meegwell

Q: How do I use iPhoto vs. Pictures folder for organization and viewing?

I have a high level question as to how to use, in general not specific functions, iPhoto on my new iMac.  I imported all of my PC files from an external drive into the appropriate Folders (Pictures, Documents, Music, Movies) successfully.    So my large collection of photos resides in many sub folders under Pictures (like ‘2012 Mom Visit’ or “Christmas 2008’).

 

My question is should I be using iPhoto as my primary app for viewing and organizing my full inventory of pictures, along with obviously editing/creating? Or do I use the default Pictures folder, and dig through with Finder or some search mechanisms if I only want to look at a photo and save iPhoto for editing and creating tasks?  If iPhoto should be my primary photo browsing and organizing tool, and I hope so because I would like a tool to just organize/view/search all my photos rather than thumbing through the folder structure, how to I “import” or tell iPhoto where all my photos are (there are a lot under a lot of subfolders)?  Will iPhoto then keep duplicate copies of these or do all my photo files remain in the Folder structure?

 

Bottom line: is iPhoto supposed to be my go-to place for all my photo browsing, viewing, searching as well as editing and creating?  Should every photo I add to this iMac somehow be linked or imported through iPhoto?

 

I also have pictures in the cloud and on an iPad (since my PC died I dumped camera photos directly to the ipad) but I’ll deal with these after I understand the appropriate use for iPhoto.

 

Thanks for any input.

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Jan 24, 2013 7:31 AM

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Q: How do I use iPhoto vs. Pictures folder for organization and viewing?

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  • by meegwell,

    meegwell meegwell Jan 24, 2013 7:49 AM in response to meegwell
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Apple TV
    Jan 24, 2013 7:49 AM in response to meegwell

    A lightbulb just went off here while reading another thread...Ive used itunes for years and I generally "get" the library vs. actual file storage vs. playlists and tags thing....should I look at iPhoto like this?  Meaning, should I have one iPhoto library and everything I do sort of uses and points to the actual picture files but the library actually is storing only this logistical and organizational data?

  • by Terence Devlin,Helpful

    Terence Devlin Terence Devlin Jan 24, 2013 7:52 AM in response to meegwell
    Level 10 (139,480 points)
    iLife
    Jan 24, 2013 7:52 AM in response to meegwell

    The important thing to remember is there is no "supposed to" or "best way". There's what works for you and you photos. This may be iPhoto or some other app.

     

    Couple of thoughts: iPhoto is not an editor. It's a Manager - like Contacts for your Addresses or iTunes for your Music, it offers powerful and easy to use tools that will help you manage and share your photos in the various ways you might need it. It will also enhance and crop and edit photos as well, but if you're not using it as a manager then forget about it for editing as it will be just too complex. There are loads of editors out there.

     

    If you use iPhoto then it's your "go-to" for anything to do with your Photos. Viewing, Organising, sharing, Uploading, Printing, whatever. All of these things can be done either with or via iPhoto. Put another way, you never access your files via the Finder.

     

    For more on this see this User tip:

     

    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4491

     

    There are two ways to set up your iPhoto Library. Managed and Referenced

     

    A Managed Library, is the default setting, and iPhoto copies files into the iPhoto Library when Importing. The files are then stored in the Library package

     

    A Referenced Library is when iPhoto is NOT copying the files into the iPhoto Library when importing because you made a change at iPhoto -> Preferences -> Advanced. (You unchecked the option to copy files into the Library on import) The files are then stored where ever you put them and not in the Library package. In this scenario you are responsible for the File Management. 

     

    As you are new to iPhoto I strongly urge you to run a Managed Library. There are many pitfalls with a Referenced one - see here for instance

     

    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3062728?tstart=0

     

    and for someone new to iPhoto and The Mac you can lose data very easily with a Referenced Library.

     

    However you store the files, importing is the same: easiest way: drag a folder of images to the iPhoto Window and iPhoto will import it and create an Event from it.

     

    If you have a managed library then it will copy the files into its own Library. You filing structure is then pointless. You can trash it - but don't do it immediately. iPhoto is a great app, but it's not necessarily for everyone. When you've lived with it for a few weeks and are sure it's for you, that's when you can trash your own filing structure.

     

    The problem with what you have now - files-in-folders-and-subfolders - is that it is limited. Searching is trcky as you don't have a whole lot of things to search on. I append the following to show you some of the options available in iPhoto.

     

    I use Events simply as big buckets of Photos: Spring 08, July - Nov 06 are typical Events in my Library. I use keywords and Smart Albums extensively. I title the pics broadly.

     

     

    I keyword on a

    Who

    What

    Where basis (The When is in the photos's Exif metadata). I also rate the pics on a 1 - 5 star basis.

     

     

    Using this system I can find pretty much find any pic in my 44k library in a couple of seconds.

     

     

    So, for example, I have a batch of pics titled 'Seattle 08' and a  typical keywording might include: John, Anne, Landscape, mountain, trees, snow. With a rating included it's so very easy to find the best pics we took at Mount Rainier.

     

     

    File -> New Smart Album

    set it to 'All"

    title contains Seattle

    keyword is mountain

    keyword is snow

    rating is 5 stars

     

     

    Or, want a chronological album of John from birth to today?

     

     

    New Smart Album

    Keyword is John

    Set the View options to Sort By Date Ascending

     

     

    Want only the best pics?

    add Rating is greater than 4 stars

     

     

    The best thing about this system is that it's dynamic. If I add 50 more pics of John  to the Library tomorrow, as I keyword and rate them they are added to the Smart Album.

     

     

    In the end, organisation is about finding the pics. The point is to make locating that pic or batch of pics findable fast. This system works for me.

     

     


  • by LarryHN,Helpful

    LarryHN LarryHN Jan 24, 2013 7:54 AM in response to meegwell
    Level 10 (84,200 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jan 24, 2013 7:54 AM in response to meegwell

    what you use and how you use it is a personal choice

     

    iPhoto is a very powerful Digital Asset Manager (a DAM) and is used by many as their "go to" photo manager

     

    it is a SQLite database and when you use iPhoto you must always use it or the media browser to access yor photos - the use of the media browser is discussed in this user tip  

     

    there is a learning curve for iPhoto just like for any new program and since it is all about photos not about files it takes a while to change your thinking about organization

     

    I would start with the iPhoto tutorials and working with a hundresd of so photos before jumping in with both feet

     

    And do leave the iPhoto oreference to copy imported items tothe iPhoto library checked (the default) - unchecking it will greatly complicate your life - once you import phoos they can be deleteed from outside iPhoto

     

    a best practice to is to never have any computer program (including iPhoto) delete the photos from the card but to import the photos and keep them and then after at least one successful backup cycle has completed and the reformat the card --  I use three very large (32 GB) cards in rotation so I do not reformat for typically a year or more giving me one more long term backup of my photos

     

    LN

  • by meegwell,

    meegwell meegwell Jan 24, 2013 8:28 AM in response to Terence Devlin
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Apple TV
    Jan 24, 2013 8:28 AM in response to Terence Devlin

    This explanation is incredibly helpful.  I just couldn't find this in any tutorials, everything seemed task specific.

     

    I want iPhoto to manage my photos much like I have iTunes manage my 300gb of music.  I went down that road years ago of managing it the file location and structure myself and leared the hardway.  I like and use heavily the rating system and the smart playlists and can visualize how this would work within the context of iPhoto.  This is where I want to go.

     

    Now that I know where Im going, I would like to ask a few followup so I know where to start and dont get myself into trouble.

     

    As stated, I have many photos spanning 10 years or so organized in classic subfolders titled by, for the most part and more accurately in recent years, by events such as "mom visit 12/2012" or sometimes more general "2008 Holidays".

     

    Understanding this is subjective to some degree and a matter of personal preference, does it seem reasonable to start importing these subfolders one at a time as Events in iPhoto?  With each one, I can go in and apply ratings, titles, faces, etc....and this would allow me to work through this import process over time.

     

    If I do this, is the end result that I have one iPhoto library (all my photos I choose to manage in iPhoto) and many Events in this single Library?

     

    From here I can get back to figuring things out on my own but I want to make sure I start the import process correctly, knowing where I want to end up as stated above.

     

    Thank You.

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Jan 24, 2013 8:35 AM in response to meegwell
    Level 10 (84,200 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jan 24, 2013 8:35 AM in response to meegwell

    ..Ive used itunes for years and I generally "get" the library vs. actual file storage vs. playlists and tags thing....should I look at iPhoto like this?

    Some similarity but be careful - they are not the same - for example iTunes is not a music eidtor - iPhoto is a photo editor

     

    should I have one iPhoto library

    Generally that is by far the best

     

    everything I do sort of uses and points to the actual picture files but the library actually is storing only this logistical and organizational data?

    This is called a referenced library and is very strongly not recommended and there is no reason to do it

    And do leave the iPhoto oreference to copy imported items tothe iPhoto library checked (the default) - unchecking it will greatly complicate your life - once you import photos they can be deleted from outside iPhoto

    LN

  • by HFTaylor12,

    HFTaylor12 HFTaylor12 Apr 4, 2016 4:49 PM in response to meegwell
    Level 1 (48 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 4, 2016 4:49 PM in response to meegwell

    Hi meegwell,

    What you use is entirely up to you. There's no correct way, you just do it how you like. To help you decide which to choose, I've made a list of the pros and cons of each:

    Pictures Folder

    Pros

    • Right in the Finder (easy to access)
    • Previews of every photo, not just Events
    • Easy organization into folders

    Cons

    • No automatic organization (like Events in iPhoto)
    • Difficult to find a certain photo (unless you're really good at organizing)
    • No editing
    • Management is not as easy as iPhoto
    • Not as easy to share photos

    iPhoto

    Pros

    • Really easy to organize into Events
    • You get to sync photos with iCloud
    • Really easy to share photos
    • Easy to find a photo (by Event, Face, Place, or album)

    Cons

    • You have to launch another app
    • Not as easy to create folders (called albums in iPhoto)

    ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

    Overall, the above list shows that iPhoto is better. But different people have different needs. I use iPhoto for all my photos, and I put copies of my favorite photos in my Pictures folder. But you can use these however you want.

    Hope this helps,

    HFTaylor12

  • by Terence Devlin,

    Terence Devlin Terence Devlin Apr 4, 2016 10:34 PM in response to HFTaylor12
    Level 10 (139,480 points)
    iLife
    Apr 4, 2016 10:34 PM in response to HFTaylor12

    You realise that this is 27 months old, right?