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Best way to leave iPhoto?

J

joejoejoe

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 13, 2006
1,428
110
I hate iPhoto. It has ruined me. What started as a great, beautiful, visual way to organize my photos has quickly become a hellhole I shun unless I absolutely need to find an old photo.

Is there any migration software out there that exports all of my iPhoto library into folders of photos based on date? Going into the iPhoto library through finder leads to a myriad of folders that make absolutely no sense, or else I would do that.

For those curious as to why I want to kill iPhoto with my bare hands, here it is:

I have tens of thousands of photos there, upwards of 70,000, from the past 5 years mostly. I had everything organized into events that were labled etc. One day, I open my iPhoto, and all 70,000 photos are in a single ********ing event. All my organization, ordering, labels, and naming, gone. Further, now whenever I open my iPhoto, I'm greeted with the spinning beachball of death for about half an hour while my photostream, faces, and places update. (Why I can't turn off faces and places is beyond me, beyond).

I simply can't use it. Not even because I don't want to, but because all I get is a spinning beachball. I literally cannot use it.

Sorry. End rant. If someone knows of a good method of divorce, migration, exile, please let me know.

Thank you.

---

Also, clicking and dragging from the library itself won't work. I have RAW (CR2) and Jpegs of the same image in multiple events, clicking and dragging a CR2 out of iPhoto converts it to a jpeg for reasons beyond my understanding. (!@$*@$!&^*@!!@%&!!!)
 
J

joejoejoe

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 13, 2006
1,428
110
flynz4 said:
Restore your library from backup... from a date before the occurrence of the library corruption.

/Jim
Click to expand...

Thanks but then I'd lose this past year of photos, and it wouldn't help with me wanting to leave iPhoto for good. Looking for an easy way to get my photos out.
 
simsaladimbamba

simsaladimbamba

Guest
Nov 28, 2010
22,670
30
located
joejoejoe said:
Thanks but then I'd lose this past year of photos, and it wouldn't help with me wanting to leave iPhoto for good. Looking for an easy way to get my photos out.
Click to expand...

Have you tried right clicking on the actual iPhoto Library file to SHOW PACKAGE CONTENTS and see, if you can use the data stored in there?

And 70,000 photos is quite a lot for a consumer grade photo management application.
If you have that many photos, use one library per year maybe, thus if it ever gets this way, you can easily restore to a previous state, if you care to backup more often.

I have one 1 TB HDD for my photographs (digital and analog), libraries* and editing documents, one 1 TB HDD with my personal video footage in an editing friendly format.
Both 1 TB HDDs get backed up to another set of 1 TB HDDs via CarbonCopyCloner.
And those 1 TB HDDs get backed up to another set of 1 TB HDDs via CarbonCopyCloner.
Therefore I have three copies of my important data.

* I use Adobe Lightroom, I have maybe 25,000 photos in digital form, and use several libraries (one per camera, though will sort for year in the next few weeks though) to.
 
F

flynz4

macrumors 68040
Aug 9, 2009
3,242
126
Portland, OR
joejoejoe said:
Thanks but then I'd lose this past year of photos, and it wouldn't help with me wanting to leave iPhoto for good. Looking for an easy way to get my photos out.
Click to expand...

Of course you would keep your current corrupted library... so you wouldn't be losing anything that you haven't already lost.

It sounds like you haven't baked up in a year. That was mistake one.

I would recommend that you:
  • Move your current corrupted library someplace safe.
  • Restore your library to as recent as possible before the corruption.
  • Export all of those original files
  • Figure out how to get your most previous year of photos out of your corrupted package.
  • Start a real backup program

/Jim
 
J

joejoejoe

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 13, 2006
1,428
110
simsaladimbamba said:
Have you tried right clicking on the actual iPhoto Library file to SHOW PACKAGE CONTENTS and see, if you can use the data stored in there?

And 70,000 photos is quite a lot for a consumer grade photo management application.
If you have that many photos, use one library per year maybe, thus if it ever gets this way, you can easily restore to a previous state, if you care to backup more often.

I have one 1 TB HDD for my photographs (digital and analog), libraries* and editing documents, one 1 TB HDD with my personal video footage in an editing friendly format.
Both 1 TB HDDs get backed up to another set of 1 TB HDDs via CarbonCopyCloner.
And those 1 TB HDDs get backed up to another set of 1 TB HDDs via CarbonCopyCloner.
Therefore I have three copies of my important data.

* I use Adobe Lightroom, I have maybe 25,000 photos in digital form, and use several libraries (one per camera, though will sort for year in the next few weeks though) to.
Click to expand...

Thank you. Going into package contents leads to a myriad of folders. Photos from the same event will appear in different places. It would lead to a very cumbersome experience of having to reorganize everything.

I just want to export everything so they go into folders sorted by date.

I use Lightroom now, and multiple libraries to boot. I started using iPhoto as a teen and grew into professional photography, and made the jump to light room a little late (hence the 70,000 number).
 
J

joejoejoe

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 13, 2006
1,428
110
flynz4 said:
Of course you would keep your current corrupted library... so you wouldn't be losing anything that you haven't already lost.

It sounds like you haven't baked up in a year. That was mistake one.

I would recommend that you:
  • Move your current corrupted library someplace safe.
  • Restore your library to as recent as possible before the corruption.
  • Export all of those original files
  • Figure out how to get your most previous year of photos out of your corrupted package.
  • Start a real backup program

/Jim
Click to expand...

I appreciate your thorough response but I guess I wasn't clear earlier with what my issue is.

Things are backed up just fine. I don't believe my iPhoto library is corrupted, I simply think it can't handle all of the photos in it. Every time I start up, iPhoto wants to scan for Faces, download photostream, add places information to all my photos, and this is what makes it a nightmare to use.

All I want to do is export everything out--but my question is simple HOW. Clicking and dragging results in all my RAW photos being converted into Jpegs. Going into the iPhoto library through finder leads to a maze of a file system with no logical organization of my photos.

Is there a way you know of to get all my photos out of iPhoto cleanly, simply, and without headache?

Thank you Jim
 
K

Kissaragi

macrumors 68020
Nov 16, 2006
2,340
370
Couldn't you just select all your photos in iPhoto and then drag and drop to a folder?
 
ritmomundo

ritmomundo

macrumors 68020
Jan 12, 2011
2,021
543
Los Angeles, CA
I think you can import everything into Aperture and turn off Faces in that. I gave up on iPhoto years ago and have been using Aperture ever since. I don't have anywhere close to 70,000 photos, but it works well for me.
 
J

joejoejoe

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 13, 2006
1,428
110
ritmomundo said:
I think you can import everything into Aperture and turn off Faces in that. I gave up on iPhoto years ago and have been using Aperture ever since. I don't have anywhere close to 70,000 photos, but it works well for me.
Click to expand...

I may just have to shell out for aperture then. Thank you.
 
ritmomundo

ritmomundo

macrumors 68020
Jan 12, 2011
2,021
543
Los Angeles, CA
joejoejoe said:
I may just have to shell out for aperture then. Thank you.
Click to expand...

I think there used to be a 30-day trial version of Aperture a few months ago, but it looks like its no longer offered on the Apple website. I'm sure you can find a copy of the trial download somewhere on the web, just so you can see if its worth keeping before shelling out the $80.
 
B

Bruno09

macrumors 68020
Aug 24, 2013
2,202
153
Far from here
joejoejoe said:
All I want to do is export everything out--but my question is simple HOW. Clicking and dragging results in all my RAW photos being converted into Jpegs.
Click to expand...

Dragging a RAW files = creating a jpeg file.
This is "normal", this is the way iPhoto works.

Now, to export your RAW files :

Menu bar / File / Export : choose Type = Original

This will export you RAW files as RAW (without any modification).
 
NMF

NMF

macrumors 6502a
Oct 27, 2011
885
21
Hold down shift, highlight every thing, go to File menu, export all. Does that work? I'm not sure how it would name them though, your sort by date request probably isn't gonna happen. I haven't used iPhoto in a long time though.

Aperture all the way.
 
F

flynz4

macrumors 68040
Aug 9, 2009
3,242
126
Portland, OR
joejoejoe said:
I appreciate your thorough response but I guess I wasn't clear earlier with what my issue is.

Things are backed up just fine. I don't believe my iPhoto library is corrupted, I simply think it can't handle all of the photos in it. Every time I start up, iPhoto wants to scan for Faces, download photostream, add places information to all my photos, and this is what makes it a nightmare to use.

All I want to do is export everything out--but my question is simple HOW. Clicking and dragging results in all my RAW photos being converted into Jpegs. Going into the iPhoto library through finder leads to a maze of a file system with no logical organization of my photos.

Is there a way you know of to get all my photos out of iPhoto cleanly, simply, and without headache?

Thank you Jim
Click to expand...

As someone said... export (original) is the way to get everything out. It will be the exact same files that you originally imported into iPhoto.

I assume that you are planning to go to a situation of sticking pictures in finder folders via some hierarchy. This is absolutely barbaric, and IMHO it is a huge mistake. Having great organizational tools gets especially important as your library grows. If you have outgrown iPhoto (which is easy to do)... you should consider a more power Digital Asset Manager (DAM). The two obvious choices are Aperture and Lightroom.

Personally, I think Aperture is significantly better than Lightroom from a workflow POV... and I think that is the key reason to use a DAM. However, LR is a powerful tool and maybe has some marginally better photo editing tools. I consider a DAM to be an organizational tool... and given that this is where Aperture really shines... this drives my preference to Aperture. There are 1000 different tools available to edit. Aperture stands alone in organization. If you know that you are going to be doing organization in both Windows and Mac... then LR is the obvious choice. Once again... even though I do have Macs and PCs... I strictly use Macs for my photo organization.

Aperture can directly read your iPhoto library. Also, Aperture allows you to turn off faces. I do not personally know of any serious photographer who uses faces. It is a consumer toy that doesn't currently scale to be useful for large libraries. I use keywords instead of faces. Rock solid.

/Jim
 
J

joejoejoe

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 13, 2006
1,428
110
flynz4 said:
As someone said... export (original) is the way to get everything out. It will be the exact same files that you originally imported into iPhoto.

I assume that you are planning to go to a situation of sticking pictures in finder folders via some hierarchy. This is absolutely barbaric, and IMHO it is a huge mistake. Having great organizational tools gets especially important as your library grows. If you have outgrown iPhoto (which is easy to do)... you should consider a more power Digital Asset Manager (DAM). The two obvious choices are Aperture and Lightroom.

Personally, I think Aperture is significantly better than Lightroom from a workflow POV... and I think that is the key reason to use a DAM. However, LR is a powerful tool and maybe has some marginally better photo editing tools. I consider a DAM to be an organizational tool... and given that this is where Aperture really shines... this drives my preference to Aperture. There are 1000 different tools available to edit. Aperture stands alone in organization. If you know that you are going to be doing organization in both Windows and Mac... then LR is the obvious choice. Once again... even though I do have Macs and PCs... I strictly use Macs for my photo organization.

Aperture can directly read your iPhoto library. Also, Aperture allows you to turn off faces. I do not personally know of any serious photographer who uses faces. It is a consumer toy that doesn't currently scale to be useful for large libraries. I use keywords instead of faces. Rock solid.

/Jim
Click to expand...

Very very helpful, thank you. I've been using Lightroom exclusively for the past year and just need to get my photos out of iPhoto to use them there.

Your argument for aperture is very convincing. I will try it this week.
 
F

flynz4

macrumors 68040
Aug 9, 2009
3,242
126
Portland, OR
joejoejoe said:
Very very helpful, thank you. I've been using Lightroom exclusively for the past year and just need to get my photos out of iPhoto to use them there.

Your argument for aperture is very convincing. I will try it this week.
Click to expand...

Both LR and A3 are good. If you already have a lot of organization started in LR, you might want to stick with it. However, if you are mostly starting from scratch, then evaluating both could be a good time investment.

/Jim
 
J

joejoejoe

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 13, 2006
1,428
110
flynz4 said:
Both LR and A3 are good. If you already have a lot of organization started in LR, you might want to stick with it. However, if you are mostly starting from scratch, then evaluating both could be a good time investment.

/Jim
Click to expand...

not to make this a conversation just between the two of us, but where do you keep your photos on your HD? I've been keeping my photographs in project specified folders, each categorized by client names and include all the photos from a session or shoot in an "all photos" sub folder. Then I go into lightroom and link those project folders to the lightroom library, and organize further (selects etc) from there.

Is there a better method you recommend? do you import directly into Lightroom and let it handle everything?

Thanks, Jim.
 
F

flynz4

macrumors 68040
Aug 9, 2009
3,242
126
Portland, OR
joejoejoe said:
not to make this a conversation just between the two of us, but where do you keep your photos on your HD? I've been keeping my photographs in project specified folders, each categorized by client names and include all the photos from a session or shoot in an "all photos" sub folder. Then I go into lightroom and link those project folders to the lightroom library, and organize further (selects etc) from there.

Is there a better method you recommend? do you import directly into Lightroom and let it handle everything?

Thanks, Jim.
Click to expand...

I use Aperture (although I own, and have tried LR4).

I am currently importing directly into Aperture and let A3 manage my originals. I might change to referenced originals if my library exceeds my SSD size... but I still have some headroom (400 GB library on 768GB SSD). I suspect that my SSDs will grow in capacity faster than my library.

I name A3 projects by date/event:

2013-01-01 | Misc
2013-01-12 | Aspen Ski Trip
2013-02-08 | Florida Everglades Photo Shoot
2013-03-17 | St. Patricks Day in Dublin
2013-04-28 | Maui with friends
2013-05-30 | Street photography in SF
...
2013-12-25 | Christmas at the beach house
2013-12-21 | New Years Eve party

I am currently working on a huge organization project. I scanned in 10's of thousands of our slides/negatives/photos from our pre-digital days... and are organizing.

As of now, they are all in projects as above... and all the dates have been corrected from "scan date" to "project date". Geo-tags are applied to every photo (mostly at the project level). I am about 2/3 through with keywording (people/activities/ect).

Next and final step will be stacking and rating.

My library is about 400GB... and when I am done, I am planning to export the full set of originals in POFF into "project subfolders" so that anyone can copy and have the full set of pictures without needing Aperture.

However... I will still continue to use A3 on a regular (approx weekly) basis and to keep my library current with new photos. I am a prosumer/enthusiast and I do not do this for a living. I find it trivial to import/organize on a project basis whenever I am adding pictures to my library. I expect that I'll make a fresh "full original export" about once per year to keep the "non-aperture" copy up to date.

/Jim
 
glenthompson

glenthompson

macrumors demi-god
Apr 27, 2011
2,982
842
Virginia
One thing that was never mentioned for the OP is to try to repair or rebuild the iPhoto library. It sounds like something got messed up in the database.

70k photos is a bit large for iPhoto. As mentioned, Aperture or Lightroom would be a better choice. I prefer the Aperture UI over Adobe's. YMMV.
 
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