Why can I not directly view iPhoto pictures from Finder?

There is no safe way to do that. iPhoto manages the photos and accessing them from the Finder may corrupt the links in the iPhoto Library.

If you need to access the photos from other applications, use the Media Browser.

Terence Devlin has written some very useful user tips, that describe the iPhoto Library: See the links below, i.e. How to Access Files in iPhoto

iPhoto and File Management

How to Access Files in iPhoto

Exporting From iPhoto

Yes but...

You can look inside the iPhoto Library easily enough but to what end?

Here's how: Right (or Control-) Click on the Library icon and select 'Show Package Contents'. A finder window will open with the Library exposed.

Now you can see inside. Your original photos, as imported from your camera, will be in the Masters folder (called the Originals folder in some versions).

But here's the thing: Make no changes of any kind in this folder. Do not move, erase, delete, add or rename anything. If you do you risk significant dataloss

The innards of the iPhoto Library are like the engine of a car. There are no user-serviceable parts there. The inexperienced user will cause damage. The experienced user will not cause damage as s/he won't get involved there.

When you use iPhoto you are saying that you don't want to access your files via the Finder. iPhoto replaces the Finder for anything that you want to do with your photos. It works like this because iPhoto uses lots of virtualisation in its processes - all non-destructive editors do.

So, why do you want to go in there?

To share a photo with some other app for editing?

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.

To share a photo by email/ upload to a website etc?

For help accessing your photos in iPhoto see this user tip:

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

To get a good quality version of a Photo:

This User Tip

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4921

has details of the options in the Export dialogue.

Basically, if you want to surf your photos via the Finder then you don't want to use iPhoto.

JoshMGB wrote:

When going into finder/Photos I cannot directly view my IPhoto's images. It displays the icon for iPhoto's to be opened so that the images can be viewed. Is there a way that the photos can be drectly displayed in finder, rather than launching the application?

An iPhoto library is a package rather than a folder so to access the pictures in the database, you'll need to right click and select Show Package Contents. Your pictures are usually in the Masters folder. The default location would be the following:

~/Pictures/iPhoto Library.photolibrary/Masters

While Finder is open, select Go at the top bar and then Go to Folder. You can copy and paste the path above and that should take you to your pictures. Let us know if you have further questions.

TThe iPhoto library is a package, that is right. And it stores the parts of your photos distributed, linked by database entries. Accessing the Masters will give you the original image files, but not the edited photo with all its metadata. IPhoto manages photos, but the Finder will only show you a part of the files that make the photo. The actual, edited photo exists in limbo and only iPhoto will show it.

Basically what I want to do is transfer my images from iPhoto's into iCloud Drive Photo's application.

best advice: wait a few weeks. The new app Photos, which replaces iPhoto, works in conjunction with the Library in the cloud so you'll be able to do all that automatically. It's in beta right now but will be released soon.

If you're really in a hurry for this then explore the options in the two articles linked above.

transfer my images from iPhoto's into iCloud Drive Photo's application

Do you mean "iCloud Photo Library (Beta)"?

When you press the upload button in the Photos window to show a File Chooser dialog, go to the Columns view to see the sidebar with the Favourites. when you scroll down, do you see a Media section with photos and movies? Then press the Camera icon to show your iPhoto Library. I cannot test that right now, because my own iCloud Photo Library is still "Preparing".