Organizing Your Pictures Using Photos Part II

Last month, I covered some basics in organizing your pictures using Photos on your Mac. This month, I’ll dig deeper into some of the most commonly-asked questions.

So – we covered ALBUMS, EVENTS and KEYWORDS last month. There are a couple of more ways to help with your massive collection of digital pictures – some which people think are great, while others think they’re a total invasion of privacy. These are PEOPLE and PLACES.

Want to read more how Apple learns more about you? Click here.

Apple allows you to “tag” faces in its Photos application. A good idea? It depends on how you feel about having a tech company being able to analyze your face. Where does this go? Part of a database that tracks your movements? Connected with kiosks in malls that that monitor your movements and shopping habits?

Whatever. Bottom line – you can tag a face in your Photos library, and that Apple, in its infinite wisdom, has the tech ability to scan your pictures and create a “People album” of familiar faces when enough photos are found. But personally, I know who is who in my Photos library, so I don’t need to go through that bother and help fill a tech giant’s servers.

Places is another way to sort, in a no less intrusive manner, your pictures. Unlike People, Places is configured on your iPhone (or iPad) to “drop a pin” on where you’ve taken the picture. Sounds like a good idea – but can result in a compromise of your privacy if you’re not careful, revealing exactly where and when it was taken.

That said, in order to disable (or enable it, if you dare), you need to configure it on your iPhone. Tap on SETTINGS > PRIVACY> LOCATION SERVICES > CAMERA and make sure it’s on Never. (Or WHEN USING THE APP if you want to use that feature.) Like I said, some people love this feature, and some loathe it. Have at it.

BONUS TIP!

Another neat trick: To find out which of your pictures is NOT contained in an album within your Photos library, do this:

Pull down on the EDIT menu and select NEW SMART ALBUM

Name the smart album ORPHAN PICS (or whatever you want)

Under “Match The Following Conditions,” configure the pulldowns as ALBUM > IS NOT >  ANY. Click OK.

Now, you’ll see a “smart album” named “Orphan Pics.” This is a group of photos that are not associated with any of your albums. Here, you can pull them into any album you choose (or no album at all, if that’s what you want.)