It's time to see what Photos for OS X is all about. Yes the beta has been out for a while now, but I actually never installed it. I simply haven't had time to set up a separate Mac to install the beta (wasn't about to do this to my primary systems) so this is my first look.

When launching, should you migrate, or not?

The first thing you'll see after the initial tour is an option to choose an existing iPhoto or Aperture library to migrate. Should you, or shouldn't you? That's going to depend on your expectations.

Here's something you need to know if you decide to do it. You will still have access to your Aperture library, but any changes made there will not be reflected in Photos. It's basically two separate libraries at that point. So this could be a good opportunity to play in Photos with your existing Aperture library, then start over later when Photos has the features you want. But if you migrate a library, then start editing in Photos, and also continue editing in Aperture, you'll have discrepancy that'll probably never be solved.

Personally, to start I'm creating a new Photos library. This means that all I'll have is iCloud photos in there for now, which is fine to play with. I'll also import some legacy photos just to have a play. I have pretty much decided that my existing Aperture library, which I'm no longer working in, will eventually migrate to Photos (because Aperture won't run forever, and migrating to Photos will likely be way cleaner than migrating to Lightroom or Capture One will ever be), but for now I'm keeping it in Aperture because I need to access, edit and deliver photos that are already in there, and I can't do that job in Photos today.

(If you're wondering what I am currently working in, that's Lightroom. But don't take that as my final decision… I'm still learning it and watching other apps closely. I had to choose something and chose Lightroom. But that's beside the point here…)

Will I use Photos in my regular workflow? Most likely I'll delegate Photos to personal, family photos, while keeping my work in another pro level app. And at some point before Aperture truly dies, I'll migrate my legacy Aperture library to Photos to continue to access as needed.

Photos Preferences

As with any app, the first thing you should probably do is look at the Preferences.

It's a pretty small Preferences pane, but notice on the first tab the ​Metadata option. By default, “Include location information for published items” is off, for personal security reasons. This keeps you from accidentally revealing where your kids live to the entire world, for example. I'm aware and quite careful about this, and do like my geodata included in published photos, so I've turned mine on.

Location information is OFF by default, for security reasons, but I want mine on

The next tab, iCloud, is likely fine just as it's set. Since I didn't migrate a library the only photos in my library are coming from iCloud. You can track the progress of that here, and if it's clogging your internet connection, you can pause it for a day. However mine completed quite quickly. 

My Photos library is currently downloading all photos from iCloud Photos

That's all you'll find in preferences!

Switching Libraries

Just like in Aperture and iPhoto, if you want to switch libraries, hold down the option key on launch. You'll be presented with this dialog, which lets you choose existing Aperture libraries to migrate. This will be handy if you want to migrate one Aperture library just to experiment, but also have a separate “real” one that you start importing new photos into.

Holding down option on launch lets you choose what library to open or migrate to Photos

Live first look

Later today, probably around 5pm PDT, I'll do a live “first look”. I am preparing an Aperture library to import for this so we can all see how things migrate over, and we'll discover the app together. Stay tuned for details and be sure to follow @PhotoAppsExpert on twitter for last minute notifications. If you can't make it live, I'll post it as a Live Training as soon as possible.