ADVANCED EDITING in APPLE PHOTOS - A look at how EXTENSIONS & BRUSHES can ENHANCE your PHOTOS!

If you feel like you've outgrown the editing tools in Apple Photos, then this video is for you! In this tutorial we look at what the next steps and options are for tools to edit your photos in Apple Photos and beyond. With the use of extensions from the Mac App Store, you can add many tools to take your editing to the next level.
We will look at a few examples of sky replacement features, brushes that allow you to enhance only portions of your photos, retouching and much more in Luminar AI, Pixelmator Pro, Affinity Photo, Adobe Lightroom, and Capture One.
00:00 | Welcome Back!
02:15 | Applications vs Extensions
02:46 | Where to find Photo Extensions in Apple Photos
04:35 | RAW vs JPEG
12:14 | Selective editing using BRUSHES! What Apple Photos CAN’T DO!
14:54 | A look at Pixelmator Pro Editing Tools
18:11 | Quick Selection Tool in Pixelmator Pro that works great!
20:31 | Pixelmator Retouch extension
21:54 | A look at Affinity Photo editing tools
26:39 | A look at Luminar AI editing tools
28:14 | Understanding masking and brushes in Luminar AI
29:02 | Sky replacement in Luminar AI
33:43 | Prices of software
34:54 | A look at Capture One
38:36 | Exposure Warnings
41:36 | A look at Adobe Lightroom
42:16 | Select Sky feature in Adobe Lightroom
43:23 | Select Subject feature in Adobe Lightroom
45:09 | Sky replacement in Adobe Photoshop
#joelfeld #learnwithjoel #captureone #lightroom #affinityphoto #pixelmatorpro #luminarAI #photoediting
Check out Luminar AI link below:
skylum.evyy.net/c/2641440/185...
If you have a video suggestion, let's chat!
/ learnwithjoel
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[@tlewisAK]

Never tried Affinity Photo as a Apple Photos plug in, I’ve always used it as a standalone piece of software, and I admit that is where it really shines. I was a 20+ year user of Photoshop, but I’ve switched over to Affinity, and it’s meeting my needs as a lower cost alternative to Photoshop. Great video by the way. I learned a few new tips and tricks from you.

[@hywel3143]

This is really useful, thanks Joel!

[@thriftwithjoy]

Great explanation of raw.

[@60beats44]

Hello Joel, I have only just bought my first Mac, having been a Windows user for decades. Watching this video, I am amazed about your knowledge and your generosity in providing this content for us KZbinrs free of charge. Thank you very much for this. I am still keeping all of my photographs in the Apple 'Pictures' folder, just as I did when I was a Windows user. Having created dozens of subfolders in 'Pictures', I just don't know what consequences the transfer of these folders to 'Photos' would have (Editing, synchronisation, etc.). I wish that I could express myself a little better with this, but with English not being my first language and when it comes to technical things ... Thanks again Joel all the way from Australia.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thank you so much for the kind words @60 beats! Hope all is well in Australia! If you're new to Mac, welcome to the Apple Family! Apple world is a bit different than the Windows side of things. As far as photo organization goes, this particular video is more users who have gotten their feet wet and have experience with file management and organization of Apple Photos. I have a handful of other video I would recommend to start with that explain the organization process and where files are located and such. And especially if you use iCloud for Photos, you'll want to understand a little bit of the concept of the "cloud". The biggest thing is the language. Unlike on the Windows side of things where you were organizing photos into folders, in Apple Photos, it will be Albums. Same theory, just called different things. I'll put a few helpful links to other videos below that may be helpful! Getting started with Apple Photos - HOW TO add and IMPORT pictures into APPLE PHOTOS kzbin.info/www/bejne/joPMkmB8abaNY8k WHERE ARE MY PHOTOS? Understanding Photo Libraries and knowing where your pictures live on the Mac kzbin.info/www/bejne/nXy5Xmt_i7aAa5o PHOTO EDITING using APPLE PHOTOS in BIG SUR! IN-DEPTH OVERVIEW of EVERYTHING! kzbin.info/www/bejne/p6iYiH-la7N7g5Y I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@60beats44]

@@Learnwithjoel Hello Joel, so kind of you to type this extensive and detailed reply, placing yourself in my position as a Mac novice. Due to your videos I have now 'jumped into the cold water', moving/copying 16,000 images from the 'Pictures' folder to the 'Photos' app. I am still nervous about now having these images in 3 places ('Pictures', 'Photos Library' and individual 'Photos Folders'. I am not sure what significance the 'Pictures' folder now holds with me uploading new jpegs into the 'Photos' app and then into a 'Pictures' folder with only the latter 2 synching. The Windows structure was a little clearer to me in that regard. But I am enjoying the Mac editing functions and the way all of this data is shared with other Mac apps. I will just have to bear this underlying feeling of uncertainty for a while until I have watched a few more of your outstanding videos. Not usually subscribing here on KZbin, I have just clicked that Joel Feld button. Thanks again for all of the work you are doing for the KZbin community in general and myself in particular. Maybe you could clarify the inter-relationship of the 'Pictures' and the 'Photos' folders in a future video. I would also be really interested if the 'Time Machine' app would be able to transfer EVERYTHING from one Mac to another, including programs, files and settings. 🙏🏻

[@accentontheoff]

Hi Joel, how are you bringing the edit/s back into Apple Photos. Right now when I use the Affinity Photo extension it seems to save as a separate file, outside Apple Photos. What am I missing here. Thanks.

[@samhume8968]

Great video and channel! Did you use iPhone photographs? Because when I edit ProRaw photos taken on my iPhone 13max in Luminar Ai or Luminar Neo as an extension in Apple Photos on Mac, they go extremely dark which I assumed means Luminar doesn’t support ProRaw. Just wondering if you had this issue? Using Apple photos with Luminar extensions is a great workflow for me so I’m looking forward to a video with Luminar Neo!! Thanks 👍🏼

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thanks for the kind words @Sam Hume! So these photos were all taken with my DSLR, not with my iPhone. I think you're right that Luminar doesn't fully support the new format of Apple ProRaw. I found a few posts on the community channel about it: community.skylum.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360010210520-Luminar-AI-doesnt-handle-DNG-in-MAC?page=1#community_comment_360002599580 But I have not yet tried a file. I actually just saw that the Neo is out, so I'm downloading that now! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@MTodd80s]

Hey Joel. Awesome video so thank you. Just starting out by working on my editing and have played around with almost all of these programs/apps listed in your video. I'll be switching from Windows to Mac and have a question about Lightroom. Do you use LR Classic on the laptop or do you prefer the standard LR? Do you ever play around with the photos on your phone or strictly wait and use more features on the laptop? Thanks so much.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hi @Matt Fleury! You're very welcome! Great question. I used to be a big Lightroom user until I switched to Capture One. It's a phenomenal application. I tried using the newer standard LR that syncs with mobile and honestly to me it was just too watered down. Lightroom Classic is far more robust and has some amazing features. I personally would use the Classic over the new Standard version. I have an iPad and my phone on me always and I couldn't tell you the last time I edited anything on either. For me and my workflow, it's so much faster to edit on my Mac. You can copy and paste adjustments, you have better tools. I guess for fun if I didn't have a Mac, I would play around on my iPhone or iPad, but I look for the most efficient workflow. I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@MTodd80s]

@@Learnwithjoel Tha me so much for your response. I do have a Mac & iPhone so it is easy to share. I have subscribed to your videos as I find them very helpful.

[@tanjiro.127]

Hi Joel. I love this video. I've watched it multiple times. Personally, I shoot all my photos on my iPhone Pro Max, because it's so convenient and I like that it automatically syncs to iCloud. My issue is that I find the editing options in Apple Photos to be too limited, and I need to make my workflow faster. I know Lightroom is the best option (your favorite) and also comes with lots of presents to make things faster. What do you recommend as a workflow for LR if I'm using an iPhone as my camera? Basically, it seems like I'd need to be exporting from Apple Photos to Light room, then importing them back after editing, and I guess deleting the unedited originals from my apple library? That also seems not efficient and non-intuitive. Would love your advice! Thank you!!

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hi @tanjiro.127! I appreciate you for watching! I couldn't agree more, Apple Photos in my opinion is great for organization, but limited with editing options. It sounds like you're shooting on your iPhone and then syncing to your Mac with Apple Photos and then using Lightroom? Even with iOS 18 beta right now, doesn't seem to be much added for editing and the "clean up" tool may be limited to iPhone 15 Pro models. I don't do a ton of editing on my iPhone or iPad. All editing is done on my Mac using CaptureOne. The other annoying part is it seems that every company now has a subscription based service for any of their software, so the price can add up quickly. As far as a workflow, I agree that it can be quite cumbersome. Your best bet is to take photos with your iPhone, let them sync to Apple Photos to your Mac, and then "right click" on the photos you want to edit and choose "Edit with Adobe Lightroom". When you do this, it often keeps the originals and then just adds the edited version into Apple Photos. Lightroom is really designed as a replacement for Apple Photos. It's a one-stop shop for organization in addition to eating. No different than Capture One and other software. Other food for thought would be to use a different app that is just for editing and continue to use Apple Photos for organization and syncing. Photoshop Pixlelmator Luminar AI I hope that makes sense and helps! THANK YOU so much for watching! It is appreciated more than you know! If this video was useful, I’d love for you to SHARE it with on social media and say how it helped you! Please SUBSCRIBE if you haven’t already, and if you have, THANK YOU for your continued support!

[@CarlGroover]

I appreciate your efforts to help people with photo editing. I have to point out, however, that this wasn't an appropriate comparison of the tools at all. Your favoured tools were used as a standalone app while the unfavourable ones were used like plugins. It is precisely this method of implementation that causes the problems with lack of history and undo. If you edit and save an image in Pixelmator or Affinity Photo (in their formats) you will have all the history. I believe that is simply the nature of how extensions have to be implemented. It is not a limitation of those two and should not be described as such. Affinity Photo is generally recognised as a Photoshop replacement (in most respects).

[@Learnwithjoel]

I totally agree @CarlGroover. My purpose of this video was specifically designed to focus on the extensions that intertwine with Apple Photos. It's for the users that may not want to move out of the Apple Photos application and thats' why I bring up points like lack of history and undo. If I open a photo within Apple Photos and choose "Edit With" Pixelmator Pro, it can make adjustments to it within the Pixelmator Pro app, but it does not save the edit history. Many users may not want to keep an additional file for their edits, especially if they're using iCloud Photos. I have no doubt that some Applications that offer a standalone option will retain and can be better than the extension. Affinity Photo for sure is more advanced and better suited as competitor to Photoshop, which is far more advanced than Apple Photos. I hope that helps clarify! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@ladyhawken]

I love you videos. I would love it if I could settle with Apple Photos as a photo organizer and editor. I've tried, but it's simply not suitable for me. I shoot mainly in RAW, and I find Photo's RAW capabilities to be sorely lacking. Highlight and shadow recovery is just not up to par with other editing solutions. And organizing pictures in Photos frustrates me, because if I'm using an external editor (not as an extension) I'm not able to go back and reedit without starting from scratch. So I'm using Lightroom in combination with Photoshop. I do hate subscription though, so I really wish I could settle with Photos and maybe Affinity Photo or Pixelmator Pro instead.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hey @Stine Fosgrau! Thanks for the kind words and I couldn't agree more! My workflow for me personally is editing primarily in Capture One, Retouching in Photoshop if needed and export out to put into Apple Photos and I use that as my delivery and showcasing of photos. I really like that Apple Photos syncs to all devices and makes it extremely to share, but I agree, it just doesn't have the features to handle RAW images like Lightroom or something similar. Affinity Photo or Pixelmator for sure could give you more options, but he convenience of an all-in-one solution that manages and edits well is nice. Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@marcsedaka]

I currently use Apple Photos exclusively, but am more and more thinking I need to explore Lightroom or Capture One for the editing portion of my workflow. Just a couple of questions if you don't mind: - After you process/edit the RAW in Capture One, how do you then get the photos into Apple Photos? Are they just exported as jpegs and imported into Apple Photos? And where do you keep the original RAWS after editing? In Apple Photos as well or in Capture One? - Do you process all of your RAWs in Capture One or just the selects? In other words, are there RAW images that you just put right into Apple Photos and tweak there? - Out of curiosity, why do you use Capture One instead of Lightroom? Judging by the video it seemed that Lightroom was your ultimate favorite. Thanks!

[@gryphongryph]

I think Infinity is more of a Photoshop alternative, would really like to see a deeper insight into your workflow with Capture One and Photos

[@Learnwithjoel]

I for sure agree @gryphongryph! It's nice that some of these software options have a full blown App in addition to the Apple Photo Extensions. I've had a few requests on my workflow. It's on my list of videos to make along with like 50 others! :-) A short explanation though.... everything with my DSLR, I capture RAW and put into separate libraries in Capture One. I manage and organize these among external hard drives and backup in a NAS. All my favorites and edits from these libraries I export and bring into Apple Photos and pretty much use Apple Photos as my delivery and sharing platform with the shared albums (which in my opinion needs much improvement, but it works for now). Apple Photos also then stores all photos from iPhone and every day life. I know there's several other methods and ways to organize and share, but I really don't want to use multiple cloud solutions. I have my fingers crossed that Apple will catch up to Google with more cloud storage options, better memory video highlights, family sharing of photos to just name a few. I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@gryphongryph]

@@Learnwithjoel Thanks for the answer, I subscribed some time ago.

[@emmgeevideo]

FYI, there is no such thing as "the raw format". Raw formats are specific to cameras. Canon raw, Fujifilm raw, and Apple ProRaw are all different. The reason I mention it is that editing software a) has to support the format for your camera and b) it has to interpret the raw format in a way that looks good in the app. For years, for example, Capture One was really the only app that could use Fujifilm raw. More relevant to this video, not all apps can deal with Apple ProRaw, including Capture One.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Valid point @emmgeevideo. However I think to the average user out there and to all the companies in this realm, they use that terminology and phrasing of having "RAW formats". So I was using it as general concept, because when you look at different file types, and will literally say "RAW image" as the type of file. And I agree, not all RAW formats are created equal. Every software accepts different formats and each camera maker creates different formats that are not 100% compatible with every software out there. Apple ProRAW is a good example with Capture One. Currently it is not supported, but maybe someday. Capture One is working on a release for a Capture One iPad App, and I would find it hard to believe they won't accept that particular RAW format, however it is still possible. Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@johnmiller6108]

thank you, i now see your bias. lightroom is horrible but you said its very good. i will stay with neo.

[@LARSTHRANE]

I wonder why only two apps are opened outside of Apple Photos. Affinity is just as capable when opened as full app, non destructive editing, masks, layers etc. Yes - also with exposure warning - and has had for many years.

[@donjames5761]

you really dont like pixelmator pro do you? I find this strange. cause in my photo work. i find it very effective in restoring old family photos removing objects and replacing background and adjusting color and cropping. the heal tool is really good. i used to use gimp before pixelmator now i just can't go back. machine learning is so good. i really with i could find a equivalent for windows. photoshop confuses me

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hi @Don James! Actually the standalone app of Pixlemator Pro is really quite good. I actually use it myself and will most likely use it to fix all my needs and eventually get rid of my Photoshop subscription. What I wasn't impressed with was with some of the integration of these extensions within Apple Photos. I was trying to focus this video primarily on the extensions and not the standalone app. Although there can be many factors to performance such as computer specs/hardware. As far as windows equivalent...have you tried GIMP? It seems to be a pretty decent free alternative! I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! If you would like to support me and my content, please SUBSCRIBE and SUPER THANKS! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@donjames5761]

@@Learnwithjoel i have tried gimp! i like it, more so than not. i dont like the absence of smart features, i believe in working smarter not harder. but for a free application its great. right now im trying photo works. for windows its pretty good from what i've seen thus far

[@Learnwithjoel]

@@donjames5761 I haven't used Photo works, so I'll have to check that out. Yeah the smart features and auto detect options are becoming pretty powerful! Did you ever try Luminar AI by the company Skylum?

[@donjames5761]

@@Learnwithjoel i havent tried luminar AI yet. but its downloading now skylum puts out some really good software. thanks for the suggestion

[@LourensVideo]

You don't understand the difference between jpeg and raw. Also, jpeg is not just 256 colours but up to 24bit = 16 million colour. Raw is the exact unedited data that the sensor captured and therefore it is easy to change settings afterwards. Settings acts like a layer over the raw data. Raw can contain up to 65536 levels of each colour while jpeg can contain only 256 levels of each colour. Gif can contain only 256 colours. Two types of png. One, like gif only 256 colours and the other again 24bit.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thanks for the feedback @Lourens de Lange. My goal for talking about RAW vs JPEG was to explain the difference in the simplest of terms. My main point that I believe is important, is that RAW files contain all information that a camera captures. And like you mentioned, yes, all data that the sensor capture in the camera is there to work with, which not only gives you the ability to change settings afterwards, but also gives you more ability to edit because you have more information. Are there far better videos out in the world that explain this better, probably. I was only trying to scratch the surface for someone who may be new and not understanding the complexity of this topic. Perhaps I may be misunderstanding, but I was merely referencing a common JPEG 8 bit file, which would be 8 bits per the Red, Green and Blue (RGB) color channel, resulting in a total of “24bits” and having up to 16 million different colors. I also wasn't really trying to discuss anything with GIF, PNG, TIFF or any other file formats as one video would be way to long to dive into all of that! :-) Thank you for contributing to the conversations and if you have any great links to this particular topic to share, that would be awesome for other viewers! Thanks for watching and the continued support!

[@pamelajarvis7728]

Hi Joel thanks so much for this and other videos you’ve done. I use apple editing without any extensions at the mo as Lightroom was just way to confusing in free trial. The only tool which doesn’t seem to work well is the brush to remove lines etc. Is there an extension or advice you could give which won’t cost a fortune to add to my system Apple Mac Monterey 2017 please?

[@thomas_fodor]

Using anything as a plugin inside of Apple Photos is just plain pointless. Apple should have kept up development on Aperture because Photos is for people who want to keep crappy family snapshots on their computer not serious photographers or image editors.

[@onnyt60]

So very true. I was holding on to Aperture as long as possible but in the end I had to surrender and give it up. I now use Photos with Pixelmator and it somewhat works but it’s not even close to editing in Aperture.

[@Trackhoe075]

Nope!!!!!

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hi @Trackhoe075! What do you use for editing your photos? THANK YOU so much for watching! It is appreciated more than you know! If this video was useful, I’d love for you to SHARE it with on social media and say how it helped you! Please SUBSCRIBE if you haven’t already, and if you have, THANK YOU for your continued support!

[@Trackhoe075]

@@LearnwithjoelPixelmator or apple photos as you said in the beginning there are so many out there and I’m a big believer of keeping things simple