Apple OS X 10.10.3 and Photos.app

If you have not already taken the plunge and updated to Photos.app... just don't. At least not before you make a copy of your iphoto library and store it on another drive where photos.app can't get at it. That way, at least, you'll be able to restore your library and continue with iPhoto/Aperture.

Photos.app is an abomination. Most of the features have been removed. You cannot open your images in any other application for editing (no Photoshop, Acorn, Pixelmator, Nik). You cannot change the user interface to avoid all that white. and the editing tools are just iOS related. You do, at least, still get the choice NOT to use icloud photos for storage.

Once you upgrade to Yosemite, your installs of iPhoto and Aperture remain intact. But your photo library will not... it will still be readable by those other apps after you migrate it to Photos, but you wont be able to edit, anymore... anything you do edit will not be translated back to Photos.app.

Its become a really closed shop and I do not recommend it or like it.
 
Once you upgrade to Yosemite, your installs of iPhoto and Aperture remain intact. But your photo library will not... it will still be readable by those other apps after you migrate it to Photos, but you wont be able to edit, anymore... anything you do edit will not be translated back to Photos.app.

I hope you can clarify this - are you saying that iPhoto will remain but I won't be able to use it (if I just ignore the photos app)?
 
Nope. If you ignore the Photos app you can just carry on as usual. BUT if you are going to play with the photos app, make sure you copy your iPhoto Library to somewhere it can't be touched. COPY not move. That way you can happily play and be as disgusted as I am, then get rid of it, take Photos.app out of the dock, and restore iPhoto to its rightful spot. I keep my working iPhoto library on an external drive anyway. I copied it into Pictures so I could see what photos.app was like.

Of course, you might not hate it like I do.
 
Thanks - good to know. We don't do workflow so no worries here.

"Workflow"? Whats that? (The question is rhetorical... I dont have a workflow either, thats why I don't use Lightroom instead.). I find iPhoto excellent for simple and basic photo management. Somewhere to view images, and then send them to someplace else for edits. I use the iPhoto editing tools minimally. I'm much more likely to edit in PPS9 and then create a whole new iphoto library from the edits, if, for example, I want to create a photobook. But, to each his/her own.
 
"Workflow"? Whats that? (The question is rhetorical... I dont have a workflow either, thats why I don't use Lightroom instead.). I find iPhoto excellent for simple and basic photo management. Somewhere to view images, and then send them to someplace else for edits. I use the iPhoto editing tools minimally. I'm much more likely to edit in PPS9 and then create a whole new iphoto library from the edits, if, for example, I want to create a photobook. But, to each his/her own.

Yep - that's the key. Now I'll show off my ignorance - I use whatever color space is generic to my old ancient copy of Paint Shop Pro on Windows, but no matter what I set up for the Mac, editing to do something like "reduce highlights" looks good on the Mac, but when I copy the result back to the PC, it's not right - usually about 3 stops darker than the same edit in PSP. I would like to use iPhoto for that operation at least, because the result looks much cleaner than what PSP does.
 
Bit of a pain when you actually quite like the OS, usually. I think its been downhill since Mavericks. I can't remember what aspect of Yosemite I felt that I needed, at all. I was intending to remain on Mav but then something was missing, for me, so I upgraded. Wish I had not. I'm sure I could live without it. (and no, it wasnt answering texts from the desktop... I no longer have any friends who don't use iMessage). Gawd I hate memory loss.
 
I saw the watches yesterday. So far they will totally control the iOS devices. I suppose the computers are next.
 
I have just had to wipe my iMac and go back to 10.6. It was like swimming through treacle with Yosemite. Now it seems pretty zippy again, and I have discovered that Picasa can read my iPhoto library which is pretty cool. With PSE11 installed I have all I need on that machine. On my windows laptop I have Lightroom and PS (although I still haven't discovered anything that I need PS for!). In general Apple are definitely dumbing down their software, I feel, so the iMac may get Linux Mint or something similar installed on it soon.
 
Apple is convinced that the future is mobile - and they're generally right. Remember, their priority isn't necessarily to make people like us happy but to make money and keep the share price up. Perhaps that didn't used to be the case, as with many startups, but it certainly is now. For the most part, that involves catering to the consumer market, which is all about mobile, social media, selfies and improbable, latest-and-greatest-gotta-have-it hardware like Apple Watch. They figure as long as their basic desktop gear remains solid, professionals or serious enthuiasts can find whatever aftermarket software or apps they need. Some of us will find new gear from a new startup, but statistically that's a very small part of the market. *Sigh.*
 
It's not all that bad. Here in the house they play with the new photo software on their IPads. They never did that before, but with software that simple they seem to like it . .
I use software from Macphun and Nik and don't need anything else for now. There is even a Gimp version on the Mac, seldom used and following the start of Affinity, just because it interests me.
So I'm happy and the IPad users are happy too.
The watch, I always wanted a watch with a Mickey Mouse on it, so I might be a potential user . .
 
I bought an ex-lease Macbook (7,1 - 2010/2011 model) and immediately updated it with 8GB RAM and a 256MB SSD. It flies. Its even faster than my 2012 Mac Mini. I think that is going to become an HTPC, and the Macbook the main "work" (I don't actually work) machine. It runs Yosemite beautifully. I have not yet updated it to 10.10.3. I may not.
 
My impression is that actually editing pictures in Photos is about 100 times better than in iPhoto. There are more tools and they are much more sophisticated. You can enable the tools you need and disable those you don't need and save the layout. It's like "Aperture Lite" for those who don't need the full power of a professional photo management/editing application.

Unlike iPhoto, Photos is FAST. And I mean screaming fast. On my 2011-era MacBook Pro (equipped with 16GB RAM and 240GB SSD) iPhoto was very slow at everything. Photos just glides through the library with ease.

There is no option to edit in a separate application because the app uses non-destructive editing and employs industry-standard XMP sidecar files to store image-editing history. If users need to do something beyond Photos.app capabilities, they can just export the pictures and edit them in whatever application strikes their fancy.

BTW, I think it could be possible to regain the full access to your photo library in iPhoto if you start iPhoto with the Option key held down...
 
Have the sense to make a copy of your library first. I still think Photos.app is an abomination. If you don't do heavy editing its probably alright if you dont mind not being able to send your shots to an external program for further editing, but that right there (and FFS someone correct me if I am wrong about this) was enough to make me stop. I will not use a program which locks me to using *only* it for my editing.
 
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