iphoto problems

Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library'

This way you can know what Library you are actually using.

As for disk space: you can run your iPhoto and iTunes Libraries from an external disk:

1. Quit iPhoto

2. Copy the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to the External Disk.

3. Hold down the option (or alt) key while launching iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new location. From that point on this will be the default location of your library.

4. Test the library and when you're sure all is well, trash the one on your internal HD to free up space.

Read about Moving iTunes Music here.

Regards

TD

Are these duplicates of what is in my iphoto?

I’m afraid I’ve no idea what’s in your iPhoto or Aperture Libraries. You’ll need to check. Select a photo in the iPhoto Window and right click on it. From the resulting menu select 'Show File (or 'Show Original File' if that's available). A Finder Window will open with the file selected. In column view you’ll be able to trace back and see if the pic is inside your iPhoto Library or is, in fact, one of these external pics.

Try it on a few and see.

Regards

TD

Hello Tammy,

Like Terrance I have no idea what is on your harddisk.

I would like to make 2 comments though:
- "Whatsize" is a very nice program, I use it too sometimes.
Maybe you are aware of this, and then I apologise for mentioning.
However, since you want to know what is on your harddisk, you should also be aware of the fact that on your Apple computer there are different "kind of users".
Normal users, administrator users, and there is even the Unix "root" user.
"Whatsize" will only show you that part of your harddisk that the user that is executing the program is allowed to see.
Don't get alarmed and let this scare you off, just keep it in the back of your mind, until you are ready to explore.

- There exists a program called Graphic Converter that is able to find "duplicates".
I just tried on my iPhoto library and Aperture Library and it does find even duplicates inside these Librarys (packages). It also warns you not to delete photo's inside your iPhoto Library because that can confuse iPhoto and Aperture
GC is shareware program, so you can download and test for free.
http://www.lemkesoft.com/
Maybe this can help you get rid of some of the duplicates, if there are any, in your Pictures folder.

Regards,

Jan

Hi Tammy,

Sorry to hear that the Mac is causing you much confusion.
The folders, and thus the Pictures folder also is just a folder like on a Windows machine.
When iPhoto and Aperture were installed, it was the default folder for those applications to store the images.
The only "special" thing about it, is that both these application keep track of which images are stored and what you have done with them, themselves.
That is probably why Apple has choosen to store them in a "package" that you need to access a bit different then you would normal files.
In the "preference" of those applications you can check (and even change probably) what the default folder is to store images.
In Aperture you can even choose to use the iPhoto library instead of copying the images to the Aperture library.

So if you want to delete images, you have to do that from within the application.

Now, why do you have more images in the Pictures folder?
Probably you have used other applications too, to do something with images.
And these applications have also choosen the Pctures folder as their default folder to store the images.

So for instance if you created images with your digital camera and then used iPhoto, Aperture, and maybe some other application too, to get the images from the camera, they were all stored in the Pictures folder.
Am I making sense?
Could that be the cause of the duplicates?

Switching to Lightroom will not help, because it probably will work in a simular way as Aperture, and thus causing you the same confusion.

So folders on a Mac, are essentially the same as folders on a Windows machine.
iPhoto and Aperture store and maintain images themselves (in a Package), so best advice is not touch those images outside the application , i.e. don't use the Finder to delete images.

Hope this helps, and ask if something is not clear

Regards,

Jan

What is it that you want to know?

Some key facts about iPhoto.

It’s a database, first and foremost. The key thing with any database is that you must manipulate the data via the database itself, and not by another app.

Put plainly, it means you must import photos into iPhoto using iPhoto. It’s not enough to simply pop hem into the Library Folder. Similarly, you must delete them via iPhoto (Put the pics in the iPhoto trash and empty it - iPhoto Menu -> Empty Trash).

The good news is that you can do anything you need to do via iPhoto.

Want to work with Photoshop or another editor? You can set Photoshop (or any image editor) as an external editor in iPhoto. (Preferences -> General -> Edit Photo: Choose from the Drop Down Menu.) This way, when you double click a pic to edit in iPhoto it will open automatically in Photoshop or your Image Editor, and when you save it it's sent back to iPhoto automatically. This is the only way that edits made in another application will be displayed in iPhoto.

Want to access your files: There are many, many ways to access your files in iPhoto:

For 10.5 users: You can use any Open / Attach / Browse dialogue. On the left there's a Media heading, your pics can be accessed there. Apple-Click for selecting multiple pics.




To upload to a site that does not have an iPhoto Export Plug-in the recommended way is to Select the Pic in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export and export the pic to the desktop, then upload from there. After the upload you can trash the pic on the desktop. It's only a copy and your original is safe in iPhoto.

This is also true for emailing with Web-based services. If you're using Gmail you can use iPhoto2GMail

If you use Apple's Mail, Entourage, AOL or Eudora you can email from within iPhoto. With 10.5 you can access the Library from the New Message Window in Mail:





If you use a Cocoa-based Browser such as Safari, you can drag the pics from the iPhoto Window to the Attach window in the browser.

Or, if you want to access the files with iPhoto not running, then create a Media Browser using Automator (takes about 10 seconds) or use this free utility Karelia iMedia Browser

Other options include:

1. *Drag and Drop*: Drag a photo from the iPhoto Window to the desktop, there iPhoto will make a full-sized copy of the pic.

2. *File -> Export*: Select the files in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export. The dialogue will give you various options, including altering the format, naming the files and changing the size. Again, producing a copy.

3. *Show File*: Right- (or Control-) Click on a pic and in the resulting dialogue choose 'Show File'. A Finder window will pop open with the file already selected.

If you need help achieving anything consult the Help or by all means post back here.

Regards

TD