Application for photo organizing of external drive photos

[petalutha]

Hi,

I have an imac, still running OSX 10.4 (I have the leopard update but haven't installed it yet).

I have been using iphoto since I purchased my mac, and while there is a lot I like, I am having a hard time getting organized since I take a lot of photos.

I currently have 12,000 photos in iphoto, but I also have tons more on an external drive from before I got my mac. I do not wish to import these into iphoto as I will lose the sub folder organization.

I have read about Aperture, but I am not a professional and do not shoot in RAW, so I don't know if that application is just going to be overkill for what I need.

Could anyone recommend an application that might suit my needs? I mainly just need to be able to organize into sub levels, especially when I bring in the older photos.

Thank you so much, and I hope this thread helps others, also.

 

[skybolt]

If you bring your photos into iPhoto folder by folder, the organization will be preserved. Then, you can create folders, perhaps "Vacations" and then albums under that, for instance "Summer 2007", "winter 2008", etc. Then you are completely organized. Using keywords will help as well, but it would be tedious to go back and keyword all of your current photos. You could use that going forward.

Oh, and be aware, the newer version of iPhoto is not part of Leopard, so when you do update that, don't feel like you should have the latest iPhoto. You will need to purchase iLife separately to get that. What version of iPhoto are you using? Depending on how old it is, it may not run on Leopard.