Question about Photos

[caioferrari]

Hello,

For the first time, I imported photos from a DSLR camera (Canon T5) to the Photos app on MacOS. All the photos I took were in RAW + JPEG format.

I noticed this is indicated by an icon on the photo thumbnail.

I feel a bit unsure about keeping my photos organized in such an app. I'm used to organizing my photos in folders myself.

I would like to know if, when I edit my photo in an app like PixelMator from the Photos app, the original is preserved and if I can restore it whenever I want.

Another thing: if I edit the photo in RAW, what happens to the JPEG version downloaded from the camera? Does it stay original?

Thank you.

 

[cjsuk]

Some points which may help:

Firstly the photos app has a library with all images in it. Unlike the filesystem you can add images to more than one album easily which allows you to categorise things. I have mine in year/event structure and then mark some as portfolio / favourites etc as well. This is far superior to the filesystem. Also it will index them and you can search for subjects like "cows" or "cars" etc and it will find them. As well as assign people and pets names and it'll find all photos for that person or pet.

I don't import RAWs into Photos app myself but it is non-destructive so it will keep both images if it says it has. I usually process them in Adobe Lightroom first and then export them and import into photos. I will do light edits in photos on my phone as well. All my photos are in iCloud as well.

As for the pixelmator edits, it will ask you when you save it back into the library if you want to store the flattened image or the editable one (keeps metadata for pixelmator). Photos is 100% non destructive so it will keep the original, the whole stack of edits and the edited one always.

All the original files are hiding inside the photos app and you can export all originals or modified photos at a later date.

 

[caioferrari]

Some points which may help:

Firstly the photos app has a library with all images in it. Unlike the filesystem you can add images to more than one album easily which allows you to categorise things. I have mine in year/event structure and then mark some as portfolio / favourites etc as well. This is far superior to the filesystem. Also it will index them and you can search for subjects like "cows" or "cars" etc and it will find them. As well as assign people and pets names and it'll find all photos for that person or pet.

I don't import RAWs into Photos app myself but it is non-destructive so it will keep both images if it says it has. I usually process them in Adobe Lightroom first and then export them and import into photos. I will do light edits in photos on my phone as well. All my photos are in iCloud as well.

As for the pixelmator edits, it will ask you when you save it back into the library if you want to store the flattened image or the editable one (keeps metadata for pixelmator). Photos is 100% non destructive so it will keep the original, the whole stack of edits and the edited one always.

All the original files are hiding inside the photos app and you can export all originals or modified photos at a later date.

I’ll give Photos a try.
Thanks for all you help.

 

[HDFan]

I feel a bit unsure about keeping my photos organized in such an app.

You can keep your photos in folders if you import by reference and don't keep them in the library.