PhotoStream on new iMac

[davidra]

Need a lesson here. New iMac. I've been using Photostream with my PC for a while now. I had set up a Photostream folder on the PC and the photos would automatically end up in that folder. Now as best I can tell using the iMac, either I have to set up a smart folder or have the stream download into iPhoto (which I hadn't intended to use because I have Photoshop Elements and Lightroom instead). I set up iPhoto to access Photostream and they are there in iPhoto but I gather they are not on the computer anywhere, unless I "import it into the library", at which point it shows up in "photos" on iPhoto but I can't find it anywhere else on the computer. Where are these stored? I want to be able to just go to a folder that has all my Photostream pics and email them or open them in an editing program. Are my assumptions correct, i.e. do I have to manually add every Photostream photo to the library, and if so, where is the file on my Mac? I'd like to access it using Finder. I'm befuddled.

And while I'm at it....I'm writing a document in Word and want to save it to a subfolder inside of Documents. Is that not possible? It appears to only save files to the main folder.

Hate feeling like a newbie, but I am when it comes to Macs.

 

[r0k]

Need a lesson here. New iMac. I've been using Photostream with my PC for a while now. I had set up a Photostream folder on the PC and the photos would automatically end up in that folder. Now as best I can tell using the iMac, either I have to set up a smart folder or have the stream download into iPhoto (which I hadn't intended to use because I have Photoshop Elements and Lightroom instead). I set up iPhoto to access Photostream and they are there in iPhoto but I gather they are not on the computer anywhere, unless I "import it into the library", at which point it shows up in "photos" on iPhoto but I can't find it anywhere else on the computer. Where are these stored? I want to be able to just go to a folder that has all my Photostream pics and email them or open them in an editing program. Are my assumptions correct, i.e. do I have to manually add every Photostream photo to the library, and if so, where is the file on my Mac? I'd like to access it using Finder. I'm befuddled.

And while I'm at it....I'm writing a document in Word and want to save it to a subfolder inside of Documents. Is that not possible? It appears to only save files to the main folder.

Hate feeling like a newbie, but I am when it comes to Macs.

I like the way iPhoto works so I use it but there was a post here at Macrumors (yesterday I think) that tells the folder your photos go to. I just don't know if that folder is there even if you don't have iPhoto. The original thread is here. The thread and the article don't make it clear whether you have to buy iPhoto to get the photos to start showing up in that folder or not.

 

[davidra]

Thanks. That helps; at least I'm not missing something patently obvious. I guess I expected more from Apple than I get from a PC using iCloud manager. Instead I get significantly less. But then again, the more I interact with the file structure of the Mac, the more opaque things become. Is there something wrong with having photos from photostream downloaded to an actual folder that you can open and edit, without having to transfer all those photos to another folder that you actually cannot even open without opening an app? Mystifying. This is supposed to be better?

 

[r0k]

Thanks. That helps; at least I'm not missing something patently obvious. I guess I expected more from Apple than I get from a PC using iCloud manager. Instead I get significantly less. But then again, the more I interact with the file structure of the Mac, the more opaque things become. Is there something wrong with having photos from photostream downloaded to an actual folder that you can open and edit, without having to transfer all those photos to another folder that you actually cannot even open without opening an app? Mystifying. This is supposed to be better?

The folder you are looking for is called out in the article I linked. It is fairly easy to create a task that copies the files to any folder you prefer. OSX is Unix. This means there are utilities built into the OS to sync 2 folders. There are also graphical front ends available on places like MacUpdate that will make it easy for you to set up a way to sync 2 folders.

It does not bother me one bit that by default, Photostream copies your iOS captured pictures to some folder buried deep down inside some hidden Library folder. In fact it inspires confidence. If I take my Mac in because I'm having a problem, my photos are in the same place as millions of other OSX users even if I've added some shareware to copy them to another folder of my choosing.

I went to the Apple store because my 4 year old (at the time) Macbook was acting up. It was out of warranty but a standard 30 minute Genius appointment is always free. The tech connected a network cable to my Macbook and booted from a network OS image, proving that the issue was either my OS or my HDD and not my hardware.

I know it feels a little like being in jail with Apple constantly saying "do this do that" and setting up barriers in the OS but I happen to like curated computing. It's like the difference between visiting the Smithsonian Air and Space museum and visiting an airplane graveyard in the middle of the desert. I prefer the museum even if I have to sacrifice a little bit of freedom.

Please don't focus on trying to bend OSX to your will. I know Windows will bend like a pretzel which explains a lot about the millions of ways it is broken. Take your time to learn the Mac way of doing things, trusting that the guys that designed it have some sense. Not only do they have some sense, but they spent over 30 years under the absolute dictatorship of a guy who refused to compromise on matters involving usability (Steve Jobs).

 

[davidra]

Well, I'm new at it, so I can't expect too much, but....if it's about usability, this looks like a fail. Given I want to use Lightroom and Photoshop and not iPhoto (they have much more capabillities), and that I take a number of photos with my iPhone that I need to use frequently, I want to be able to walk up to the computer, open a folder, select a bunch of pics and open them in either LR or Elements. Should Jobs really require me to write a script or get into complicated OS stuff (which I am totally unfamiliar with coming from PC) just to do that?