iPhoto or documents?

mattdanielc · Feb 27, 2015

Hello,

I'm new to macs

On my old PC's I've always saved my photos in 'my documents' and then 'photos'.

On my iMac I see if I drag the folders (from my USB) over to iPhoto they appear as events which is fine. But I then can't seem to find them on the mac hard drive?

Are you instead supposed to drag the files / folders into the 'documents' folder and then drag them into iPhoto?

Does it really matter? I guess I'm just wondering for say in 6 years time when I get a new mac - how would I then transfer the files if they are stuck in iPhoto...

----------

I guess another question as well is though - if I pop the photos in 'documents' and then drag them into iPhoto - am I in fact making 2 copies on the hard drive? (and thus using more than I should)

thanks for any help

maflynn · Feb 27, 2015

iPhoto uses a library either to manage the photos, i.e., stored inside an iPhoto library or by reference, i.e., hold the metadata, but keep the images outside of iPhoto.

I'm not sure what the default setting is, you'll need to see that on your computer. If its managed, then they'd go into the iPhoto library that is stored in your Picture folder and not Documents folder.

mattdanielc · Feb 27, 2015

maflynn said:
iPhoto uses a library either to manage the photos, i.e., stored inside an iPhoto library or by reference, i.e., hold the metadata, but keep the images outside of iPhoto.

I'm not sure what the default setting is, you'll need to see that on your computer. If its managed, then they'd go into the iPhoto library that is stored in your Picture folder and not Documents folder.

where is the 'picture' folder found?

Is there an equivalent to 'my computer' on the mac do you know? (where all of your files are stored - it's like the hub - then everything else is contained within. I'm struggling to find anything on the mac so far! (but I love it)

Apple fanboy · Feb 28, 2015

mattdanielc said:
where is the 'picture' folder found?

Is there an equivalent to 'my computer' on the mac do you know? (where all of your files are stored - it's like the hub - then everything else is contained within. I'm struggling to find anything on the mac so far! (but I love it)

Finder. The smilie blue face in your dock.

Dave Braine · Mar 1, 2015

where is the 'picture' folder found?

It's inside your Home Folder. The iPhoto Library file is inside the Pictures Folder. You can access the contents of the file by Right/Ctrl clicking it and choosing "Show Package Contents".

However, you are strongly advised not to go messing around in that file, as you can seriously damage the iPhoto data base, ending up with missing photos and a corrupted iPhoto.

You can do everything that you want with your pictures(edit/crop/adjust/export etc) from within iPhoto.

If you want iPhoto to store your photos within it(ie a Managed Library), then go into iPhoto Preferences>Advanced, and tick the "Copy Items To iPhoto Library" option. If you don't, your Library will be Referenced, and you will have to have that USB, with the pictures still on it, when you want to view your photos.

mattdanielc · Mar 2, 2015

Dave Braine said:
It's inside your Home Folder. The iPhoto Library file is inside the Pictures Folder. You can access the contents of the file by Right/Ctrl clicking it and choosing "Show Package Contents".

However, you are strongly advised not to go messing around in that file, as you can seriously damage the iPhoto data base, ending up with missing photos and a corrupted iPhoto.

You can do everything that you want with your pictures(edit/crop/adjust/export etc) from within iPhoto.

If you want iPhoto to store your photos within it(ie a Managed Library), then go into iPhoto Preferences>Advanced, and tick the "Copy Items To iPhoto Library" option. If you don't, your Library will be Referenced, and you will have to have that USB, with the pictures still on it, when you want to view your photos.

Thank you Dave - that was exactly what I was after

Can anyone help though - all the pictures I started transferring into iPhoto started to appear in my photo stream on my phone / ipad. I changed a setting in iPhoto which removed the photo stream option (in the left menu bar) from iPhoto, and also stopped the pictures appearing on my phone / tablet...

But...

This means I can't now view new pictures from my phone or tablet on iPhoto. Is this not possible then? (not sharing both ways)

Dave Braine · Mar 2, 2015

This means I can't now view new pictures from my phone or tablet on iPhoto

When you next sync your devices, tick the option to Sync photos from iPhoto to your devices.

jdechko · Mar 2, 2015

Personally, I can't stand the way that iPhoto managed it's library, and I'm thrilled that the new Photos app will allow you to leave the photos in a folder structure on the file system.

I'm not sure I see why Apple did a monolithic library with iPhoto instead of using the filesystem like they did with iTunes. The iTunes library manages metadata just fine, while the filesystem handles the organization of files.

mattdanielc · Mar 2, 2015

Dave Braine said:
When you next sync your devices, tick the option to Sync photos from iPhoto to your devices.

Thanks - but won't that make the photos on iPhoto appear on my phone and iPad?

I only want my phone and iPad and iMac to sync photos I take using those devices - not sync the thousands of pictures I've put onto iPhoto (historical 10 years worth of pics) which I only need to see on my mac.

jdechko · Mar 2, 2015

mattdanielc said:
Thanks - but won't that make the photos on iPhoto appear on my phone and iPad?

I only want my phone and iPad and iMac to sync photos I take using those devices - not sync the thousands of pictures I've put onto iPhoto (historical 10 years worth of pics) which I only need to see on my mac.

Maybe off topic, but the new Photos app assumes a single photo library that resides in the cloud. You can basically stream all photos from the cloud to any signed-in device and download full resolution copies to that device.

Dave Braine · Mar 3, 2015

Thanks - but won't that make the photos on iPhoto appear on my phone and iPad?

Yes, it will. Put all your iPhone/iPad pictures in their own Album, and then when you sync, choose only that Album to be synced back to your iPhone/iPad.

ApfelKuchen · Mar 3, 2015

jdechko said:
Personally, I can't stand the way that iPhoto managed it's library, and I'm thrilled that the new Photos app will allow you to leave the photos in a folder structure on the file system.

I'm not sure I see why Apple did a monolithic library with iPhoto instead of using the filesystem like they did with iTunes. The iTunes library manages metadata just fine, while the filesystem handles the organization of files.

Functionally, there's no difference between an iTunes library and an iPhoto/Aperture/Photos library. The only difference is that iTunes' folder structure is exposed in Finder, while the iPhoto, Aperture, and Photos library folder structures are hidden behind a special type of file system folder called a Package.

Within the Package, the photos are indeed stored in regular old nested file system folders, organized by date - nested folders for year, month, day, and individual import "event." (By the way, the DMG "files" that you download are also packages, and so are Pages, Numbers, and Keynote files.)

If you right-click/CTRL + click on the library package icon in Finder, and select Show Package Contents from the context menu, you will see all the constituent folders and files. You'll find the original images in the Masters folder.

The point of hiding the files from easy view is to keep us from moving photos around in the file system, and from modifying the images outside of iPhoto/Aperture/Photos. If we move the file, then iPhoto/Aperture/Photos does not know where to find it (you'll run into the same problem in iTunes if you move a music file/folder - the dreaded exclamation point icon). If the image file is edited outside of iPhoto/Aperture/Photos, then the iPhoto/Aperture/Photos edit data will generate very unexpected results the next time you view the image in iPhoto/Aperture/Photos.

iPhoto and Aperture also allow you to "reference" images that are stored outside the library package - this is not a new feature with Photos. If you'd rather manage your file folders on your own, you've always been able to do it. You just choose what folder(s) you want to import. Whether those images are also copied into the library package is a Peferences setting.

The iPhoto/Aperture and Photos libraries are databases. As with any database, of any kind, the database has to be allowed to manage data storage and access. Without strict adherence to structure, a database becomes useless. For the end-user, we have to trust that when we supply data, that the database will know where it went, and how to find it again. In my experience, that's a much more reliable approach than any end user-built system of file system folders.

glenthompson · Mar 3, 2015

ApfelKuchen said:
The iPhoto/Aperture and Photos libraries are databases. As with any database, of any kind, the database has to be allowed to manage data storage and access. Without strict adherence to structure, a database becomes useless. For the end-user, we have to trust that when we supply data, that the database will know where it went, and how to find it again. In my experience, that's a much more reliable approach than any end user-built system of file system folders.

Well said. For some reason, a lot of people think they are giving up control when they do this. In actuality they are getting more control over their pictures.

I think a lot of people start using iPhotos without understanding how it works and miss a lot of the capabilities.

jdechko · Mar 3, 2015

ApfelKuchen said:
Functionally, there's no difference between an iTunes library and an iPhoto/Aperture/Photos library. The only difference is that iTunes' folder structure is exposed in Finder, while the iPhoto, Aperture, and Photos library folder structures are hidden behind a special type of file system folder called a Package.

Within the Package, the photos are indeed stored in regular old nested file system folders, organized by date - nested folders for year, month, day, and individual import "event." (By the way, the DMG "files" that you download are also packages, and so are Pages, Numbers, and Keynote files.)

If you right-click/CTRL + click on the library package icon in Finder, and select Show Package Contents from the context menu, you will see all the constituent folders and files. You'll find the original images in the Masters folder.

The point of hiding the files from easy view is to keep us from moving photos around in the file system, and from modifying the images outside of iPhoto/Aperture/Photos. If we move the file, then iPhoto/Aperture/Photos does not know where to find it (you'll run into the same problem in iTunes if you move a music file/folder - the dreaded exclamation point icon). If the image file is edited outside of iPhoto/Aperture/Photos, then the iPhoto/Aperture/Photos edit data will generate very unexpected results the next time you view the image in iPhoto/Aperture/Photos.

iPhoto and Aperture also allow you to "reference" images that are stored outside the library package - this is not a new feature with Photos. If you'd rather manage your file folders on your own, you've always been able to do it. You just choose what folder(s) you want to import. Whether those images are also copied into the library package is a Peferences setting.

The iPhoto/Aperture and Photos libraries are databases. As with any database, of any kind, the database has to be allowed to manage data storage and access. Without strict adherence to structure, a database becomes useless. For the end-user, we have to trust that when we supply data, that the database will know where it went, and how to find it again. In my experience, that's a much more reliable approach than any end user-built system of file system folders.

glenthompson said:
Well said. For some reason, a lot of people think they are giving up control when they do this. In actuality they are getting more control over their pictures.

I think a lot of people start using iPhotos without understanding how it works and miss a lot of the capabilities.

I did a much more thorough job of explaining my thoughts over on this thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=20778307.

The short version is that iPhoto and the new Photos app don't work with how I choose to organize my data. I also did some testing with different setups, and using the Photos app with external files is actually worse in some ways than either going all-in on Photos or keeping with a self-managed series of folders.

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iPhoto or documents?

mattdanielc

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maflynn

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Dave Braine

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