iPhoto, Mavericks, El Capitan, Sierra

New forum member, 73 yrs old, running Mavericks on a Mac mini, 2.5 Intel Core i5, 4 GB of memory. Questions about iPhoto:

With each new OS over the last 10 years, the iPhoto app has become less user-friendly, as I see it. My current peeves: photos are downloaded and placed in the library according to the date they were created rather than by date of download. This means that if I acquire photos taken by others, with their titles (or none) attached, they can immediately disappear to some unknown location in the library. Is there no way to alter this feature ? I am happy just to have the photos appear sequentially in my library, without the bother of assigning them to folders, Events, etc. Once I title them I can search and find easily . . .

Another change for the worse, with Mavericks, is that photos are now edited against a black background, so that I can't see what the edges contain (random unwanted border lines created in the scanning process, for instance) and thus have a hard time cropping accurately.

What changes of this nature can I expect if I go for El Capitan ? Does anyone know if Sierra will be better or worse (from my perspective) in these matters ? I am not a sophisticated user; any image manipulation I need can be done in iPhoto with the exception of "perspective correction," for which I use Gimp. The "social engineering" which has increasingly become a part of Apple software doesn't appeal to me at all, I'm sorry to say. I'm a simple guy, a designer and maker, very pleased with Apple hardware and software with the above exceptions . . . !

Thanks for any input. Steve

Welcome to our forums Steve!

Always happy to see another "senior" member join. I and many others are likewise in the senior category.

What changes of this nature can I expect if I go for El Capitan ? Does anyone know if Sierra will be better or worse (from my perspective) in these matters ? I am not a sophisticated user; any image manipulation I need can be done in iPhoto with the exception of "perspective correction," for which I use Gimp. The "social engineering" which has increasingly become a part of Apple software doesn't appeal to me at all, I'm sorry to say. I'm a simple guy, a designer and maker, very pleased with Apple hardware and software with the above exceptions . . . !

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Although the iPhoto app can still be used with El Capitan, (I don't have any idea about Sierra though) it's no longer being updated or supported by Apple. If you upgrade to El Capitan, you'll be confronted with a new app called "Photos" and there may be a learning curve if you should decide to use it. I personally use the "Pixelmator" app (sold in the Mac App Store) to do all of my photo corrections when needed. The only thing I would advise you to do if you should decide to upgrade to El Capitan, is to make sure you have a useable backup of Mavericks that you can revert to if El Capitan does not work out well for you.

G'day and welcome to the forums from a 'senior' senior!

As El Capitan will be removed from the App Store when Sierra is officially released, maybe you should consider downloading a copy and burning El Capitan to an +8GB thumb drive. DiskmakerX makes that quite easy. Have a look at this link on Photos which was changed from iPhotos in system OS X.10.3.


http://www.citymac.com/blog/2015/04/14/complete-overview-of-photos-for-os-x


http://diskmakerx.com

Thanks, guys! I've watched the citymac video and feel more confident about using Photos when I get there. More later . . .

SDR

S D Ritchings said:

My current peeves: photos are downloaded and placed in the library according to the date they were created rather than by date of download. This means that if I acquire photos taken by others, with their titles (or none) attached, they can immediately disappear to some unknown location in the library. Is there no way to alter this feature ? I am happy just to have the photos appear sequentially in my library, without the bother of assigning them to folders, Events, etc. Once I title them I can search and find easily . . . Steve

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Hi Steve

Using Photos for over a year and like the extended edit capability very much. I am fanatical about filing new pix, probably because I take photos almost daily, and it does make it easier to find random shots. Suggest you create a new album specifically for new imports and you will have options about how they are displayed, and set up so that any images imported go straight to Photos/iPhotos where they will show in 'Last Import', or Photo Stream if shared from an i/Phone/iPad.

Select Photos/iPhotos > Preferences >

Create your new album, drag photos to it. In the album, select View > Sort, where you will be able to choose in which order they are shown.

Can't help on the black background in editing - in fact I wish the whole library was against black as this sets off the images really well for me.

Thanks, Sue -- I'll return to this thread and follow your advice when the time comes. Perhaps there's a way to do the same with iPhotos ?

I agree that photos do look good on a black background. Seems that the Photos demo video linked here by Harry shows photos being edited against a dark blue-green background -- so that's something.


Now -- can anyone tell me why it would be good to have an El Capitan download "in storage" even if I don't intend to use it, while I wait to see what Sierra looks like ? More than once source seems to advise this . . .

S

When a new version of OS X is released the old one is removed from the App Store. Once Sierra is released the only people who will find El Capitan in the App Storewill be folks that have already purchased / downloaded it.

Thanks. Cannot I simply skip over El Capitan and use Sierra when it arrives ?

Sorry to be a dunce, after ten years skimming the surface of what Apple has to offer. (I told myself I'd wait until the computer had become as simple to understand as an Etch-A-Sketch, before taking the plunge. Instead, someone had a used lollipop iMac to sell, and now I'm top poster on two or three design sites, with a specialty in posting images. But I'm still only an amateur, trying to keep things as simple as possible for myself . . .)

Yes. Assuming that your Mini meets the minimum system, requirements. The Sierra-related web page doesn't list official requirements yet but information presented at the keynote suggests a 2010 or newer iMac should work. See here.

4 GB of memory will likely be the minimum but if it is anything like El Capitan you'll probably want 8 GB or more depending upon how many apps you usually have open at one time.

Actually I found Mavericks to be a bit of a memory hog compared to El Capitan and that was when I was running a MBP with only 4Gb RAM so S D Richings I would not be afraid about upgrading to El Capitan now and as advised above keep a copy in case you need to go back to it after Sierra.
This needs to be done before installation. So after you download the El Capitan installer quit the installer and get back to this forum for instructions on how to create a bootable installer. You will need a USB thumb drive of more than 8GB for the process.
And last but not least we always advise that everyone have a complete backup just in case any part of the upgrade process goes "belly up." A Time Machine backup on a USB external drive is adequate for this and costs nothing except the drive, cheap insurance at around $100.00.

And last but not least we always advise that everyone have a complete backup just in case any part of the upgrade process goes "belly up." A Time Machine backup on a USB external drive is adequate for this and costs nothing except the drive, cheap insurance at around $100.00.

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I wouldn't trust a Time Machine backup to get you back to where you were before. The easiest way to "go back" is to use CCC or SuperDuper where it's just a matter of cloning over the top of the current version of OS X or Sierra.

I may have missed something already discussed, but it seems that there's a consensus that Sierra isn't necessarily expected to satisfy all comers -- just as (perhaps) El Capitan did not please everybody ?

I know that there were issues for some with their iPhoto libraries following installation of El Capitan. (Perhaps this had to do with the change from iPhoto to Photos ?) Do we know if any such problems were addressed in later versions of the OS ?

S D Ritchings said:

I may have missed something already discussed, but it seems that there's a consensus that Sierra isn't necessarily expected to satisfy all comers -- just as (perhaps) El Capitan did not please everybody ?

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I wouldn't to that far but those of us who have been around Macs for some time know that no single OS pleases everyone. Years after its final release we still get users who are running 10.6.8 and don't want to upgrade for whatever reason. Unless some of us have access to the developer release of Sierra I don't think any of us have a good idea how many problems there will be when upgrading.

I've usually upgrade quickly when a new OS X is released--especially since it no longer costs $100-$150 to do so Having said that, here are my suggestions based on previous experiences:

1. Unless you like troubleshooting various issues, don't upgrade the first day. Let someone else experiment. It is not that I expect a lot of problems with the release of Sierra but more a general caution. Coding a new OS is a complex undertaking, involves many, people, and cannot possibly be tested on every hardware configuration that supports it. This is especially true if your Mac is critical to your work and you can't afford downtime.

2. Always back up you data first. I don't expect problems causing data loss but it has happened before. Don't tempt fate.

3. Time Machine backups are not directly bootable. If If you even remotely think you will want to go back to the OS you had before an upgrade make a bootable clone just before starting the upgrade. That way of you don't like Sierra you can easily boot fromm the clone and restore both data and the OS.

chscag said:

I wouldn't trust a Time Machine backup to get you back to where you were before. The easiest way to "go back" is to use CCC or SuperDuper where it's just a matter of cloning over the top of the current version of OS X or Sierra.

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Of course I agree completely, a clone is much better which is why I described TM as "adequate" but the poor guy is only trying to sort out iPhoto Vs Photos and I didn't want to make the whole upgrade process sound too complex. It is apparent that he has downloaded Mavericks from the App Store therefor he can again from Purchases if need be and TM would be adequate to restore his data. In any case upgrading really does not go wrong very often and TM is better than nothing if it does.

I have a 500 GB Seagate external HD that has my iPhoto libraries on it (they're also on the computer -- about 10,000 images total), and I began using Time Machine for the first time about six months ago. I have never been able to absorb the various capacity designations so I have no idea what room there is on the Seagate for further use. Does TM save everything I do ?

Pretty much. Unless you tell it not to back something up. The first time it is run everything other than what has been excluded is backed up from then on new files or changed files are backed up and pointers are created to unchanged files. See here for more info

Plug in the HD, go to the Time Machine icon in the Toolbar and open Time Machine Preferences where you will be able to see how much space is left on the drive. I'm using a 500gb drive as well and it holds my 25,000+ images no problem. I don't have much else to save .

harryb2448 said:

G'day and welcome to the forums from a 'senior' senior!

As El Capitan will be removed from the App Store when Sierra is officially released, maybe you should consider downloading a copy and burning El Capitan to an +8GB thumb drive. DiskmakerX makes that quite easy. Have a look at this link on Photos which was changed from iPhotos in system OS X.10.3.
...

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If you go to the App store and download the current version of OS X and then cancel installation, you can later (much later) find and download the install app from the "Purchased" tab of the App store. In addition to the links provided in the previous post to create an installer on an 8 GB external drive, you can try the official Apple version of creating an installer at https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372

Thank you, twizzard. I'm all for the simplest maneuver that gets me from point A to point B, being a woefully underpowered Mac user. After all, I've only been using tabs for a little over a year, if you can believe that.

This raises the issue (for me) of the curious insider/outsider aspect of the digital world: one is apparently expected to absorb (by osmosis ?) the innumerable possibilities provided by the lovingly-crafted software. Where, for instance, is a simple chart that depicts the multiple layers to the keyboard ? For the novice, entering this world is like confronting a vast museum where many exhibits are unlabeled and there's no index to their location -- or even their existence . . .

I'm sure this must have been discussed, but I'm a bit late to the party !

S D Richings, believe me I sympathize with you point. I personally have learnt almost as much as I already knew about the Mac OS answering questions on this and other forums.
You may be interested in an App called Cheat Sheet. When you hold down the Command key with any app open it gives you all of the keyboard commands available for that app.
Here is a handy reference for OSX commands;
View attachment Keyboard shortcuts New.doc