SameOldGuy

Q: Explain the relationship between libraries, albums and  photos in Photos.  Where are the pictures stored?

Looking for info on the relationship between libraries, albums and photos within the Photos app.  I can create multiple libraries containing unique albums and photos.  Can I place the same photo in different albums and libraries?  When making a copy is it creating a link to the original or a new photo?  Where are the photo files located?  When scanning photo to my Mac Pro files are placed in a folder structure, copying these photos into an album does Photos use the original file or does it place a copy in a database?

 

Bottomline, I'm frustrated with the collection method, albums,location and date.  I would like to store related photos in a separate album.   Example:  A library for a family, containing albums for family members. Possibly having duplicate photos in different albums.

iPhone 4S, iOS 7

Posted on Aug 30, 2016 10:11 PM

Close

Q: Explain the relationship between libraries, albums and  photos in Photos.  Where are the pictures stored?

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by K Shaffer,

    K Shaffer K Shaffer Aug 30, 2016 10:40 PM in response to SameOldGuy
    Level 6 (14,259 points)
    Desktops
    Aug 30, 2016 10:40 PM in response to SameOldGuy

    A few of your questions may be answered in this thread by contributor Léonie:

    Re: Too many libraries...

     

    More answers may be found by using Help in Photos app, or in general Help viewer.

     

    Apple Support site has informational links to articles; sometimes a web search helps

    to locate the Apple pages faster than within the company site. Others online include:

     

    Photos for OS X FAQ:

    http://www.imore.com/photos-os-x-faq

     

    How to use Photos for OS X:

    http://www.imore.com/how-use-photos-os-x-ultimate-guide

     

    Good luck!

  • by gail from maine,

    gail from maine gail from maine Aug 30, 2016 10:40 PM in response to SameOldGuy
    Level 7 (25,669 points)
    iCloud
    Aug 30, 2016 10:40 PM in response to SameOldGuy

    You have one Library (unless you intentionally create more than one), and one set of Photos (unless you intentionally create duplicates for editing, playing with, etc.). You can arrange these photos into Albums, and it is still using the same library and set of photos regardless of how many times a particular photo appears in any number of Albums.

     

    Albums are just "placeholders" that point to the original version of the photo that is in the Library. Keeps them together in groups that are pleasing and sensible to you.

     

    Cheers,

     

    GB

  • by Terence Devlin,

    Terence Devlin Terence Devlin Aug 30, 2016 10:51 PM in response to SameOldGuy
    Level 10 (139,475 points)
    iLife
    Aug 30, 2016 10:51 PM in response to SameOldGuy

    By default - that is, unless you specifically change a setting in the preferences - your photos are copied into the open library when you import them to Photos. That Library resides in your Pictures Folder. You access the files via Photos and the many sharing and export methods it offers.

     

    You can have multiple libraries. In most cases though, you won't need more than one. Multiple libraries can be inconvenient - you can only search the open one, for instance, and only on can be the System Library. So, think carefully before deciding on multiple libraries.

     

    Libraries are quite independent of each other. Photos can be in multiple libraries, but only if you import them that way. And having the same photo in multiple libraries uses up disk space.

     

    An Album is an ad hoc collection of photos within a Library. Basically, you can group photos together on any basis you like in an album: Our Wedding, Dog Photos, Christmases over the Years, whatever. Photos in Albums are not duplicates, they simply reference photos in the Library. So, a snap can be many albums and use no extra disks space.

     

      I would like to store related photos in a separate album.   Example:  A library for a family, containing albums for family members. Possibly having duplicate photos in different albums.

     

    I note that in this you use Album and lIbrary as synonyms and they are not. Couple of ways you can do this:

     

    One Library.

    Use the Faces feature to identify family members. Now you automatically have an album for each person.

     

    or

     

    Use keywords to identify people (or events)

    Then use a Smart Album to group these - and again, the same photo can be in multiple locations using no extra disk space.

     

    or

     

    Make an album and drag and drop the pics to it.

     

    That's the most efficient way of doing it. I wrote the following for iPhoto and it pretty much holds true for Photos too.

     

    I use keywords and Smart Albums extensively. I title the pics broadly.

     

    I keyword on a

    Who

    What

    Where basis (The When is in the photos's Exif metadata). I also rate the pics.

     

    Using this system I can find pretty much find any pic in my 70k library in a couple of seconds.

     

    So, for example, I have a batch of pics titled 'Seattle 08' and a  typical keywording might include: John, Anne, Landscape, mountain, trees, snow. With a rating included it's so very easy to find the best pics we took at Mount Rainier.

     

    File -> New Smart Album

    set it to 'All"

    title contains Seattle

    keyword is mountain

    keyword is snow

    Photo is Favourite

     

    Or, want a chronological album of John from birth to today?

     

    New Smart Album

    Keyword is John

    Set the View options to Sort By Date Ascending

     

    Want only the best pics?

    add Photo is favourite

     

    The best thing about this system is that it's dynamic. If I add 50 more pics of John  to the Library tomorrow, as I keyword and rate them they are added to the Smart Album.

     

    In the end, organisation is about finding the pics. The point is to make locating that pic or batch of pics findable fast. This system works for me.

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Aug 30, 2016 11:08 PM in response to SameOldGuy
    Level 10 (105,680 points)
    iLife
    Aug 30, 2016 11:08 PM in response to SameOldGuy

    A few add-ons to Gail's reply:

    I can create multiple libraries containing unique albums and photos.

    Yes, but splitting photos across libraries makes it harder to work with the photos. You can only browse one library at a time. If you want to create a slideshow or a book from photos in different libraries, it will not be possible, unless you move copies to one library. And you cannot search across libraries, unless you purchase PowerPhotos, to help with searching libraries and moving photos between libraries.

    I am making sure, that I have all photos I will ever need together in one library.

     

     

    Where are the photo files located?

    By default the photos you import are copied into the Photos Library, and that is the safest and easiest way to use Photos.

    There is an option to avoid the copy and to reference the files in the original location.  But referenced originals are poorly supported in Photos and sooner or later you will run into problems, because there are no tools to relocate the originals to a different drive, when you need to move your photos to a new drive. And reconnecting broken links is difficult. Use referenced files only, if your library is so large, that it will not fit on your drive.

    See this Help page:  https://help.apple.com/photos/mac/1.0/?lang=en#/pht12e7a8015

     

    Example:  A library for a family, containing albums for family members. Possibly having duplicate photos in different albums.

    You can add the same photo to many albums in Photos, without needing extra storage. Albums are simply using the photos that are stored in the library once.  A photo of your grandma cutting the birthday cake could go into the album for the grandma and into the album for birthdays. This will not create duplicates.

     

    Or use smart albums based on keywords.You can add keywords, like birthday, to the photos and collect all birthday photos in a smart album "Keyword is birthday".

     

    I am grouping my albums in nested folders, and they are easily accessible in the sidebar:

    sidebar.jpg

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Aug 31, 2016 7:19 AM in response to SameOldGuy
    Level 10 (84,185 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Aug 31, 2016 7:19 AM in response to SameOldGuy

    Maybe a short version

     

    YOu know what a photo is - that is something you take with a camera

     

    A library is a self contained set of photos with everything about them including their metadata and organization - you can have multiple libraries but it is generally a bad idea - one large library is much better than several small libraries and very inconvenient

     

    WIthin a library you organize photos using folders and albums - an album is a group of related photos and can be made manually or automatically using a smart album

     

    Folders are then used to add organization and a folder can contain either albums or other folders so yoou can build complicated tree structures like a folder for vacations containing folders for the US, Europe, Asia, etc and each of those containing albums for subdivisions (countries or states etc) - this can be as complex as you want

     

    And everything is done virtually creating database entries not physical organizational elements - duplicating a photo, placing it in an album or editing it does not create another copy - it only makes database entries so when you look at yoru library using Photos or the media browser you see your edits and organization

     

    Hopefully that hels you understand

     

     

    as to specific questions you ask

    1 - You can create multiple libraries but it is not desirable and is not a good idea - when you create a library everything you add to it a physical image so takes additional space and can not be managed with any other library 0 each library is a totally separate and distance physical element - normally you want only one library - sometimes one library for work and from for home is best but certainly not one for family, pets, friends, etc - that would be a disaster, impossible to manage and loses all eh advantages of the database

    2 - a photo can be in any number of albums - but as explained above it only exists once - the albums are virtual- to put a photo in multiple libraries you have to export it form one library and import into another library and you now use twice the storage and have physically duplicated the photo

    3 - everything you do within a single library is virtual - edits, copying, adding metadata - only when you export the image do the changes get applied and become physical

    4 - By default and very strongly recommended all photos are copies into the Photos library when imported - any copy outside of the library can be deleted (this is controled by the preferences but it is a bad idea to change it - the default is a managed library, if you change it it becomes a referenced library which had no advantages and lots of major problems)

    5 - when you scan the photos are save where every you say to be - if your scan software allows scanning to Photos then the photos are imported to Photos - if you scan and save in your own folder structure then you have to import the photos manually - nothing is every directly saved to the Photos library - you never make any change to it using the finder or any other program - and as noted in #4 when you import you make a copy in the Photos library and teh external copy is not needed by Photos for anything

     

     

    LN