Hands-On Mac 176: Photos in macOS Sequoia 15.4

Summary

Hands-On Mac 176: Photos in macOS Sequoia 15.4 - Detailed Summary

Podcast Information:

• Title: Hands-On Mac 176: Photos in macOS Sequoia 15.4
• Host: Micah Sargent
• Release Date: April 3, 2025
• Description: In this episode of Hands-On Mac, Micah Sargent delves into the latest updates and features introduced in macOS Sequoia 15.4, specifically focusing on enhancements to the Photos app. From new filtering options to advanced editing tools, Micah provides an in-depth overview to help users make the most of their photo management and editing experience on Mac.

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1. Introduction to macOS Sequoia 15.4 Updates

Timestamp: [02:26]

Micah Sargent kicks off the episode by highlighting the recent release of macOS Sequoia 15.4 on March 31st. He encourages listeners who haven't updated yet to download the latest version to take advantage of the myriad new features and security improvements. While acknowledging the fun additions like eight new emojis, Micah emphasizes that the focus of this episode is on substantial quality-of-life enhancements in the Photos app.

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2. New Filter Option: “Not in an Album”

Timestamp: [03:00]

One of the standout features introduced in Sequoia 15.4 is the new filter option labeled "Not in an Album" within the Photos app. Micah explains:

“This gives us the ability to quickly see which photos in our library have yet to be sorted into an album. This is great for quickly categorizing things that maybe you missed, that you meant to categorize or see different photos that for whatever reason didn't make it into albums.” ([03:15])

This feature streamlines the process of organizing photos by allowing users to identify and manage uncategorized images efficiently.

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3. Reordering Items in Collections

Timestamp: [04:10]

Previously, users could not reorder items within certain collections in the Photos app. With Sequoia 15.4, this functionality has been introduced, offering greater customization and ease of access. Micah demonstrates how collections like Utilities and Media Types can now be reordered:

“If there's one that you use more often, perhaps you like to look for duplicates. You can click and drag to bring that to the top...” ([05:05])

This enhancement allows users to prioritize collections based on their personal workflow, making photo management more intuitive.

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4. Sorting and Filtering Enhancements

Timestamp: [05:45]

In addition to reordering, macOS Sequoia 15.4 introduces new sorting options within collections. Users can now sort photos by oldest to newest or vice versa, based on when they were added or taken. Micah notes:

“Very handy. Very nice to be able to have that.” ([06:00])

This feature provides flexibility in how users view their photos, catering to different organizational preferences.

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5. Album Management Improvements

Timestamp: [06:30]

Album organization has also received a boost. Users can now reorder their custom albums by simply clicking and dragging them within the sidebar. Additionally, an "Automatically Sort by Date Modified" option is available:

“This is very handy when it comes to seeing which albums you've been working with most recently...” ([06:50])

This makes it easier to manage and locate albums based on recent activity, enhancing overall user experience.

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6. Introduction of the Cleanup Toolkit and Retouch Feature

Timestamp: [07:36]

One of the most significant updates is the addition of the Cleanup toolkit within the Photos app, part of the Apple Intelligence package. Micah explains the installation process and introduces the new Retouch tool:

“Retouch says, I want you to sort of improve upon this portion of the photograph...” ([08:10])

The Retouch tool allows for more sophisticated photo editing by enabling users to specify which parts of an image to preserve while removing or altering others. This is achieved by holding down the Option or Alt key to guide the tool's adjustments, offering more precise control compared to the traditional erase function.

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7. Image Playground Enhancements: New Sketch Style

Timestamp: [11:00]

Another exciting feature introduced in Sequoia 15.4 is the Image Playground app’s new Sketch style. Previously, users had access to Animation and Illustration styles for creating images using Apple Intelligence locally on their M1 Macs or later. Micah showcases the new Sketch style:

“It is a really stunning style of illustration... called sketch.” ([12:00])

The Sketch style produces highly detailed, photorealistic illustrations that resemble colored pencil drawings, adding another layer of versatility for users engaged in creative projects. Micah demonstrates generating images with this new style, highlighting its ability to create lifelike and intricate designs directly on the device.

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8. Local Image Generation Advantages

Timestamp: [13:00]

Emphasizing privacy and performance, Micah points out that the Image Playground’s capabilities, including the new Sketch style, operate locally on the user’s Mac:

“You're not going to the cloud, you're not going to a server somewhere to create these photos.” ([13:15])

This ensures that image generation is both secure and efficient, leveraging the power of newer Mac hardware without compromising user data.

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9. Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Timestamp: [14:00]

Micah wraps up the episode by recapping the transformative updates in macOS Sequoia 15.4’s Photos app. He underscores the importance of these enhancements in improving photo management and editing workflows:

“That is a look at some of the new features and settings coming to macOS that have come to macOS sequoia in 15.4.” ([14:05])

Listeners are encouraged to update their systems to explore these new tools and features, enhancing their overall experience with the Photos app.

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Key Takeaways:

• New “Not in an Album” Filter: Streamlines the identification and organization of uncategorized photos.
• Reordering Collections: Allows customization of collection order based on user preferences.
• Enhanced Sorting Options: Offers flexibility in viewing photos by different time-based criteria.
• Improved Album Management: Facilitates easier organization and access to frequently used albums.
• Cleanup Toolkit and Retouch Tool: Introduces advanced editing capabilities for precise photo modifications.
• Image Playground’s New Sketch Style: Expands creative options with photorealistic sketch illustrations generated locally.

---

For more insights and detailed explorations of macOS features, tune into future episodes of Hands-On Mac with Micah Sargent.

Transcript

[Micah Sargent]

Coming up on Hands on Mac, let's take a look at some of the new photos updates in Kos. Sequoia 15.4 stay tuned.

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[Micah Sargent]

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[Micah Sargent]

Welcome back to Hands on Mac. I am Micah Sargent and today I wanted to talk about a few things that you will notice if you update to MacBooks Sequoia 15.4. It is Tuesday, April 1st and Apple rolled out this update yesterday. Monday, March 31st so if you have it, great. If you don't, you can update and check out some of these features. Now there are a whole host of new features and updates and security improvements. It's well worth downloading some fun stuff like eight new EMOJI with even a fingerprint emoji. But that's not what we're talking about today. Instead, we are taking a look at some of the quality of life improvements that have come to Photos in this version of macOS. So let's head over to macOS and take a look. All right, here we are on Mac OS and this, of course, is Sequoia 15.4. And I've got the Photos app open. One of the first things that you will. Well, you probably won't notice at first because you actually have to go into the menu, but one of the first changes that I want to show you is right here in the Photos app on this main screen. So given that we're on the libraries view, I can go up to the top of the screen here where I have the Filter option. And there's now a new filter option that joins the rest of the list called not in an Album. And we love this. This gives us the ability to quickly see which photos in our library have yet to be sorted into an album. This is great for quickly categorizing things that maybe you missed, that you meant to categorize or see different photos that for whatever reason didn't make it into albums, so maybe aren't of too much importance to you. There are plenty of reasons why a photo may not be categorized as such, but being able to quickly see what's in an album or not in an album right in that filter menu is fantastic. Now, on top of that, we also have the option to reorder the items that we have in certain collections. That was not possible before. So here in the menu on the left side, the toolbar on the left side, we have the Utilities collection and the media Types Collection utilities are kind of like sort of technical tags for photos. So photos that we've imported duplicates, which requires kind of a tool to figure out that there were duplicate photos. Handwriting, meaning that it used computer vision to determine that there was handwriting in the photo and provide a sorting based on that. Illustrations, same thing. It found what it believes to be our illustrations. And then last but not least, as is currently available, recently viewed. So the photos that you looked at most recently. Now, with this, we are then given the ability to actually make adjustments to how these collection albums essentially are ordered. This was not possible before. So if there's one that you use more often, perhaps you like to look for duplicates. You can click and drag to bring that to the top media types. Maybe you want to quickly find your selfies. You can click and drag to bring that to the top of the list and find those selfies that are there as opposed to the other options. So it's just very nice that you can finally reorder those items and see what you would like across the board. In all of these collections, you're able to filter options and sort them by oldest to newest. So on top of being able to kind of filter them as such, you can then take and sort them and make it so that they are showing the versions that you have. There you go by newest first by oldest first based on when you've added them and when they have been taken. Very handy. Very nice to be able to have that. And on top of that, if you've created your own albums, you can see we've got these albums here right now. They are listed based on when we've created them and we can click and drag right to reorganize them, but you can have them automatically sorted so that they are sorted by date modified. This is very handy when it comes to seeing which albums you've been working with most more recently and get the ones that you're not adding to anymore out of the way. Very, very nice. All right, let's take a look at one more feature that has come to the Photos app next.

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[Micah Sargent]

The last thing that I want to mention as far as the Photos app goes, is a new tool that is part of the Apple Intelligence package for your system. So it will require a download of a special toolkit called Cleanup. But once you have Cleanup installed and you can always access Cleanup by selecting a photo, choosing Edit in the top right corner, and then when the tabs come up at the top that include Adjust, Filters, Crop and Cleanup. Selecting Cleanup. At that point it will go ahead and download the Cleanup toolkit, unless it's already on your system, in which case then it will be there. Now, I had it on my system before, but because of a new feature in Cleanup, it did require another download. This includes the new Retouch brush. With Retouch, we can do more than just erase something from a photo. If you've used an image editing program before, you'll be very familiar With Retouch, Retouch says, I want you to sort of improve upon this portion of the photograph, but more importantly, I want you to do so with a specific thing that I mention in mind. And the way that you choose what specific thing you are trying to have the Retouch tool keep in mind is by holding down the option or alt key, selecting the part that you want the program to keep in mind, and then selecting the part that you want to remove and having it use that information to make a change. There we go to that portion of the photo. So it will kind of keep in mind what you wanted and where you have selected a portion when it kind of does its thing to improve upon that portion of the photo. The idea is that without stipulating what part of the photo you want it to use, you may be doing something that's very near. In this case of the photo where I've got a person's head, it's an illustration of a person's head and their hair is here, right. If I were to select this portion to the left of the hair without telling the system what part I want it to use, it may use that hair to determine that the portion to the left needs to have that dark brown color added to it. But what I actually would want is for the program to use this sort of deep reddish pink color here to the left of the hair to inform what goes next to it. So telling the program pull from this and make something look kind of like this is what the Retouch tool does versus erase, where you're completely getting rid of a portion of an image and can kind of, you know, blur or repeat patterns to try to create a filled space where an item once was. So the addition of the Retouch tool, a very exciting thing that has come to the cleanup section of the Photos app. All right, last but not least, I did want to mention one other tool that is now part of the Image Playground, Apple Intelligence feature. So Image Playground is an app that lets you use Apple Intelligence locally on your M1, Mac or later, meaning a newer system to create illustrations. And up to this point, there have been two styles available, animation and illustration, that you can use to create a photo. So I could type in something like Dog eating ice cream and hit enter, and the animation style will show a cute dog that is eating an ice cream cone. And then I can change that style to illustration and you will see what kind of looks like a poster illustration. It's very filled in creepily. This dog has hands. And so we'll save that. But now we have the addition of the sketch style that is new in macOS Sequoia 15.4 that creates a more photorealistic. I wouldn't even call it a sketch. It feels like a this feels like the true illustration option here. And so we will I'll show you the three different versions. So again from the top we have animation which has a kind of cutesy, Pixar esque quality to it. Illustration which is sort of a comic zine, sort of a poster style, vector based graphics illustration. And then the new option which is sketch which is like colored pencil, colored pencil meets medical book. And I think that it is a really stunning style of illustration. Even though it's not called illustration, it's called sketch. And then here are two more sketches that I generated. If you are watching, it's just a dog that is supposed to be digging for a bone, but instead this dog is just kind of sniffing a bone that is sitting on top of some grass. But these sketches are really nice and I remind you these photos are generated locally on device. So keep that in mind that you're not going to the cloud, you're not going to a server somewhere to create these photos. That's why it requires an M1 Mac or later to do this level of image generation right there on your machine. So that is a look at some of the new features and settings coming to macOS that have come to macOS sequoia in 15.4. Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of Hands On Mac. As always, you can reach me micahit TV if you have questions, if you have topics you want covered, all of that is there. Thanks so much for tuning in and I'll be back again next week with another episode of Hands On Mac. Bye bye.

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