How to Add and Organize Images in Photos for OS X Yosemite

[MacRumors]

Once you've migrated your image library from iPhotos or Aperture (or both), you'll probably want to add all the images from your iPhone or iPad and get everything organized so you can quickly find pictures from specific dates and events in the future.

To help you accomplish both of these tasks, we've written up a tutorial that provides an overview of how to import pictures into the Photos app on OS X Yosemite and gives a few suggestions for how to organize your collection.

Importing Pictures


Connect your device (iPhone, iPad, or digital camera) to your computer using the USB connector and open the Photos for OS X app.
Select "Import" from the list of tabs at the top of the screen in the app.
Select the images you wish to add to the Photos app, or select "Import All New Items" to add everything from your device.
Imported images will automatically be added to the "Last Import" album in Photos. You can see your photos using a number of different views, including the main Photos tab, which displays all pictures that you have added to the app and any pictures that you have taken using an iOS device that is connected using My Photo Stream.


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Article Link: How to Add and Organize Images in Photos for OS X Yosemite

 

[thekeyring]

All photos taken on my phone go to Photo Stream, which Photos on my Mac saves to the hard drive. Perfect cable-less way for my Mac to be my digital hub of photos.

 

[enthusiastic]

Is it possible to import photos from my DSLR to my Mac and not have it uploaded to iCloud? Because, I have a lot of photos that I would like to organize, but I don't have enough space on the cloud.

 

[Keebler]

Will added keywords save to an image base file?

Hi folks,

So if I added a keywords like my son's name and soccer, is there a way to save that into the metadata of the actual base file?

As in aperture, you can save to the IPTC - is that a possibility?

Ultimate goal is to have every photo keyworded in my own library then shared via an external hard drive to other family members.

If they can open the file and view (in whatever program they can use) to see the IPTC data such as the keywords I add, then great. If not, well - not good.

Thanks,
Keebler

 

[TMRJIJ]

If you migrated from Aperture and need instructions for organizing your images in Photos, you already failed.

 

[bushido]

All photos taken on my phone go to Photo Stream, which Photos on my Mac saves to the hard drive. Perfect cable-less way for my Mac to be my digital hub of photos.

indeed, iCloud Photo on the other hand is too confusing and does too much of one thing and too little of other things

 

[darnovo]

how to delete duplicate photos:

step 1.) can't

 

[bushido]

how to delete duplicate photos:

step 1.) can't

how to exclude certain videos and albums

step 2.) you cant either

 

[rickdollar]

Is it possible to import photos from my DSLR to my Mac and not have it uploaded to iCloud? Because, I have a lot of photos that I would like to organize, but I don't have enough space on the cloud.

If you have iCloud Photo Library turned on for Photos app, anything placed in Photos will be uploaded to iCloud. There is no choosing specific images/Albums to upload or not upload. It's all or nothing.

You can turn off the syncing for up to one day and that my give you some time to organize and delete what you want, but the syncing is something you'll have to monitor at least daily to keep images from uploading. But ultimately, if you have iCloud Photo Library turned on, whatever is in your library is going to end up there at some point.

FWIW, as far as storage goes, iCloud storage is charged to your iTunes account. Therefore, if you take advantage of periodically available iTunes Card discounts from retailers (anywhere from 10-25% off) it makes the cost of extra storage a little more attractive.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

The name of your iPhone is "F_ing iPhone is Who"?

Am I the only one who saw that in the screenshot in the article?

Edit: Not even allowed to post the name of your iPhone in the comments. I had to change the - to an _ for it to post.

 

[rickdollar]

Hi folks,

So if I added a keywords like my son's name and soccer, is there a way to save that into the metadata of the actual base file?

As in aperture, you can save to the IPTC - is that a possibility?

Ultimate goal is to have every photo keyworded in my own library then shared via an external hard drive to other family members.

If they can open the file and view (in whatever program they can use) to see the IPTC data such as the keywords I add, then great. If not, well - not good.

Thanks,
Keebler

If you use the Export command and want to export a JPEG, TIFF, or PNG, the resulting file will retain keyword and location data, etc. You can verify this by opening the exported image in the Preview app and (COMMAND-I). Then click on the various tabs to see all the data. You do have to make sure you have both Info check boxes checked in the Export dialog.
That's what I do, anyway.

 

[Nunyabinez]

The name of your iPhone is "F_ing iPhone is Who"?

Am I the only one who saw that in the screenshot in the article?

Edit: Not even allowed to post the name of your iPhone in the comments. I had to change the - to an _ for it to post.

That's funny. I remember a guy posting a screen shot on MR and in the background you could see a browser tab with Porn Hub.

 

[ThunderSkunk]

Lightroom sure is nice.

 

[newagemac]

indeed, iCloud Photo on the other hand is too confusing and does too much of one thing and too little of other things

If you can't understand iCloud Photos, you must not be very good at this whole computer thing. I mean, you turn it on and all your photos are on every device. It works EXACTLY like IMAP email. It really can't get any simpler than that.

The old way worked like POP email where you have to figure out where a photo is and you could delete it on one device and it stupidly still showed up somewhere else. Edit a photo and it used to mean you have two different photos in different locations. Photo stream didn't do 2 way sync and your library would get all out of whack with reality on various different devices.

The iCloud Photos way is WAY better and much easier to understand. One single unified library just like how your Gmail, iCloud, Exchange email works.

When I delete an email in gmail, it's gone. I don't have to worry about it showing up on another device or another computer. iCloud photos works the same way.

----------

All photos taken on my phone go to Photo Stream, which Photos on my Mac saves to the hard drive. Perfect cable-less way for my Mac to be my digital hub of photos.

Except if you make an edit to a photo, update folders, make new albums, delete something, or do anything at all with your photos, now your library is all out of whack in different places because Photostream does not do a true SYNC. It's just a one way street. iCloud Photos is so much easier to understand and works better.

 

[baryon]

I figured out how to edit images in an external image editor like Photoshop!

1. Navigate to your Applications folder in the Finder
2. Locate the Photos.app icon
3. Drag it to the Trash
4. Empty the Trash
5. Open Disk Utility
6. Click on Erase, then Erase Free Space
7. Choose the Zero Out Sector with 32-pass military-grade option
8. Locate the photo you want to edit in Finder
9. Drag it to the Photoshop icon or any other external editor of your choice

 

[bucstats]

My kingdom for someone to tell me how to geotag photos imported from an older camera without GPS.

Seriously, it shouldn't be hard, right?

 

[John.B]

My kingdom for someone to tell me how to geotag photos imported from an older camera without GPS.

Step 3.) You can't do that either.

 

[NMBob]

I figured out how to edit images in an external image editor like Photoshop!

1. Navigate to your Applications folder in the Finder
2. Locate the Photos.app icon
3. Drag it to the Trash
4. Empty the Trash
5. Open Disk Utility
6. Click on Erase, then Erase Free Space
7. Choose the Zero Out Sector with 32-pass military-grade option
8. Locate the photo you want to edit in Finder
9. Drag it to the Photoshop icon or any other external editor of your choice

From what I've been reading the last few months all you have to do is update something, then all of your photos in the cloud disappear. Saves you the trouble of waiting for Photoshop to start up in the above procedure.

 

[jmf4]

My kingdom for someone to tell me how to geotag photos imported from an older camera without GPS.

Seriously, it shouldn't be hard, right?

You can't directly add geotags inside Photos, at least not yet.

I have been going through a 25,000 photo Aperture library and trying to delete about 50% of the photos. Around 2010 I begin to hit lots of photos not geotagged (because they weren't taken with my iPhone). As Photos organizes photos by date and location, that is an issue.

I use Houdahgeo to add geotagging to the photos in Aperture (with the metadata as part of the file), export the event to my desktop and then import them into Photos with the geotags in place. I edit keywords and dates in Photos if needed.

A recent Houdahgeo update put in place a mechanism to edit the geo info directly in Photos (just as it does in Aperture) but Photos has not (yet) added the necessary interface. Which makes me think they might if the developer has already set it up. You can read about it on the Houdahgeo blog (most recent post).

 

[MrX8503]

If you can't understand iCloud Photos, you must not be very good at this whole computer thing. I mean, you turn it on and all your photos are on every device. It works EXACTLY like IMAP email. It really can't get any simpler than that.

The old way worked like POP email where you have to figure out where a photo is and you could delete it on one device and it stupidly still showed up somewhere else. Edit a photo and it used to mean you have two different photos in different locations. Photo stream didn't do 2 way sync and your library would get all out of whack with reality on various different devices.

The iCloud Photos way is WAY better and much easier to understand. One single unified library just like how your Gmail, iCloud, Exchange email works.

When I delete an email in gmail, it's gone. I don't have to worry about it showing up on another device or another computer. iCloud photos works the same way.

----------



Except if you make an edit to a photo, update folders, make new albums, delete something, or do anything at all with your photos, now your library is all out of whack in different places because Photostream does not do a true SYNC. It's just a one way street. iCloud Photos is so much easier to understand and works better.

What if I don't want to PAY for iCloud Photos? Now I'm stuck with the confusing Photostream.

 

[bushido]

If you can't understand iCloud Photos, you must not be very good at this whole computer thing. I mean, you turn it on and all your photos are on every device. It works EXACTLY like IMAP email. It really can't get any simpler than that.

The old way worked like POP email where you have to figure out where a photo is and you could delete it on one device and it stupidly still showed up somewhere else. Edit a photo and it used to mean you have two different photos in different locations. Photo stream didn't do 2 way sync and your library would get all out of whack with reality on various different devices.

The iCloud Photos way is WAY better and much easier to understand. One single unified library just like how your Gmail, iCloud, Exchange email works.

When I delete an email in gmail, it's gone. I don't have to worry about it showing up on another device or another computer. iCloud photos works the same way.

----------



Except if you make an edit to a photo, update folders, make new albums, delete something, or do anything at all with your photos, now your library is all out of whack in different places because Photostream does not do a true SYNC. It's just a one way street. iCloud Photos is so much easier to understand and works better.

my problem is that its too simple and you have no control over your pictures. its far too dangerous to me.

like what happens once you run out of space you paid for?
what if i do not want every damn picture to show up everywhere.

i guess its not meant to be a proper backup solution. the one reason i use services like dropbox etc is so i do not have to waste any actual space on the device itself

 

[John.B]

You can't directly add geotags inside Photos, at least not yet.

I have been going through a 25,000 photo Aperture library and trying to delete about 50% of the photos. Around 2010 I begin to hit lots of photos not geotagged (because they weren't taken with my iPhone). As Photos organizes photos by date and location, that is an issue.

I'm embarrassed for Apple that they released Photos out of beta without geotagging support, when the application itself is so heavily dependent on location data.

 

[Gusjasso]

I remember when Mac was easy and
Windows frustrating

 

[jeffhayford]

Exited for a new app to download photos from my iPhone.

----------

I remember when Mac was easy and
Windows frustrating

Me too. Apple just keeps finding new ways to add arm floaties when most of their users already know how to swim.

 

[theBB]

Is it possible to import photos from my DSLR to my Mac and not have it uploaded to iCloud? Because, I have a lot of photos that I would like to organize, but I don't have enough space on the cloud.

Here is one possibility:

1) Save your photos from DSLR to a folder on your Mac.
2) In Preferences for Photos, uncheck "Copy to library when importing" option. (The exact phrasing may be a little different)
3) Drag and drop the photos in your folder into Photos.
4) Photos will import your photos without copying them. It will just create soft links to the actual pictures in your folder.
5) If you activate iCloud Photo Library, Photos do not upload these "referenced" pictures. (For some people this might be a drawback, but for others like you/us this could serve as a "feature".)

If you change your mind and decide to make some (or all) of these pictures available in iCloud, you can select them and click on File->Consolidate menu option. That should copy the pictures into Photos, get rid of the soft links and sync the pictures with iCloud. (I have not tested the last step, yet.)