El Capitan and IPhoto??

Yes, you are missing something! Like you, I was horrified when I first downloaded El Capitan with Photos. I couldn't believe that all those useful functions had disappeared but, actually, it's more versatile than iPhotos was. I did a few experiments and found all kinds of interesting editing possibilities. Since then I've found a page that explains a lot of it (t's quite detailed so you might want to read down to the sections about editing). It's on the Macworld site and it will certainly help you to get going: http://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/mac-software/how-to-use-photos-mac-osx-guide-36 10122/ I was knocked out by some of the subtleties. For example, in adjustments (from 'Adjust) you can click on 'Add' and change all kinds of settings but if you then click on the arrow pointing down you have even more options - 'levels' is particularly interesting. Hope this helps.

Interesting discussion. I do not like Photos or its collections and I miss "Events" badly.

In my organisation system Events and Albums are two different things. I used events to group photos from a short trip, a weekend away and I used albums for something more special. For example, I would group all the photos from a trip into one "folder" (or "event") and would take the best ones only to go into an album of that trip, IF I decided to make an album.

On opening iPhoto, my computer screen showed all my events grouped as in a folder with a picture I chose to be the "cover photo" and a title.

When I open Photos, I see a million thumbnails organised by date, which is not my preferred organisation system and I just give up - there and then.`

I consider myself to be a farily savvy user and not a techie. I HATE Photos. Apple has removed the most important part of the software that concerns the ORGANISATION of my photos and has not replaced it adequately.

I too am looking for alternative solutions to organise and edit my photos.

I have written more than once to Apple Feedback to plead with them to bring back Events. I'm sorry, Moments or Collections does not do it. Creating events, splitting them and menging them was so easy. Why, oh why, chnage this great feature.
I don't get Apple. They do seeom to be losing the plot.

I am an Apple user since 1985!

Moments in Photos are the new Events, i.e. groupings of photos sorted by date taken.

When the iPhoto Library was first migrated to Photos there is a folder created in the sidebar titled iPhoto Events and all migrated iPhoto Events (which are now Moments) are represented by an album in that folder. To open the sidebar if it's not already open use the Option+Command+S key combination.

NOTE: It's been reported by several users that if the Event albums are moved out of the iPhoto Library folder in the sidebar they may disappear. It's not widespread but several users have reported that issue. Therefore, if you want to assure that you keep those Event albums don't move them outside the iPhoto Events folder.

There's a way to simulate events in Photos.

When new photos are imported into the Photos library go to the Last Import smart album, select all the photos and use the File ➙ New Album menu option or use the key combination Command+N. Name it as desired. It will appear just above the iPhoto Events folder where you can drag it into the iPhoto Events folder

When you click on the iPhoto Events folder you'll get a simulated iPhoto Events window.

Albums and smart albums can be sorted by Title, by Date with oldest first and by Date with newest first.

Tell Apple what missing features you'd like restored or new features added in Photos via Apple-Photos Feedback.

moments may be the new events but it doesn't do what events did in terms of organisation.

I have not found a way to group moments together into one event or to split them and merge them into separate events.

I don't only want my old events as albums. I want to go on creating events and putting some of them into albums.

For misciellaneous photos, I used to group them into an event (folder) called "Family 1st half 2014". These photos are not necessarily important enough to create an album, but that was a useful organisational tool when looking for them later.

I have written several times to Apple Feedback. Do they read? Do they take note? I know I am not alone in this.

I have not found a way to group moments together into one event or to split them and merge them into separate events.

I don't only want my old events as albums. I want to go on creating events and putting some of them into albums.

If you want to organise by Events then you're going to need to use some other app. Photos uses Moments and it's unlikely to change as to do so would mean changing the Mac App, the two versions of the iOS app and the iCloud Library.

So, if you are that attached to Events then Photos is not the App for you. There's no other way to look at it.

I have not found a way to group moments together into one event or to split them and merge them into separate events.

You can if you create an album of each import, i.e. event, and use albums. Then if you want to merge Album A into Album B do the following:

1 - open the sidebar with the Option+Command+S key combination.

2 - with the two albums visible in the sidebar click on A.

3 - select all of the photos in A.

4 - drag them onto the Album B icon in the sidebar to add them to B.

5 - verify all of the photos are in B.

6 - delete A from the sidebar.

Dear Old Toad, et all... thank you for you comments, above. However, I agree with French_Chris and others who are annoyed at the changes that have made Photos more convoluted and annoying. You list 6 steps to merge and move photos. In iPhoto I just grabbed a photo and moved it. Why make it more confusing? Ease of use and intuitiveness are the reasons why I switched to Apple from HP and Dell.

Others have stated that my iMac will become obsolete ....and I'll have to upgrade: to what brand? Certainly not to a more expensive Apple product that doesn't meet my needs.

And to French_Chris: You said what I feel.

And to Terence Develin: "Ain't it the truth!" Photos is not the App for me, either. I've been looking elsewhere.

I still hold my judgement whether photos is the app for me, there are some good functionalities such as nested folders and I would like to see how it develops further. One thing is for sure: it has to develop because photos, next to music, videos, and design are crucial to the success of Apple.

My personal wishlist for the following releases is:

1. bring the map back

2. bring "copy location" back

3. allow drag and drop of multiple email attachments

4. bring back imbedment of a powerful "external editor", not only the small apps offered right now.

5. allow for distinction between "unknown face" and "no face" and keep these saved during following future releases.

6. honor "hidden photos" in all functionalities (e.g. face recognition).

7. a little more stability in handling the individual photos from previous releases. Some of my old photos imported several releases back are now falling over when I open them, sometimes with the app shutting down.

8. A bit more clarity and simplification amongst folders/albums/moments - I don't think we need them all.

9. Allow to display filenames underneath the photo thumbnail, not only titles.

Anything to add from your end?

Send your wishlist to the developers here

http://www.apple.com/feedback/photos.html

The forum is ideally for helping other users. The developers don'r promise to read this.

Yep. Ain't it a shame?

Thanks for trying to help.But as pointed out, that is quite a long winded way to do something that used to be so basic.

I was, and still am, hoping Apple will bring back something similar to Events but I'm not holding my breath. I have written to Feedback.

Apple used to be so good at allowing users to do things their way. Now we have to understand how the minds of their engineers in Cupertino work.

iTunes is almost as bad as each new "improved" version gets weirder and more cloud friendly.

Please don't tell me that Windows 10 is the new OSX!!!

I think your last point about filenames under the photographs is the most crucial one one for me. Especially as every photo on my computer has a file name like "2001-09-22-14-32.jpg".

What's also worrying for me is that to get the future (and no doubt much improved) versions of Photos, I am going to need to keep upgrading the OS of my iMac. Seeing as I have a mid-2011 iMac, and have neither plans nor funds to buy a new machine, I'm kind of stuck in a time warp.

I have yet to upgrade to El Capitan from Yosemite, as I use "Expression Media 2" as my main photo app, and cannot 100% guarantee it will work in 10.11.

One of the main ways that I use iPhotos is to create slideshows. This may seem like a small point, because I've never seen anyone else mention it, but in Photos when you create a slideshow there is no way to make the pictures come up in random order. They are strictly chronological, unless you decide to manually rearrange them, which is not practical if there are more than 30 or 40 pictures. Maybe I'm missing something, like a "random order" button in Photos, but I don't see it.

Thanks in advance

I tend to disagree that Photos is more versatile. The "slideshows" may have been upgraded but the basic functionality is no longer available (as far as I could find the functions during a test on a machine that we restored back into the "pre-Photos" version).

- Organizing sessions ("Events") is terrible in Photos, one huge stream for 30.000 photo's is not an option ... I don't feel like sharing my or my customers photos to all kind of "social" media, I need to use them for more serious purposes.

- Editing photos may sound stupid in a world where blurry smartphone pictures are called photos, but anyone with just a little bit of feeling about photography needs it, let alone business users (who I believe should also have bought a Time Capsule and could restore to the pre-Capitan version!)

If anyone can tell me how to properly organize, find and edit photos can be done in Photos, I'm more than happy to try again, otherwise the 9.6.1 is my friend ;-).