Master Photos For Mac

Apple’s Photos simplifies managing and editing your photos, but don’t let that fool you – it also has some powerful tools available. Just take a look…

- Angela Nicholson

WHEN APPLE announced that it was going to replace iPhoto and Aperture with Photos, there was naturally some concern. Aperture was aimed at serious enthusiast and professional photographers as a competitor for Adobe Lightroom, whereas iPhoto was designed for more occasional photographers who just wanted to be sure that their images were safely downloaded and easily accessible. Could one package really meet both needs?

What isn’t immediately obvious in Photos is that, below the surface, there are advanced tools that can help make Aperture users feel at home, enabling them to make complex adjustments to their images. It doesn’t replace a pro-level package like Adobe Photoshop CC, nor if we’re honest does it completely replace Aperture, but there’s plenty for enthusiast photographers to get their teeth into. Unless you were a power-user of Aperture’s most advanced features you may well find that Photos does all you need.

The beauty of Photos is that it enables you to download, organize, edit, and share your images all from within one software package. What’s more, it doesn’t matter whether your images were captured on your iPhone, compact camera, or DSLR, they’re treated the same way – and thanks to iCloud Photo Library, you can see them on all of your Apple devices.

If you want, you can simply browse through all of your images, but they can also be organized, manually or automatically, into albums to make it easier to find the ones that you want. If you wish you can also share individual images or albums with friends and family.

Editing images is also easy, with several different levels of tool available – from simple one-click adjustments to pro-level features such as Curves for manipulation. In between there’s a healthy collection of easy-to-use sliding controls.