Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Am I crazy to empty iphoto and only use Lightroom?

S

Scottish Sue

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 21, 2013
2
0
As a new photographer (and Mac and ipad user), already at 90,000 images and have a mess! :(

I use Lightroom to process and am thinking of emptying all photos out of iphoto, deleting it and starting over. I do use external drives as back up, but access the photos so often, prefer to keep as many as space will allow on MacBook Pro, with a selection synced to ipad. Am stuck!

Is it a mistake to dump iphoto...it is only really used as a storage place to view as all my editing is in Lightroom. I can manage the photos in Pictures on my desktop, so why have iphoto. Do I need it to sync to my ipad (and hopefully soon an iphone)?

I also have many duplicates and want an easy way to find them - which I thought would be easier once I chose where to manage the photos eg via Lightroom or iphoto.

Any help really appreciated!

:)
 
Mr.Noisy

Mr.Noisy

macrumors 65816
May 5, 2007
1,077
4
UK™
managing files in LR

I just use Lightroom 4 to file and Manage my RAW files, I use it to export files from memory card into folders on my external raid systems, then I import what I need into collections in Lightroom, I find it does the job well, I prefer it to Aperture which I used up till about 8 Months ago.
 
S

Scottish Sue

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 21, 2013
2
0
techwhiz said:
I manage and store everything in LightRoom.
You can use both. But I only use LightRoom.
Click to expand...

Very useful. Now I just have to figure out how to get all the photos transferred out of iphoto

----------
Mr.Noisy said:
I just use Lightroom 4 to file and Manage my RAW files, I use it to export files from memory card into folders on my external raid systems, then I import what I need into collections in Lightroom, I find it does the job well, I prefer it to Aperture which I used up till about 8 Months ago.
Click to expand...

Thanks - similar to what I was thinking. I have been taking my RAW files off immediately due to size onto an external hard drive.
 
monokakata

monokakata

macrumors 68020
May 8, 2008
2,035
582
Ithaca, NY
Scottish Sue said:
Very useful. Now I just have to figure out how to get all the photos transferred out of iphoto
Click to expand...

Depending on how you set up iPhoto, you may find your original images in the iPhoto library (with their original file names) and you can import them into Lightroom from there.

Go to your Pictures folder, and find iPhoto Library. Right-click and choose "Show package contents."

You should see a folder called "Masters," and within it there will be other folders . . . and among all those folders you should find your originals.

Point Lightroom's Import dialog at the originals . . . and you'll be on your way.

In the second part of your posting you talk about moving your RAW files off to an external, immediately. If you've done this for all the photos you now have in iPhoto, you can import those into Lightroom without messing with iPhoto at all.
 
macAllen

macAllen

macrumors 6502
Feb 24, 2009
309
56
Las Vegas
Not crazy just smart...

Your not crazy, just smart. iPhoto IMO is just for the average user, who has a photos and want to edit them casually.

Your not the average user. Just like my self I have and take a lot of photos. Lightroom does an extremely good job when organizing photos. Your photos are stored in what ever location you choose. For me its in a external drive. So the set up is kinda like Finder. Theres no "Show package contents" Its simple.

As far as editing, I used to use photoshop for tone, color and the occasional manipulating. But I dont do much manipulating anymore just tone and ect, so with that LR is my only photo editing/ organizing app.

Theres a lot of presets out there for LR too.
 
MCAsan

MCAsan

macrumors 601
Jul 9, 2012
4,587
442
Atlanta
Tell LR to import the raw files....and don't look back. Either that or start using Aperture and it will share the library that iPhoto started. With either LR or Aperture you can get world class plugins from Nik, OnOne, and others.
 
T

trustever

macrumors 6502
Jan 14, 2013
290
0
here is another one voting for LR... In 5 years of mac I have never used Iphoto but need to ammit that I do not have any Ios device..
 
mofunk

mofunk

macrumors 68020
Aug 26, 2009
2,421
161
Americas
I used to use iPhoto with MobileMe and WebGallery. Now it's just a portal for my iPad/ipod. It was very convenient to put my photos in iPhoto and create an online gallery for friends and family to download photos. You can't do that with iCloud. :(

Lightroom works best in editing. Although you still need a way to backup your photos.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom