Apple is preparing to shut off the tap to iPhoto and the software's Photo Stream, as the implementation of a new image-management app is on its way to Yosemite and will be packaged in the OS natively. The Photos app preview is out now.
Gone are the 1,000-photo-per hour and 10,000 photos per day restrictions of iPhoto's Photo Stream, thanks to Photo's support for iCloud Photo Library. Yosemite users may need to consider archiving their photos on iCloud Photo Library if they haven't already, unless they aren't bothered by the Photo Stream's restrictions.
"If you shoot a snapshot, slo-mo, or selfie on your iPhone, it's automatically added to iCloud Photo Library as well - so it appears on your Mac, your iOS devices, and iCloud.com," says Apple. "And since your collection is organized the same way across devices, navigating your library always feels familiar."
Each edit made to a synced image will be reflected over all of the user's devices, with a change to picture on an iPhone being reflected on a Macbook, for example. The Photos app also includes an "Optimize Mac Storage" option, which can back up all full-resolution images on iCloud and leave their more compressed counterparts behind on local storage.
Apple is offering users 5 GB of free storage, though serious hobbyists and typical pro picture takers will likely have the need to sign up for one of iCloud's storage plans. The 20 GB plan costs $1 per month, the 200 GB plan costs $4 per month, the 500 GB plan costs $10 per month and one TB of iCloud storage costs $20 per month.
The Photos app and its editing tools won't replace Lightroom for any professional photography, but the new software appears to be a big step in the right direction to finding fewer ways to annoy those who make their living, or escape from it, by snapping tons of photos.
Along with standard crop and rotate tools, users can adjust light elements such as exposure and black point and shadows. There is also a histogram, with which users can exact the light levels to perfection -- or as good as they'll get.
The Photos app includes a dropper tool to select a white point from an image; there is a "Definition" slider to balance light and sharpness, a vignette slider and a decent selection of color filters. The filters include mono, tonal, noir, fade, chrome, process, transfer and instant.
While the preview of Photos has been released, Apple still hasn't committed on a date for the arrival of the full version of the app.
