Skip to main content

How to edit pictures using Photos on a Mac

Photos editor open on a MacBook.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Photo-editing applications can be intimidating, especially if you don’t use them often. But with the tools available in the MacOS Photos app, making adjustments and corrections to improve photos is much easier than you might realize.

With options to correct red-eye and remove marks, you can fix minor blemishes, as well as crop, straighten, or rotate a photo. If you’d like to go further, you can adjust the white balance, light, and color to enhance your picture. And best of all, many of these tools have an Auto feature that makes the improvements for you.

Recommended Videos

Difficulty

Moderate

Duration

10 minutes

What You Need

  • Mac computer

  • Photos app

how to edit pictures using photos mac app duplicate
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Prepare your photo for editing

Before you start making changes to your picture, you may want to make a copy of it. This allows you to hold onto the original, because all changes you make will be saved and then appear on all devices where you sync the Photos app.

Step 1: If the image was taken on your iPhone or iPad, you may need to transfer the photo to your Mac first. Right-click the photo and choose Import. Then, head to the Imports section of the sidebar to select the photo.

Step 2: To copy the image, right-click the photo or select Image from the menu bar and choose Duplicate 1 photo.

Step 3: You can then make adjustments to the copy if you’d rather keep the original image as is.

how to edit pictures using photos mac app editor
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Use Photos to edit the image

To open the editing tools in Photos, either select the image and press Return or double-click the image and choose Edit in the toolbar. Your photo will open in a separate window.

Zoom: On the top left of the toolbar, you can use the slider to zoom in on the photo if needed. This is handy when using certain tools like Retouch and Red-Eye.

Auto Enhance: If you’d like to let the Photos app automatically improve the entire photo, you can use the Auto Enhance feature. Select the button in the toolbar that looks like a magic wand to enable Auto Enhance. To remove those enhancements, deselect the button.

You also have the option to use Auto Enhance for individual elements, which we’ll describe below.

how to edit pictures using photos mac app red eye
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Adjust a picture in Photos on Mac

You don't need to know how to edit images in Photoshop to make basic tweaks. Photos has plenty of adjustment tools you can use to improve the image.

Step 1: At the top of the Photos editing window, select the Adjust tab.

Step 2: Choose an Arrow to expand an option and use the tools within it.

Step 3: Depending on the tool you select, you may see a slider or brush. For example, to adjust the Light, you have sliders for Brilliance, Exposure, Highlights, and more. As another example, to remove red-eye, you have a brush to select each eye in the photo.

Step 4: Many of the tools also offer an individual Auto Enhance option. If you prefer to have Photos automatically improve specific elements rather than the entire photo, choose Auto to the right of the tool.

Step 5: To undo a change you make with one of the tools, select the Undo icon to the right. Alternatively, you can undo all adjustments by choosing Reset adjustments at the bottom.

how to edit pictures using photos mac app filter
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Apply a filter to a photo

Sometimes adding a filter can give a photo a whole new perspective.

Step 1: Select the Filter tab in the toolbar to see the options on the right.

Step 2: Pick a filter like Vivid, Dramatic, or Silvertone.

Step 3: Use the slider that appears to adjust the amount of filter you want to apply.

how to edit pictures using photos mac app crop
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Flip or crop a photo

If you want to flip or crop the photo, this takes only a minute.

Step 1: Select the Crop tab in the toolbar.

Step 2: On the right, you’ll see an option to Flip the photo right at the top. This will flip your image horizontally. To flip it vertically, hold the Option key as you select the button.

Step 3: Expand the Aspect section to crop the image to a certain size. You can pick a square, select one of the preset ratios, or enter a custom size. You can also select Freeform and drag the edges or corners of the image to crop it to the exact size you want.

At the bottom of the crop options, you can quickly crop the image as Portrait or Landscape using the icons.

Step 4: To undo a flip or crop, choose Reset at the bottom.

how to edit pictures using photos mac app rotate
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Rotate a photo

You have a couple of ways to rotate an image in the Photos app.

Step 1: First, you can select the Rotate button in the toolbar. This will turn the photo counterclockwise 90 degrees each time you select the button.

Step 2: To turn the image clockwise instead, hold the Option key and then select the Rotate button.

Step 3: You can also rotate your image freely by going to the Crop tab in the toolbar. Then, drag the dial on the right side of the image up or down to adjust the exact angle of rotation.

how to edit pictures using photos mac app compare revert
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Compare or revert the changes

The Photos app on Mac offers a handy feature for seeing your changes compared to the original image. In the top toolbar, select and hold the Show photo without adjustments icon, which is on the far left. This lets you see a nice before-and-after comparison of your photo.

If you decide you don’t like any of the changes you’ve made to an image, choose Revert to original in the toolbar.

Editing images in Photos on Mac is a convenient option for simple to advanced enhancements to your photo. Got lots of images to edit? Perhaps its time to learn how to edit multiple photos at once.

Sandy Writtenhouse
Sandy has been writing about technology since 2012. Her work has appeared on How-To Geek, Lifewire, MakeUseOf, iDownloadBlog…
I might have found the answer to my Mac gaming problem
A person running Steam on the M4 MacBook Pro. Rocket League is up on the screen

I recently wrote about how the M4 Pro Mac mini. With its tiny form factor and excellent performance, coupled with the largely headache-free experience of macOS, it's made me extremely tempted to ditch Windows once and for all. There’s just one problem with this idea, though: I’m an avid gamer, and Apple’s M4 Pro chip isn’t quite as capable as the RTX 3070 that resides in my current PC.

Then I got an email from a reader that changed my perspective.

Read more
Amazon has slashed the price of the MacBook Pro M4 by $250
Someone using a MacBook Pro at a desk.

Amazon is often the home of great Apple deals, and that continues to be the case today. Right now, you can buy the latest Apple MacBook Pro with M4 Pro chip for $250 off. That means instead of paying $2,499, you pay $2,249. That’s not quite the lowest price it’s ever been, but it’s not far off -- the MacBook Pro with M4 has only ever dropping to $2,199 at its lowest. For the most part, $2,249 is a sweet deal and one of the better laptop deals around. If you’re keen to learn more, read on and we’ll take you through all it has to offer.

Why you should buy the Apple MacBook Pro with M4 Pro
The latest MacBook Pro tops our look at the best MacBooks for so many fantastic reasons. It’s a true powerhouse of a machine while still looking super elegant and stylish. In our MacBook Pro review, we described it as “the best gets even better.” It offers “record-breaking performance,” with the M4 Pro chip proving to be exceptionally powerful for all kinds of tasks. It also has a best-in-class keyboard and trackpad, which adds to the experience.

Read more
20 years on, the Mac mini is in the best shape of its life
The Mac mini up on its side on a desk.

The original Mac mini was released 20 years ago today. And while it was a miniature marvel when it debuted, it’s gone from strength to strength in the years since. Today, it’s one of the best desktop computers you can buy.

When Steve Jobs pulled out the first Mac mini on stage in 2005, it was met with gasps and cheers from the audience, such was its unbelievably compact form factor. Yet when it was introduced, Jobs’ description of it was somewhat underwhelming: “This is a very robust computer, but it’s very, very tiny.” You got the feeling that even Apple wasn’t taking it particularly seriously.

Read more