

Note: Only songs that reside on your Mac—not merely available in iTunes Match or iTunes in the Cloud—appear in the music picker.

Set a Duration Click the Duration icon to set how long you want your slideshow to run.You can choose a specific duration orchoose Fit to Music, in which case theduration of your slideshow is the run-ning time of the music you’ve chosen. The duration of each individual slide in your presentation is generally deter-mined by the number of slides and thelength of the presentation. If you’re us-ing the Ken Burns theme, though, youcan set the duration of individual slides.

② Choose a music playlist from within theslideshow editor.

Playing a Slideshow on the Fly Don’t want to build a slideshow? No problem. To make a quick slideshow based onone of your photo albums, select thealbum and then click the Play button on the toolbar. You can quickly chooseone of the standard slideshow themes and even pick music you’d like to hear. If you’re in the master Photos pane, youcan move your pointer over the headerthat separates each event to reveal asimilar Play button ③.

③ Make a quick slideshow of an event byclicking the Play button in the header.

Click it and you can likewise make aslideshow of all the items in that event.

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Play in PhotosTo play a full-screen slideshow fromwithin Photos, click the Play button,located below the slideshow previewin the slideshow editor. When a slideshow is playing, you canuse a floating controller ④ to control the volume, advance forward and back-ward between slides, and quit.

Save a Slideshow as a Video You can export a slideshow project asa MPEG-4 video file, ready to transfer to iTunes, play back on an iPad, or uploadto a video-sharing service like YouTubeor Vimeo: 1. Click the Export button in the up-

per-right corner of the slideshoweditor. A dialog opens ⑤.

2. Name the file, and choose a folderto save it into.

3. Choose which resolution (480p,720p, or 1080p) you’d like to use.

4. Specify whether you want the fileautomatically added to iTuneswhen the export is complete. (Ifyou select this checkbox, yourvideo will be placed in the HomeVideos subsection of Movies.)

5. Click Save.

④ This controller appears when you’re playinga slideshow in Photos. You may have to jiggleyour pointer to make it appear.

Looping a Slideshow Before you click Play, you can click the Loop button, located just below thebottom-right corner of the slideshowpreview, to have the images in yourslideshow keep playing over and over.If the duration of your slides and music don’t match, the slides will start overfrom the beginning as music continuesto play. Toggle this feature off (blue means on,black means off) to prevent slides fromrepeating.

⑤ You can choose the resolution of yourslideshow movie from the Export dialog.

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Make Books, Calendars, and Cards Just as iPhoto and Aperture did before it, Photos lets you create designs with yourphotos, upload those designs to Apple’s servers, and then take delivery of custom-printed objects in a few days’ time. My family creates annual calendars, makessouvenir books after trips and other important life events ①, and, of course, everyyear there are holiday cards. These physical products are great ways to keep ourphotos in view throughout the year, even when we’re not staring at a device.

① When my father passed away, we scanned in photos from throughout his life and created books togive to my mother and all of his children. It was a perfect way to honor him.

Create a New ProjectChoose File > Create Book, File >Create Calendar, or File > Create Card. If you have images selected when youissue that command, they’ll automati-cally be added to your project. If not,no worries. You can add photos fromwithin a project by clicking the AddPhotos button, or by dragging a photointo a project’s name in the Projectssection of the sidebar.

Don’t Pause iCloud Syncing Creating projects requires that the full-quality version of your images be onyour Mac. If you’re using iCloud PhotoLibrary with the Optimize Mac Storageoption turned on, Photos will automati-cally download the images you needfrom iCloud before it allows you to con-tinue building your project. If you’ve paused iCloud Syncing byclicking the Pause for One Day buttonin Photos > Preferences > iCloud, you may find you can’t create a new calen-dar. Click Resume to allow Photos to download what it needs.

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Make Format Choices Before you can start working on aproject, you have to choose a format—you can change it later if needed. Fora book or card, you select a shape and a size ②. For a calendar, you pick howmany months the calendar containsand the starting month.

Note: The steps for building calendars,cards, and books are quite similar, soI’ve combined them here.

Next, choose a theme to use with yourproject ③, and click Create Card. Photos comes with some templatesbuilt in, while others are downloadablefrom within Photos. (This means Applecould theoretically make new themesavailable.) Themes that need to bedownloaded are indicated by a cloud

icon. If you select one of those,you’ll have a brief wait as Photos down-loads the theme files.

Use the Layout ViewWith the project created, the projectappears in layout view ④. At its bottom,is a pane with thumbnails of photos inyour project. Drag images out of hereand drop them onto the pages of yourproject to place them. Calendar and book designs begin witha zoomed-out view. You can double-click any page to zoom in, and use theBack arrow in the toolbar to zoom back out. (Cards display a single view,with buttons at the top to change be-tween the front, inside, and back.) Use the toolbar at the top of the thumb-nail pane to clear all the photos you’veplaced, automatically fill your projectwith photos, import additional photosinto the project, and switch what thethumbnail strip displays—either all thephotos in your project, or just the onesthat haven’t yet been used.

② Choose your book’s shape and size beforeyou begin.

③ Choose from a selection of themes, someincluded and some downloadable from Apple.

④ The layout view includes all the pages ofyour project. You can drag photos in from thestrip at the bottom.

Navigate in Single-page View When you’re viewing a single page inthe layout view, you can navigate be-tween pages by swiping left or right onyour trackpad or using the arrow keyson the keyboard. You can zoom in and out with the pinchgesture on the trackpad or by pressingCommand-Plus or Command-Minus.

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Explore Layout OptionsThe most important tool in getting yourproject to look the way you want is theOptions window ⑤. It’s not displayedby default. To make it visible: • Click the Show Options button in

the toolbar; or • When viewing a single page, click

the Options button below the page. With an entire page selected (insteadof a single photo), the Options windowlets you choose how many photos areon a page and what layout Photos usesto display them. A strip at the bottom ofthe window lets you choose the back-ground color for the page.

Note: You can Control-click a photo forsome quick-edit options, including flip-ping it and fitting it to the frame.

When an image is selected, theOptions window ⑥ lets you add filters,zoom and crop images, or jumpdirectly into Edit mode.

Change the Format or ThemeIn the toolbar at the top of the screen,click the Calendar , Book , or Card

button to revisit these options ⑦.

Add a Page to a BookClick the New Page button in the toolbar at the top of the screen.

Buy Your ProjectAnd once you’re done, of course, youcan order your item by clicking the Buybutton in the top-right corner of thewindow.

⑤ If an entire page is selected, the Optionswindow displays layout options.

⑥ The Options window changes when animage is selected.

⑦ Options for calendars (left) and books(right).

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Make Photographic Prints We lost something when we all converted from film to digital photography. Thoughviewing photos on our iPhones and TVs is great, for many of us the physical print stillhas a lot of power. And let’s not forget that posters are just enormous prints! Photoshasn’t forgotten the power of prints ①—you can make them at home, using a photoprinter, or order them online and have them shipped to you.

① Apple makes it easy to order prints from Photos, even for nonstandard sizes like panoramas.

Order from AppleApple lets your order prints directlyfrom within Photos. Choose File > Order Prints. In addition to traditional print sizes, it offers square prints and“auto-sized” prints, which conform tothe aspect ratio of your image and canbe very long—making them perfect forprinting panoramas. Apple also sellsposter prints in two sizes: 16-by-20 and20-by-30 inches. Once you’ve selected a size, a previewwindow shows you what portion of yourimage will be printed. If your image’saspect ratio doesn’t match that of theprint size, part of it will be cropped ②. You can slide your image around toget the right crop. If you want to zoom or add effects, click the Show Options

button and use the controls in the Options window.

Note: You can also pinch on your track-pad to change the zoom and crop onyour image.

When you are ready to order, clickOrder Prints.

② This image has had the very top of itcropped to fit; the cropped data appears(faded) just above the top of the frame.

Or, Don’t Order from Apple Sites such as Shutterfly and Snapfishoffer great prints (and cards, and books)at better prices than what Apple offers. You can drag images out of Photos (orexport them via File > Export > ExportPhotos; see Exporting and Resizing Im-ages) and then upload them to one of those sites using your Web browser. Ordering like this is not quite as easy,but it can be a money saver.

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Print Photos Yourself If you have a printer capable of printingphotos, select some photos in Photosand choose File > Print to display thePrint pane ③. You see a preview of allthe images you’re printing. You can set your target printer, and thepaper size and type. You can also pickthe print size of each image: • Fit: Makes sure your entire image

appears on the print. • Fill: Some of your image may be

cropped to avoid “letterboxed”white bars.

• Specific size: Click that size. • Custom size: Click Custom or Con-

tact Sheet; then specify exactly whatyou want below.

If your image is cropped, you can dragit within the preview frame to choose abetter position for the crop. Once you’ve set your print settings,click the Print button and a more tradi-tional Print dialog appears. This is where things get weird. I wish Icould give you advice other than “holdyour breath, understand your printer’squirks, and embrace the concept oftrial and error.” Unfortunately, the num-ber of different printer models in theworld makes that impossible. You may need to do nothing other thanpress the Print button on that dialog toget the results you want, or you mayneed to monkey around with thoseprint settings to get the right results.Courage!

③ The Print pane lets you preview the imagesyou’re printing, set fit/fill options, and thensend your images to your printer.

In Praise of Framed Prints Even if you think traditional 4-by-6-inchprints are a relic of the past, considerexperimenting with larger print sizes.You can order them from within Photos, and many other online printing servicesoffer even more sizing options. Poster prints and large prints come instandard sizes, and you can usually findframes to match those sizes at a local store. For not a lot of money, you can fill yourhome with faces of your loved ones, fa-vorite vacation spots, or other treasuredmemories. My house has several large framedposters of my kids (we rotate in newimages every few years) and severalframed 8-by-10-inch prints, too. (Someonline stores will even let you printphotos on magnets, which is handy fora refrigerator that’s desperately in need of decoration.) I can’t think of a better way to keep yourphotography within view on an everydaybasis.

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Share Your Photos What good are photos if you can’t share them with friends? Traditionally, sharingphotos meant sending prints or binding photos in albums and showing them to otherpeople. You can still do that, of course—see Make Books, Calendars, and Cards and Make Photographic Prints—but sometimes you want sharing to be more immediate.Fortunately, Photos makes it easy to share images quickly over the Internet, too ①.

① Sharing an image via Twitter couldn’t be faster or easier. It’ll even suggest usernames for you.

You can share a single photo with social media (see below), or Sharing MultiplePhotos with social media. Or, try iCloud Photo Sharing, which lets you share an albumwith other people who have iCloud accounts or get a Web URL that anyone can use(see Sharing Using iCloud). And, if your desired sharing method requires that you getyour photos out of Photos, you can do that too (see Exporting and Resizing Images).

Photo Sharing Methods• Select a photo, and then choose

File > Share. • Control-click an image and choose

Share ② from the contextual menu. • Select a photo, and then click the

Share icon in the toolbar. You can also Sharing Multiple Photos. In each case, you’ll need to pick howyou want to use to convey your photos,from social-networking and photo-sharing services to more directtransfers.

② You can get the Share menu by Control-clicking a single photo.

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Transfer a Photo Some options in the Share menu direct-ly transfer a photo to another person ora privately shared area: • iCloud Photo Sharing: If you have

this feature turned on, click here toadd a photo to any of your sharedalbums. (See Sharing Using iCloud,later in this chapter.)

• AirDrop: Quickly transfer a photo toanother device—Mac or iOS—usingApple’s AirDrop technology.

• Messages: Send a photo directlyto one of your contacts via the Mes-sages app ③—all without ever leav-ing Photos.

• Other apps: Attach the photo to amessage in Mail, or insert it in a doc-ument in El Capitan’s Notes app. Youcan even set it as your Desktop Pic-ture.

Share SociallySeveral other Share options focus onuploading photos to social networks.You first need to be signed in to thesenetworks (choose Apple > SystemPreferences > Internet Accounts). When you share with Twitter,Facebook, or Flickr, a Share sheet ④appears at the center of the screen,so you can fill in relevant information about the photo. You may see other interesting optionsin the Share menu, depending on whatsoftware you’ve installed. (Choose theMore option at the bottom of the list to manage what appears in this list.)

Note: The Share sheet pays attention topeople you’ve recently sent messagesto or mentioned socially, and offersthem up in a Recents list at the bottomof the Share menu.

③ You can send an iMessage to someone with-out even leaving the Photos app.

④ Facebook sharing lets you choose whereyou want to post, set privacy options, and writea description.

One Tweet at a Time Even though Twitter now supports post-ing multiple images in a single tweet,OS X’s Twitter integration doesn’t. Soyou can’t share more than one image ata time using the built-in Twitter sharingfeature in Photos.

Sharing in a Family To access an entire iCloud Photo Library, a device must be logged in tothat library’s iCloud account. If your fam-ily has more than one iCloud account incirculation, this will be a problem. Unfortunately, there are no good solu-tions. If you’ve turned on iTunes FamilySharing, you can drag images into theFamily shared album, but it’s a weakworkaround. Here’s hoping Apple im-proves family support someday.

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Sharing Multiple Photos• Manual selection: For an arbitrary

group, Shift-click or Command-clickto select a batch of photos and thenchoose File > Share or Control-click the selected group and chooseShare from the contextual menu.

• Album: To share an entire album,click its name and then click the Share icon in the toolbar.

• Moment: To share a group of photosattached to a particular date andplace, click the Share icon on a date/location header ⑤.

The larger the group of photos you’retrying to share, the fewer sharing op-tions you’ll have. Facebook will uploadonly 50 images at a time; Flickr’s andAirDrop’s limits are both 99 images.

Exporting and ResizingImages1. Select the photos. 2. Choose File > Export > Export #

Photos. 3. Choose whether to export the

images in JPEG, TIFF, or PNGformat; whether or not to embedmetadata such as titles, keywords,and locations; and even filenaming conventions.

4. To resize the images or set a com-pression level, click the disclosure caret by the Photo Kind pop-upmenu to reveal those options. To constrain images by width orheight or by an overall largestdimension, choose Custom fromthe Size pop-up menu ⑥.

5. Click Export.

Lost in Translation? When Photos shares a photo, some-times it’s not sharing the entire photo. It’s good to understand when the appis sending your full-quality image and when it’s sending a version that’s beenreduced in size: ✦ iCloud Photo Sharing and Facebook:

Reduced to 2048 x 1536 pixels ✦ Messages, AirDrop, and Flickr: Full

quality ✦ Twitter: Reduced to 1024 x 768

⑤ Move your pointer over the date/locationheader in the Photos view and a Share icon appears on the far right side.

⑥ Photos will resize and recompress a batch ofimages upon export.

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Sharing Using iCloudThe iCloud Photo Sharing option, inthe iCloud pane of Photos’ preferences, has been available in iOS since 2012. Turn it on to create a new Shared panein Photos (or Shared section in the side-bar), from which you can share albumswith other iCloud users and subscribe to albums they’ve shared with you ⑦.

Creating a Shared AlbumOpen the Shared pane, and click theplus button in the toolbar. Name the album, and enter the email address ofanyone with whom you’d like to directlyshare the album ⑧. Click Create.

Working with a Shared Album• Add photos: Drag them into the

shared album in the sidebar, or se-lect the album and click Add Photos and Videos (near the upper right).

• Read and add comments: Click the Comments button in the bottom-left corner of a shared image.

• Let other people contribute photos:Open your album, click the Settings

button in the toolbar, and selectSubscribers Can Post.

Sharing an Album on the Web1. Open an album that you’ve

shared. 2. Click the Settings button in the

toolbar. 3. Select Public Website in the Set-

tings popover. 4. Copy the URL that appears below

that option and send it to anyone,and they’ll be able to view yourpictures ⑨ in a Web browser.

⑦ The Shared pane lists folders that you’veshared with others or that others have shared with you.

⑧ Create a shared album and choose with whom to share it (left), and use the Settingspopover (right) to configure your album.

⑨ Once you select the Public Website check-box, anyone can use a Web browser to viewthe contents of your shared album.

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View Photos on an Apple TV Your living room is a natural place to share photos, and your big high-definition TVset can be an excellent canvas for those photos. If you have an Apple TV connectedto your set, you can indeed share photos from your Photos library ①.

① iTunes lets you share photos with Apple TV via a similar interface as copying photos to iOS.

Share from iTunes Though you keep your images in Pho-tos, if you want to share them with anApple TV, you need to use iTunes as abridge. In iTunes, choose File > Home Sharingand turn on Home Sharing using anApple ID. Then choose File > HomeSharing > Choose Photos to Share withApple TV. The resulting window offers similaroptions to those you’d see if you werecopying photos to an iOS device. Youcan choose to share everything or justspecific albums or faces. Once this is done, select the Comput-ers icon on your Apple TV. (You’ll needto log in to Home Sharing with thesame Apple ID and password you usedin iTunes.) Choose your Mac and you’llsee Photos down at the bottom of the media options. You can view your pho-tos and play slideshows from here.

Note: Using AirPlay from an iOS deviceis the easiest way to get iCloud PhotoLibrary images on your TV via Apple TV.

The All-New Apple TV In September 2015 Apple announceda new Apple TV model with a trackpad remote and support for third-party apps(see the TidBITS article, The Fourth-Gen-eration Apple TV Is Coming at Last). I assume this new model will offer vari-ous ways to view photos on your TV, butuntil I have confirmation I can’t cover it here. This chapter is about the previousgeneration Apple TV, the one withoutthe trackpad-based remote.

iCloud Photo Library on Apple TV The Apple TV currently supports only My Photo Stream, which displays the1,000 most recent images you’ve addedto Photos or taken with iOS devices, andiCloud Photo Sharing, but not iCloudPhoto Library. So, to display particular photos on yourApple TV via the cloud rather than bysyncing them from your Mac, the work-around would be to create and share photo albums. These shared albumswould then be available on Apple TV.You could also upload photos to Flickr(see Share Your Photos) and use AppleTV’s Flickr channel to display them.

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