The library

The library holds every photo you have imported on this device, with its edits and star rating.

• Import: click Import Photos… (⌘O), or drag photos onto the window. JPEG, PNG, WebP, AVIF and iPhone HEIC photos work, and so do camera RAW files (Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, DNG and most others). Each RAW file is developed with the camera's white balance, then edited like any other photo. Developing takes a few seconds when a RAW photo first opens (longer for Fujifilm X-Trans files), so a computer is best for RAW: on a phone it's slow and a large file can make the page reload. On iPhone and iPad, photos in Files with a ⬇︎ are stored in iCloud: after Open, iOS downloads them before Grain & Tone gets them, which can take a minute for large photos (a message says it's waiting). Choosing from Photo Library is usually quicker.
• LOW RES badge (on iPhone and iPad a small yellow ⚠︎): the photo has too few pixels to print well at A4. Use the original from your camera if you can.
• Open a photo: double-click it (double-tap on touch), or select it and press Enter.
• Preview full screen: select a photo and press Space. On a touch screen, tap the thumbnail. Press Space or Esc to close. The turn buttons rotate the photo. On a touch screen the turn buttons, stars and flags are in a bar along the bottom, within reach of your thumb; tap the photo to hide or show the controls.
• Select several: ⌘-click to add one photo, Shift-click for a run, ⌘A for all.
• Rotate: select photos, then Rotate Left or Rotate Right in the bar at the bottom (on a phone, tap Select first). On a computer there are also turn buttons above the photos, ⌘[ and ⌘], and Rotate Left and Rotate Right when you right-click.
• Thumbnail size: drag the slider at the top right, or press ⌘+ and ⌘−.

On iPad the library works like Photos too: the photos fill a tight grid (pinch to resize, stars show as a badge), the Sort & Filter button and Select are in the toolbar, and selected photos get a blue tick, with icons for Export, Rotate Left, Rotate Right, Add to Collection, Presets, Lay Out and Remove in the bar along the bottom. Copy, Paste, Revert, Full Screen and Help are in the … menu. While editing, the toolbar has Undo, Redo and Compare (tap to see the original, tap again for your edit).

On iPhone the library works like Photos: the tab bar at the bottom switches between Library, Edit and Layout; pinch the photos to make them bigger or smaller; the Sort & Filter button at the top orders the photos (Sort By) and shows them by Ratings or Flags; tap the All Photos title to open a collection; Select lets you tap photos (a blue tick shows each one), then use the toolbar at the bottom to export, rotate, lay out or remove them, with Copy, Paste and Revert under …. Import, Export, Undo and Help are in the … menu at the top (and Film Lab and Customise Panels, while editing). While editing, ‹ Library takes you back; the tools (Edit, Crop, Heal, Masks) and Undo/Redo are along the bottom, with the adjustments in a sheet above them (its areas are fewer than on a computer: Effects holds Presence, Vignette and Grain together, as in Lightroom) (drag its grabber up or down, or tap it to close). The compare button at the top shows the original: tap to switch, or hold. View under the photo has the compare modes (split, side by side), proof versions, Brightness check and Zoom to Fit. In Crop, Cancel and Done are at the top; the other tools have Done. If the crop handles go away (after setting a border, say), tap the photo to bring them back. Copy, Paste and Auto show a short note saying what they did. Swipe on the photo to move round the edit, as in Snapseed. Touch the photo and a ring appears under your finger showing which way does what. The first time you edit on a phone, Editing by Touch explains the gestures; see it again from … → Editing Gestures. Pull up or down (or touch, hold and pull) for the list of every area (Light, Colour, Effects…), with the one you're in beside your finger: slide to another and let go, and the sheet opens it. Tap a slider in the sheet to put it in focus: the sheet steps aside and only that slider stays over the photo; then pull up or down on the photo for the slider above or below, and tap the photo to bring the sheet back. Swipe left or right to change the slider (the one in focus, or the one you last used), with its value shown large over the photo. Each swipe is one Undo step. Swipes work when the photo is zoomed to fit (zoomed in, a swipe moves the photo). In the sheet, tap the area's title (Light ⌄) to change area. Dragging a slider in the sheet works the same way: drag sideways to change it, then move up or down while still dragging to carry on with the slider above or below. A drag that starts up or down scrolls the sheet. To see what a slider affects (clipping, the sharpening or clarity mask), touch and hold it for a moment before dragging, or rest your finger mid-drag: you'll feel a tick, and it shows until you let go.

Sorting

The newest photos you import are at the top. To change the order, use Sort in the bar above the photos (on iPad and iPhone, it's in the Sort & Filter button at the top):

• Recently Added: newest imports first.
• Date Taken: when the camera took the photo (from the photo's details; photos without this use the file's date).
• Name: A to Z, with numbers in order (IMG_2 before IMG_10).
• Rating: most stars first.

Oldest First (or Z to A, Lowest First) turns the order round. Grain & Tone remembers the order you chose.

Collections

A collection is a group of photos from your Library, like an album in Photos: one for each project, unit or shoot. A photo can be in several collections, and taking it out of one leaves it in the Library.

• Make one: select photos, then tap Add to Collection (the folder icon in the bar at the bottom, or Collection… on a computer) and choose New Collection…. You can also right-click a photo, or use the title menu (below).
• Open one: tap the title at the top left (Library or All Photos, with a ⌄) and choose the collection. The title then shows its name; choose All Photos to see everything again.
• Add more: select photos and use Add to Collection again. Photos you import while a collection is open go into it too.
• Take photos out: open the collection, select them and choose Add to Collection → Remove from “…”.
• Rename or delete: open the collection, then use the title menu. Deleting a collection never deletes its photos.

Sort and the filters work inside a collection too.

Star ratings, picks and rejects

Rate and flag photos to choose your best shots before editing.

• On a phone or iPad: tap a photo to see it full screen, then press and hold it and slide up: each step up adds a star, up to 5. Slide down one step to Pick it, two steps to Reject it. Let go to set it; slide back to where you started to cancel. Swipe left or right for the next photo.
• With a keyboard: press 0–5 to rate the selected photos (in the editor, the photo you are editing), P to pick, X to reject, U to clear the flag.
• You can also tap the stars under a photo, or the flag and reject buttons at the top of the full-screen view.
• Rejected photos show faded with a red mark; picks show a white flag.
• Use Show at the top of the library to see only photos with a chosen rating, for example 4 stars and higher, and the flag menu to show Picks only, Hide rejects or Rejects only.
• Ratings are kept in the app. They are not written into the photo files.

Presets: your own looks to use again

A preset saves a photo's settings under a name, so you can put the same look on other photos in one go: your black & white recipe, a grade you like, a film stock with its grain.

• Save: in Edit, open Looks and tap Save Preset… (or in the Library, select one photo, then Presets… → Save Preset from…). Name it and tick the panels to include: Light, Curves, Colour Grading, Film stock and so on. Crop and Border start unticked; masks and spot removal are never included, as they only fit one photo.
• Apply: in the Library, select photos, then Presets… in the bar at the bottom (on iPhone and iPad the swatch icon) and choose one; or right-click photos and choose Presets…. While editing, tap a preset under My presets in Looks. Only the panels the preset holds change; one Undo puts everything back.
• Manage: Manage Presets… lists them, with what each holds, and deletes ones you don't want.

Presets are kept in this browser, on this device.

Copying edits between photos

Edit one photo, then give the same settings to others:

1. Tap Select at the top of the library. A bar appears at the bottom.
2. Tap the edited photo, then Copy.
3. Tap it again to deselect it, then tap the photos to change (or All).
4. Tap Paste…, tick the sections to paste, and confirm.

With a keyboard: ⌘-click or Shift-click to select several photos, ⌘C to copy from one, ⌘V to paste everything except crop, masks and spots, or ⇧⌘V to choose. Revert in the bar removes all edits from the selected photos; Undo brings them back.

Right-click a photo for more, including Revert to Original.