Anyone still using iPhotos and trying to set up Adobe Lightroom

Question

Level 1

8 points

Anyone still using iPhotos and trying to set up Adobe Lightroom

iPhoto is stable - never had a problem with it but am having an awful time trying to set up a stable catalogue of my photos to use reliably with Adobe Lightroom.

Finally figured out how to create a Master file - that is good for creating: 1) a separate back up, and 2) for a separate "working file source" for LR.

However, have tried several times to get my 1000s of photos to play nicely with LR. Every time I launch LR it tells me that it cannot find the photos (that means a link is missing or broken). I have to "show it" where the photo is: The master file that it got the photos from, in the first place when I set up the File Handling, is right there - in the same file format - in exactly the same place - on my computer that it was the last time I opened LR.

My iMac and iPhoto are not moving it so what is the problem? Then the photos mysteriously are duplicated. It took 3 hours to clean up and remove more than 6,000 images that had duplicated themselves. This happens every time I launch LR and it (?) find all sorts of places/paths to hide the files. I do not want to describe what happened to the photo date & number of the original photo. It is so messy.

For some reason this does not seem to be just a Lightroom problem. I have read every manual and every current information source and have tried for the 6th time to get it right. Is there any way that I can help to correct this issue?

I will not quit using iPhoto, right now - It is so reliable. I never did get Aperture so do not have that as a fallback. Have created several back ups for my photos so am good there. I will be updating the Mac OS in a couple of months and will be using Photo, then. Figure if I don't correct the problem with LR now it will not get any better when I do the update to Yosemite.

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion

Posted on Aug 26, 2015 9:31 PM

Reply

Answer 1

LarryHN

Level 10

106,110 points

Aug 26, 2015 10:18 PM in response to F. Quill

you can not use LightRoom with the photos in iPhoto - as you have found out

Each program does the same job in a totally different way and they can not share the same photos - you must export the original photos from iphoto and import them into LR so each has its own separate set of photos

LN

Reply

Answer 2

F. Quill Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 26, 2015 10:49 PM in response to LarryHN

Appreciate the reply, LN. Since I have created that separate file for LR to use as the "go to" I am still having problems. Do you know any more that might help me? If so, is there any other info that I could give you that would help me solve this issue? I have a few screen shots of some really nice LR File Handling setups that show the precise path on their Mac. Makes me envious. I have a screen shot of some before and after attempts of what my paths looked like - not so pretty!

Called their Help-people and thought I had it working. Finished up with the metadata and then did my export/exit - closed LR - checked iMac OS Pictues/Files, etc. Had a nice lrdata and lrcat pkg. Looked good and stable (except for the file handling and path - date/naming thing - arghh, … .).

Then I relaunched LR and even though I did not touch the Master file that I set up for it to use as the Source file for the photos, it started asking for help locating the photos - one photo at a time! There are 1000s! It was really defeating then when I checked what was in myFinder: Pictures/files and saw that it (?) had randomly or arbitrarily moved everything and duplicated every single image file. It was no longer using the file that I gave it as a "Source".

I know that there is something that I do not have set up exactly right and need help to get it straight.

I have read hundreds of pages of manuals and help sheets and blogs and watched hours of help videos. When I get this catalogue/file handling thing straightened out I'll be extremely happy and grateful.

Reply

Answer 3

LarryHN

Level 10

106,110 points

Aug 26, 2015 11:25 PM in response to F. Quill

I'm sorry but I think my post was concise and clear - and simple

you can not use LightRoom with the photos in iPhoto - as you have found out

Each program does the same job in a totally different way and they can not share the same photos - you must export the original photos from iphoto and import them into LR so each has its own separate set of photos

What part of it are you having trouble understanding?

The only way to solve your problem is "you must export the original photos from iphoto and import them into LR so each has its own separate set of photos"

LN

Reply

Answer 4

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,308 points

Aug 28, 2015 12:10 AM in response to F. Quill

You have two separate issues here.

1. Pick one horse and ride it. iPhoto and LR do the same job, occupy the same role in the workflow. There is no sensible way to use both, they simply do not talk to each other. So, decide which app you wan too use and forget the other one. Hint: LR is a much more capable app - reflected in the price. Also, unlike iPhoto it is still in active development.

2. If you decide to go with LR then the current version of the app has a tool to import an iPhoto installation:

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/help/import-iphoto.html

3. The rest of your questions are about LR and not iPhoto, and so quite beyond the scope of this forum but there are a lot of helpful videos on setting up LR on YouTube, on the Adobe site and Adobe have their own forums too.

Reply

Answer 5

F. Quill Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 28, 2015 11:07 PM in response to Yer_Man

Appreciate your suggestions but do have to clarify: Might be one horse but there are two completely different stables run by different stable-hands, each offering specialized services.

1. One is the iPhoto stable - you can see your horse, any time you want, and it comes to you when you call. But if you have 10,000 or more horses in that stable, … and you need to do some general grooming on one, you need a really good stable-hand to help you find that horse - or spend hours looking for that one special horse. No horse ever gets lost or damaged with iPhoto. It is the stable of stables and I wouldn't be without it!

2. Lightroom is a different stable: First, if you want a particular horse, here you need to provide a digital-ticket so-to-speak, to the stable-hand, to corral the right horse. No valid digital-ticket - no horse - LR doesn't really "keep" the horse. But if you set it up properly - no matter how many horses there are - it appears immediately.

I have discovered a solution for two parts of the problem since I posted to the community to find solutions: The current version of LR (2015 CC release) seems to work best with Photo (not iPhoto) and latest Mac OS. Need to update - that should correct most of the problem.

Thanks for the suggestions! And happy riding!

Reply

Answer 6

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,308 points

Aug 29, 2015 2:20 AM in response to F. Quill

Congratulations on torturing a metaphor past the point of any meaning that I could detect.

I've no idea what you're trying to say about Lightroom and the digital ticket stuff. It works precisely the same way as iPhoto - it has a library, it manages your photos and it offer non-destructive editing. It's a pro level app, and so is more capable.

Lr works with Photo and iPhoto is exactly the same way - not at all.

Reply