Photo management software?

I agree that if you are importing a pre-exiting collection of photos into iPhoto the process is a little cumbersome. But once you start using iPhoto with your camera you'll likely come to like this (initial) method of organization. But this is only one way of organizing. You can create albums, grouping your photos any way you like. You can create smart albums using your tags and other meta data to automatically group photos. And having mentioned tags, you can tag each photo (or a group of photos) with multiple tags which will let you permanently or temporarily group photos any way you like.

To get started, you might simply want to import your photos into iPhoto using your current folder organization. Drag a folder of photos onto the iPhoto library window (or from the File menu using the Import into iPhoto option and select one folder at a time). Each individual import will become an Event - convenient if your folder organization is by event or can be easily bent into events.

You might also want to take a look at a program called ShoeBox which is probably roughly similar to the program you are currently using. Personally, had I not gotten it in a bundle, I probably wouldn't have bought it, but now that I have it, I find it convenient for organizing and browsing my collection of graphics - photos and otherwise.

Adding a bit to the excellent post by dwb

If you decide to try iPhoto then this is an easy procedure.

Drag your folders one by one into iPhoto, naming the resulting event same as the folder. Events are defined by the date a photo was taken, so you may end up with several events after each folder drag. Just consolidate the extra events by dragging them into one so you end up inserting one at a time.

After you've completed dragging in all folders to iPhoto create folders using iPhoto / File / New Folder and nest the folders inside iPhoto.

Should provide you the capability you stated but within iPhoto.

Dave Dahle

Actually you have it backwards - iPhoto is a photo manager - in the program you have been using on the PC you are the photo manager - if you like that, then use the finder - it allows exactly the same hierarchical arrangement you are looking for

iPhoto on the other hand give you a large variety of ways of organizing - events being the most basic one - for photos imported from your camera events are set up based on time - for photos imported from the finder they are wither on time or by the source folder depending on how you set the import preference

Then you can easily add ratings, keywords (and with smart albums have albums build based on keywords you assign), move into albums and move albums into folders - this is no harder than physically moveing photos into a hierarchical folder system and is MUCH more flexible and powerful - it does take a change of thourgh process but once you start thinks like a photo user rather than a photo organizer you will probably love it - make a small iPhoto library and try it out

LN

Message was edited by: LarryHN

STL3563

Events are defined by the date a photo was taken, so you may end up with several events after each folder drag.

Only if you change the default setting to check split items imported from the finder - for this user it would be better to not split them leaving the events exactly matching the folders they had before

After you've completed dragging in all folders to iPhoto create folders using iPhoto / File / New Folder and nest the folders inside iPhoto.

Not quiet - folders do not contain events they contain albums - you build albums by dragging your photos or events into the albums and then yo organize the hierarchy by moving albums into folders (ie. a vacation folder with albums for Italy, Yellowstone, Florida etc in it)

LN

Message was edited by: LarryHN

"Events are defined by the date a photo was taken, so you may end up with several events after each folder drag"
I did caveat with "... you may end up with several events ...". Setting the preference per your recommendation does eliminate the possibility.

"Not quiet - folders do not contain events they contain albums ..."
Drag an iPhoto event into an iPhoto folder and the event changes into an album inside the iPhoto folder

Stop fighting it. Learn to manage your photos instead of your files.

Dave Dahle wrote:
I tried importing into iPhoto after all, and after dragging in my sorted stack of picture folders and letting iPhoto do its thing, I now have a 'flat' hierarchy that makes no sense at all. All the subcategory folders (and sub-sub category folders too) are in the one window, and as I move the mouse over each 'event', the thumbnail has an annoying tendency to change to different photos within that folder.

You've only just begun to use iPhoto and haven't learned all of its capabilities. Give it some time; learn how it works and what it can do for you before giving up on it. 🙂

Go over iPhoto's preferences settings to make sure it's set up the way you like. Check out the various ways you can view photos. For example, I don't much like the Events view either, but I do find that viewing all of the photos divided into events works well for me. (Click on "Photos" in the left column, then click on the "View" menu and choose "Event Titles.") You may find other view options that work better for you.

Create folders and albums to sort photos within iPhoto. You might also want to check out the iPhoto web site for an overview of how it works. Apple also has an iPhoto tutorial.

You might also want to start over and import one folder of your photos at a time into iPhoto, placing them in albums with appropriate names as you do so.

Message was edited by: Rachel R

*as I move the mouse over each 'event', the thumbnail has an annoying tendency to change to different photos within that folder*

This isn't an annoyance, it is a mini-slideshow. An event's thumbnail is the first photo in that event and as you slowly moving your cursor over the thumbnail you get to see the rest of the pictures inside that event. It is a convenience since you don't have to open the event (double-click it) to see what's inside. If you aren't sure what event the picture you're looking for from, or if you've forgotten what pictures are in the event this is nice.

For me, an event is a convenient chronological organizer. I know the picture I want was taken at Betty's wedding, or maybe the day before at the rehearsal dinner. Okay, that gives me two events to look in. But is isn't the only way to organize.

Tagging: I am becoming a huge fan of tagging files - pictures and otherwise. iPhoto originally came with only rudimentary tagging ability but it has gotten better with each new release. As time has gone on my tagging has become more extensive so that I'm using permanent albums less and less.

Albums: You can create an album and drag any group of pictures into it. Want to put all Granny Smith's pictures together? No problem and it doesn't matter if they are in different events. Just start looking through your library of pictures and start dragging them into your Album.

*Smart Albums:* This is even better - and why I like tagging my photos. A Smart Album is created like a smart playlist in iTunes. Create one using a set of criteria and let iPhoto do the work for you.

Folders: Here's where you start building your hierarchy. Don't want to put all the family vacations into a single album but want to be able to find all the family vacation pictures? No problem. Use an album for each individual vacation and then stuff all the albums into a Folder.

- -+-+-

You are facing three problems: First, you don't know how to use iPhoto and don't understand its methodology or power while you do know CompuPic. Second, CompuPic's methodology is totally different from iPhoto's and you are trying to enforce its methods onto iPhoto. Doesn't work - it's like trying to teach a dog to ride a bike. Third, you are coming into iPhoto with a whole lot of pictures and importing them in and organizing them with events is not fun - believe me. I know.

My wife probably had the best idea and it came from seeing and hearing me struggle. She upgraded to the newest version of iPhoto and combined all her old pictures into one event she called 'Old Stuff' and began using it. In the course of a couple months she settled into the new version and then took a weekend to organize the 'Old Stuff' into separate Events. By this time she knew how the program worked and had developed a good strategy for working with it.

Most people are used to managing photos from the point of view of the file system, but it isn't until you learn about metadata (keywords, events, etc) that you realize that taking the file system's point of view is the most limiting, least flexible way to manage your photos. Metadata-based organization and retrieval is at the core of pro-level image organizers because it's so much more powerful than folders alone.

Clearly iPhoto is not for everyone (or else everyone would have a Mac 🙂 ) but it is a really neat program and is outstanding as a photo management system. I'd suggest that you continue with a small library while you do your heavy lifting with CompuPic and organize with key words, smart albums, albums and folders and learn iPhoto on the side - I think you will find that it is much faster and easier to find the photo you want in iPhoto than in a fixed folder tree - and the more you have teh bigger the advantage having an SQL database vs. a folder tree becomes - you might just end up liking it and in any case you will be smarter 😉

LN