iPhoto won't close as it says it's downloading photos, but camera is disconnected

You can force iPhoto to close by clicking the Apple logo on the menu bar, then selecting Force Quit > iPhoto.

iPhoto has become obsolete as of OS X 10.10.3. It has been replaced by Photos.

If you did not do all the intermediate updates from the App Store, that may well be the source of your issue. The final version of iPhoto was 9.6.1. This was the version that was used to springboard the Photos library out from the last of the iPhoto libraries.

iPhoto has become obsolete as of OS X 10.10.3. It has been replaced by Photos.

iPhoto is not obsolete. It is no longer developed. But it runs exactly like ti did before the new app was released and all the features still work. It was not replaced by Photos. Both apps are on your Mac.

v9.6.1 was not used to "springboard" anything. Photos can migrate from pretty much any recent version of iPhoto.

I've been using Photos since it was released. Yes, iPhoto 9.6.1 is still on my Mac; however, opening it yields the following result:

There had been a user tip in one of the communities about requiring iPhoto 9.6.1 to migrate to the iPhoto library. I cannot find it right now ... but I have seen it.

I found the user tip:

Can't Update iPhoto because it is not available in the App Store

So, click the middle button? The one that says 'Open iPhoto'...?

Right - but since you did the IF means this tip does not apply to you - simply click the open iphoto button

LN

Terence Devlin wrote:

So, click the middle button? The one that says 'Open iPhoto'...?

Yes... if I wanted to proceed with using iPhoto after being told my library had been moved to a more up-to-date product and my edits would not be available in this later product. I cannot imagine wanting to do that.

Anyway, I think we've veered off track from the OP's question.

LarryHN wrote:

Right - but since you did the IF means this tip does not apply to you - simply click the open iphoto button

LN

OK, so the second and third paragraphs of my initial response should be taken as "FYI" by the OP.

The crux of my response is to Force Quit iPhoto, as described in my first paragraph.

Actually many people wish to continue using iPhoto for good reason - it can do a number of things that Photos can not and is recommended for those people

And others just want to continue using an old friend - again their choice and no reason for them not to

You do need to choose one or the other since there is no connection between them but if you choose iphoto then at anytime in the future that you want to go to Photos you can remigrating your iPhoto library so you have every thing you have done including all edits

LN

Yes... if I wanted to proceed with using iPhoto after being told my library had been moved to a more up-to-date product and my edits would not be available in this later product. I cannot imagine wanting to do that.

Again, for the sake of others who might read this.

Exactly, if you wanted to use iPhoto. It's about iPhoto not being obsolete or replaced.

Also, your library was not "moved" anywhere. A Photos library was created based on your iPhoto Library. Both are equally usable via their respective applications.

Yours is not the only imagination about the place... Many folks are unhappy with Photos and its current feature set.

I keep getting messages saying my start up disc is full

You have a major and serious problem and you need to fix it first.

OS X needs about 10 gigs of hard drive space for normal OS operations - things like virtual memory, temporary files and so on.

Without this space your Mac will slow down as the OS hunts for space on the disk, files will be fragmented, also slowing things down, apps will crash and the risk of data corruption - that is damage to your files, photos, music - increases exponentially.

Your first priority is to make more space on that HD. Nothing else can be done until you do.

Purchase an external HD and move your Photos and Music to it. Both iPhoto and iTunes can run perfectly well with the Library on an external disk.

Follow Terence's advice above to resolve your hard disk issue. As he says, this is absolutely your first priority.

Regarding other issues you mentioned:

• You can get iPhoto 9.6.1 (latest version) as shown here: Get iPhoto 9.6.1 if you didn't update before OS X 10.10.3
• Your most recent post says "... don't know how to get Photo[s] [the application] ...". Photos is included with OS X 10.10.3 and OS X 10.10.4. If you don't have it and you claim to have OS X 10.10.4, then something has gone awry with your OS X installation / update, and that may well be related to your full drive. Get that fixed!