Cassandra: Live Photos on the Mac - Another Trick up Apple's Sleeve

By Graham K. Rogers

When Live Photos first appeared, not everyone was impressed. The idea seemed sound for those who wanted to impress friends online, or for doting mothers, but not much could be done initially with the feature. Several people I know turned it off. Despite what many say about Apple, they do listen, although never say much. Some features may silently disappear, but others are (just as silently) enhanced.

With the latest update to iOS, Live Photos gained some flexibility. I have already written about the short clip now available when editing on the iPhone. Using this to select a new Key Photo may produce a better picture than the original shot. Or using this with the iOS Duplicate feature, a couple of pictures can be pulled from the same Live Photo. I also wrote then (as have others) about the different output options - Live, Loop, Bounce and Long Exposure - which are accessed by swiping the photo upwards.

This week, I have been looking more closely at Photos on the Mac. This has been much enhanced in High Sierra.

I was examining Selective Color more closely and when flexing my muscles with this feature, chose an image with a bright color. While playing with the color controls, I used Reset Adjustments several times and noticed a small button just to the left of this, marked Live. There is already an indication to the left of the screen if an image is a Live Photo. This is not a redundancy, but allows access to the same Live, Loop, Bounce and Long Exposure options as on the iPhone.

Photos on the Mac is beginning to grow on me. . . .

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs. After 3 years writing a column in the Life supplement, he is now no longer associated with the Bangkok Post. He can be followed on Twitter (@extensions_th)