How to Create a Smart Album
1 New album
To create a new Smart Album in Photos, go to File > New Smart Album, or click the ‘+’ in the toolbar and choose Smart Album. Alternatively, press å+ç+N to bring up the New Smart Album dialog box.
2 More control
While the general options enable you to look for certain criteria (people, types of camera, and so on), the ‘Is/Is not’ dropdown box really allows you to drill down for more finite control of what you might be searching for.
3 Conditions
‘Photo’ is the default selection but, as you can see, the number of conditions you can choose from is extensive. You can even sort by factors such as Focal Length, Aperture, ISO or Shutter Speed.
4 Names
In this case, we’re trying to build a list of images for a wedding anniversary gift, so we’ll start by naming two people we want to appear in every photo. Each line can only have one variable in it, so click the ‘+’ sign to add the other person.
5 Flash- free
For this example, we’re actually only interested in images that have been taken outdoors, so we’ve added a Flash category to our criteria and selected Did Not Fire so that the album will be limited to flash-free shots.
6 Auto update
Each time you add a condition, the number of images in the album updates automatically. We’ll be importing more images to Photos after the Smart Album is created so the small running total is not a problem.
7 Equipment
Here, we’ll refine the search to exclude certain older phones and compact cameras – useful if you’re aiming for a certain level of quality. The dropdown box is automatically populated with all the different camera models found in your Photos library.
8 Later edits
Hit OK and your album is created and automatically filled with images. To make changes later, ≈- click the album name and choose Edit Smart Album – this is handy if you realise certain images are being missed.
9 Keywords
Unfortunately, you can’t type in multiple keywords and use them as variables. If you want to do this, enter multiple keywords in Photos’ standard search box, then add another single keyword that will definitely be picked up by your Smart Album.
10 Super album
Here, we’ve decided to put together a ‘super album’ using photos from a selection of different travel albums. If we then add Favourites as one of the conditions, the album will be a blast to browse through.