Multiple users on multiple macs sharing iPhoto Library

You can not

iPhoto is not a multi usr application and it can not be used on a network

You need a more expensive (and more capable ) application - there is a Digital Asset Manager (DAM) forum that discusses many different DAM solutions - for your needs iphoto simply is not one to consider

For sharing with IOS devices MyPhotoStream or Shared PhotoStreams is a great solution

LN

How can different family members (using personal logins) all access the same iPhoto library, regardless of which of our two iMacs they happen to be logged into?

I thought the solution would be as simple as:

1. Plug an external hard drive into the Airport Time Capsule.
2. Copy our iPhoto library onto the external hard drive.
3. Log in as each user, open iPhoto and point to the iPhoto library on the external hard drive.

This cannot work, unfortunately, for several reasons:

• iPhoto is strictly a single user database. Only one user at a time can open it.
• An iPhoto library needs to be on a locally mounted volume. It cannot be on a network share.
• The file system of the drive needs to be MacOS Extended (Journaled).

Apple's only recommendation to share an iPhoto library is this: iPhoto: Sharing libraries among multiple users

If you want to share photos and not the library, see this: iCloud: iCloud Photo Sharing FAQ

Trying to put the iPhoto or Aperture library on a network volume, will result in library corruption or data loss:

Use locally mounted Mac OS X Extended volumes for your Aperture library

The simplest solution would be to create a set of folders on a shared drive and store all photos there. Then all family members can access the photos and edit them with any photo editor.

Apple's Photo Sharing with Shared Albums is meant to be used in a way, that everyone is keeping a separate photo library and only sharing selectively the best photos, that are fit to be seen by others. I like this method, btw. My family members get only about 1% of my photos ever to see, and only after they have been edited. Why should anybody see the mediocre photos, before I have a chance to delete them?

Media Pro 1 will do what you want. It's designed for it. And it's multi platform compatible. You can store the source image files on a server and each user can access the files and create their own "catalog" of thumbnails. However, if one user edits a photo and overwrites the source file with the edited version all users will see that version in their catalog. MP1 does have versioning capability where the edited version is stored on each users hard drive leaving the source file intact as a digital negative.

MP1 has a demo version available to try. Be sure to view the tutorial videos to get you started. Also other DAM apps are discussed at the The DAM Forum.

You could use the Adobe Elements Organizer that comes with Adobe Photoshop Elements for Mac as a file organizer along with PSE as the editor. Here it's a file managing system and not a true digital asset management app.

My link to MP1 was outdated. It's Media Pro 1. Go to Youtube.com and search for Media Pro to get a number of video tutorials on it.