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Getting photos OUT of iPhoto

Hi all,

I used to use iPhoto 4 a long time ago, and then stopped using it as my photos took up so much more space in iPhoto than kept outside of the software library in folders. I had a really small hard drive and no external drive at the time. Then at some point I tried using iPhoto 6... and to make a long story short I now have an incredible mess of photos, some of which exist both in an iPhoto library (either 4 or 6 or both) and in folders elsewhere, some of which are only in folders outside of iPhoto, and some of which are only in an iPhoto library. I now have a much larger hard drive and external drives, and am trying to set order to the mess (it will probably take me the rest of the year!)

To complicate matters even more, I just now accidentally updated one of my myriad versions of iPhoto Library to iPhoto 7.1.4 (the version I have currently installed), and have noticed that you can no longer see the originals folder inside the iPhoto library in the Finder, UNLESS you right-click on a photo in iPhoto and select "Show File", and then you can browse through the folders of the iPhoto Library. I suppose they made this change so you wouldn't mess with those folders and files.

Looking at the folders inside the iPhoto library that I accessed in that way for the library I accidentally upgraded, I see they are a mess...some dates have two folders, other folders say "Roll X" instead of being separated by date, etc.

*I want to extract all the photos that are in the iPhoto Library to folders outside of the program*--just the original photos--so I can

A. Have a backup of the pictures outside of any iPhoto Library, and
B. Reimport all my pictures once I make heads and tails of what is where (or perhaps just have iPhoto reference the originals in folders outside of the iPhoto Library, since I read that is now possible).

My question is this:

What is the best way of getting the pictures out of the iPhoto Library? If I get access to the original folders within the library by right-clicking any photo and then being able to browse inside the library, am I going to have any problems if I copy or move those original pictures directly to a folder outside of the iPhoto Library? Would it be better to export the pictures? Does exporting using "current" under "Kind" give you the original more safely?

Also, any suggestions on how to best have photos OUTSIDE of an iPhoto library organized so that iPhoto can reference them, but your backup is also organized? I'd like to have my photos organized by date in the backup as well, so that I don't have to backup all my pictures every time I add new ones, just add the latest to the backup drive.

Finally, any suggestions on what to do with pictures that you scan so that they appear by the date they were taken as opposed to the date they were scanned? Is there a way to modify the date of the photo info?

Thanks in advance for any insights!

2 X 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon, Mac OS X (10.5.5), 2 GB RAM

Posted on Feb 7, 2009 4:46 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 7, 2009 5:16 PM

My question is this:

What is the best way of getting the pictures out of the iPhoto Library? I


Select the photos you want out and export them as JPGEs - kind = current for the current edited version - kind = original for the original

f I get access to the original folders within the library by right-clicking any photo and then being able to browse inside the library, am I going to have any problems if I copy or move those original pictures directly to a folder outside of the iPhoto Library?


Copying photos out will not be a problem if you make no errors - for me that is not a good bet - it is best to stay out of yoru iPhoto library

Would it be better to export the pictures?


Yes

Does exporting using "current" under "Kind" give you the original more safely?


No - it gives you the current version which may be the original if no changes have been made or will be the current edited version if edits ahve been made

Also, any suggestions on how to best have photos OUTSIDE of an iPhoto library organized so that iPhoto can reference them, but your backup is also organized?


In the iPhoto preferences un check the advanced preference to "copy imported items to the iPhoto library"

HOWEVER - this is not recommended - it makes importing more complicated, deleting more complicated and makes replacing a hard drive or going to a new computer much more difficult - and it puts you totally in charge of your original photos - being sure that they are there and do not get moved

I'd like to have my photos organized by date in the backup as well, so that I don't have to backup all my pictures every time I add new ones, just add the latest to the backup drive.



Finally, any suggestions on what to do with pictures that you scan so that they appear by the date they were taken as opposed to the date they were scanned? Is there a way to modify the date of the photo info?


Select the photos in iPhoto and use the batch change command under the photos menu - the tiem and date option

LN
4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 7, 2009 5:16 PM in response to Nayeli

My question is this:

What is the best way of getting the pictures out of the iPhoto Library? I


Select the photos you want out and export them as JPGEs - kind = current for the current edited version - kind = original for the original

f I get access to the original folders within the library by right-clicking any photo and then being able to browse inside the library, am I going to have any problems if I copy or move those original pictures directly to a folder outside of the iPhoto Library?


Copying photos out will not be a problem if you make no errors - for me that is not a good bet - it is best to stay out of yoru iPhoto library

Would it be better to export the pictures?


Yes

Does exporting using "current" under "Kind" give you the original more safely?


No - it gives you the current version which may be the original if no changes have been made or will be the current edited version if edits ahve been made

Also, any suggestions on how to best have photos OUTSIDE of an iPhoto library organized so that iPhoto can reference them, but your backup is also organized?


In the iPhoto preferences un check the advanced preference to "copy imported items to the iPhoto library"

HOWEVER - this is not recommended - it makes importing more complicated, deleting more complicated and makes replacing a hard drive or going to a new computer much more difficult - and it puts you totally in charge of your original photos - being sure that they are there and do not get moved

I'd like to have my photos organized by date in the backup as well, so that I don't have to backup all my pictures every time I add new ones, just add the latest to the backup drive.



Finally, any suggestions on what to do with pictures that you scan so that they appear by the date they were taken as opposed to the date they were scanned? Is there a way to modify the date of the photo info?


Select the photos in iPhoto and use the batch change command under the photos menu - the tiem and date option

LN

Getting photos OUT of iPhoto

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