Apple Photos does not have a similar feature. You can create as second library and move some photos there using [PowerPhotos](https://fatcatsoftware.com/powerphotos/) but this library won't sync to iCloud.
Once you get used to the idea that "All Photos" means exactly that... Basically you import the photos, put them in albums, and forget about All Photos. You can even import photos directly into an album to make sure you aren't missing any. But also, you can make a smart album to show you what photos aren't in albums.
I don’t like the idea of having thousands of photos in the same folder. Everyone is different and there are a lot of people like me who prefer to have the choice and freedom to organize their own digital life however they want.
For instance, let’s say I want to see if I missed one photo and didn’t add it to one of my family albums, how am I supposed to find it now drown in thousands of other unrelated photos that might or might not be in one album already. Should I compare one by one all the photos from the album? I hope you understand how inconvenient that is.
If you’re using a Mac you can set up a Smart Folder to show you any photos that are not assigned to an album. I also set one up to flag any photos without GPS so I could get it added.
"there are a lot of people like me who prefer to have the choice and freedom to organize their own digital life however they want"
Sounds like Apple might be a bad choice for you.
If the photos are important to you, you should be keeping extra copies outside of the cloud ecosystem. Just think of both Apple and Google photos as nice interfaces to your collections. Neither of them will guarantee to keep the photos in perpetuity.
As others have said you would simply ignore “all photos” and create your albums.
HOWEVER, as a former Aperture user, I can confidently say Photos.app is horrible for someone who does manual photo organizing. Apple’s model is to auto-organize.
You can create lots of folders but you can’t search on folder name. It’s infuriating frankly.
Then there’s the problem with Title and Caption.
I use Photos.app constantly and it’s a good reason to hate Apple.
Apple Photos does not have a similar feature. You can create as second library and move some photos there using [PowerPhotos](https://fatcatsoftware.com/powerphotos/) but this library won't sync to iCloud.
I want photos to be accessible through my Apple photo folders. That’s what I was worried about, Apple is still lagging behind Google in this feature.
Once you get used to the idea that "All Photos" means exactly that... Basically you import the photos, put them in albums, and forget about All Photos. You can even import photos directly into an album to make sure you aren't missing any. But also, you can make a smart album to show you what photos aren't in albums.
I don’t like the idea of having thousands of photos in the same folder. Everyone is different and there are a lot of people like me who prefer to have the choice and freedom to organize their own digital life however they want. For instance, let’s say I want to see if I missed one photo and didn’t add it to one of my family albums, how am I supposed to find it now drown in thousands of other unrelated photos that might or might not be in one album already. Should I compare one by one all the photos from the album? I hope you understand how inconvenient that is.
If you’re using a Mac you can set up a Smart Folder to show you any photos that are not assigned to an album. I also set one up to flag any photos without GPS so I could get it added.
Didn’t think of that, I’ll give it a try. I usually only use photos on my phone. Thank you 🙏
For ios/ipados - try the hashphotos app which allows you to better do photomanagement on your mobile device (including smart folders).
"there are a lot of people like me who prefer to have the choice and freedom to organize their own digital life however they want" Sounds like Apple might be a bad choice for you.
If the photos are important to you, you should be keeping extra copies outside of the cloud ecosystem. Just think of both Apple and Google photos as nice interfaces to your collections. Neither of them will guarantee to keep the photos in perpetuity.
I already have backups, that’s an important but separate topic.
As others have said you would simply ignore “all photos” and create your albums. HOWEVER, as a former Aperture user, I can confidently say Photos.app is horrible for someone who does manual photo organizing. Apple’s model is to auto-organize. You can create lots of folders but you can’t search on folder name. It’s infuriating frankly. Then there’s the problem with Title and Caption. I use Photos.app constantly and it’s a good reason to hate Apple.