Moving from Aperture to Photos

[johnalan]

Since Aperture isn't getting any updates, I've decided to move to photos for my editing needs.

One feature I miss that I can't seem to find is the ability to do a 'colour splash' and brush away colour, or brush in black and white.

Is this possible on Photos?

 

[r.harris1]

Photos itself doesn't have that capability natively but would rely on either extensions or "edit in" functionality to accomplish this. For example, if you have Luminar, you can use the Photos extension to accomplish it (new adjustment layer + split toning and channel mixer filters).

 

[johnalan]

Photos itself doesn't have that capability natively but would rely on either extensions or "edit in" functionality to accomplish this. For example, if you have Luminar, you can use the Photos extension to accomplish it (new adjustment layer + split toning and channel mixer filters).

Thanks for the info!

 

[CmdrLaForge]

How did the transition go? I am afraid at one point I have to move as well.

 

[johnalan]

How did the transition go? I am afraid at one point I have to move as well.

Hey, I know I really really tried to avoid it, but with Aperture confined to the dustbin of history there isn't much optionality.


So, I like photos because it's really easy to use, super simple.

I like the non destructive edits, like Aperture (and unlike iPhoto, which sucked).

You have access to some 'pro' tools like curves, but in reality it's not as powerful as Aperture.

You do get some niceties like sync with your iPhone (including those non destructive edits).

So I guess overall not bad. I'd just prefer a proper pro Apple photo app.

 

[Donka]

I personally did the same thing. The only real bugbear I have with Photos is the lack of true versioning. If you edit a photo, it saves the newly edited image with the ability to revert back to the original - nothing in between. It actually achieves this by creating a new image instead of storing the edits in a side car file. For multiple edits, you would need to duplicate the photo then work on that.
Photos is actually pretty powerful - it more than covers the basics and I find it intuitive to use. The options for both 'Edit in' as well as Extensions make it quite easy to extend or replace missing functionality and I haven't really found myself lacking anything. Having the likes of Affinity Photo, Luminar, Pixelmator as well as the Nik plugins available provides a wealth of editing options if you feel the need for something additional.

 

[johnalan]

I personally did the same thing. The only real bugbear I have with Photos is the lack of true versioning. If you edit a photo, it saves the newly edited image with the ability to revert back to the original - nothing in between. It actually achieves this by creating a new image instead of storing the edits in a side car file. For multiple edits, you would need to duplicate the photo then work on that.
Photos is actually pretty powerful - it more than covers the basics and I find it intuitive to use. The options for both 'Edit in' as well as Extensions make it quite easy to extend or replace missing functionality and I haven't really found myself lacking anything. Having the likes of Affinity Photo, Luminar, Pixelmator as well as the Nik plugins available provides a wealth of editing options if you feel the need for something additional.

Interesting, do you find the curves feature in Photos up to par with Aperture?

 

[Donka]

Interesting, do you find the curves feature in Photos up to par with Aperture?

It's been that long since I used Aperture that I genuinely can't say. I usually only do basic curves adjustments too, I don't normally split by channel.

 

[maflynn]

For me, I just didn't like the UI of photos. Its not my cup of tea. I like to organize my images a certain way and photos is incapable of doing that.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

I wish Photos was more capable on the iPad/iPad Pro by working more like the macOS version, but I’ve found Affinity to be an incredibly capable program on iOS, and it looks like it is very similar on macOS.