can I keep my Picasa albums moving to Mac?

[cutcopypaste]

I have Picasa keeping track of all my photos.. I like the way it organizes and displays things.. but they don't have it for mac and I'd like to move my photos from my PC (well I have already copied them). I just want to know if there's any way to get the gallery and starred photos from picasa over to the Mac if I have the folder structure and filenames identical (as I do)... I sort of doubt it, but it'd be reaaally nice if possible!

Also.. any advice on the best photo sorting for Mac? I don't take a ton of photos, but I like 'em to be easily accessible.. I really like how picasa lists all the photos open in the main pain so you don't have to check every folder by hand, you just gotta scroll down (I've been using bridge because i have adobe cs3, but I've found it a bit too hard to get places). I guess maybe I should look at iPhoto that came with the mac lol.. but i don't trust anything that comes preinstalled! heh.

 

[ChrisA]

I guess maybe I should look at iPhoto that came with the mac lol.. but i don't trust anything that comes preinstalled! heh.

Why would you not trust anything pe-installed? Seems kind f odd. But if you have the install DVD you can delete and re-install if you like. But it will not change anything.

As for Picasa, it work fine with a Mac. Well at least the web based gallery part works well. Google did not bother to do the other part of Picasa for Mac because iPhoto has that covered.

There is an easy to use Picasa plug-in for iPhoto that make transferring images to the web gallery very easy.

Aperture works like you describe. Say you have folder A inside folder B inside folder C, when you select the top level folder all the thumbnails for the folders inside are displayed. Others can correct me but I think iPhoto does this too. They both work a lot like iTunes and have smart albums and such.

 

[mac.by.jake]

I guess maybe I should look at iPhoto that came with the mac lol.. but i don't trust anything that comes preinstalled! heh.

I relatively new to mac and understand your distrust of pre-installed programs (coming from my windows experience it was usually cheap manufacturers software) That being said I absolutely love iPhoto. I would recommend using it.

 

[kostasw]

Well, what a good opportunity to join the forum!...

Being a recent migrant from PC to Mac myself, I had a great experience in moving my PC Picasa library to iPhoto.

I copied the Picasa library folder across to an external hard disk and then Imported the entire Folder to iPhoto using the standard menu option.

iPhoto kept all my Picasa 'folders' - in fact the experience was better than I was expecting (Thanks Apple!) in that the Picasa "folders" were migrated seamlessly to iPhoto "Events".

I must say though, I was not using Albums in Picasa so I cannot comment on that. I have now started creating Albums in iPhoto.

Also, what I was not expecting, was the fact that even the Picasa Originals folders (or sub folders) were migrated, as iPhoto Events too... A pro and a con at the same tim: I have not lost my Originals, but I do have some Events called "Original" here abnd there... From that I also think if your Picasa folder structure is multi-level deep, you may end up with a single-level iPhoto Event library.

I am personally OK to go through and clean up a few folders and photos. Also, in today's world, I don't expect any software provider to go the the effort of providing free migration software - so I'm happy to put in the extra effort myself where it's justified... overall, my life has become so much easier after switching to Mac.

Hope it helps!...

 

[cutcopypaste]

thanks for the replies, guys. I will probably look into iPhoto for now, though perhaps Aperture is worth a look. the not using preinstalled software thing was sposed to be tongue in cheek btw .
It's unfortunate that Bridge is not more usable... it definitely has some nice integration with the other programs.

The main thing I'm worried about keeping from Picasa is which photos I have starred... does anyone have any idea how that could be done?

kostasw.. thanks for the hands-on info! did you have all your photos stored the same place as your picasa installation? mine are in separate folders and I didn't know of an 'originals' folder. i think on mine picasa just stores the changes I've made ... somewhere? hmm. gonna have to investigate that lol

 

[cutcopypaste]

ok. if you import photos into iphoto it keeps them in the big 'iphoto library' file as doubles? seems really stupid waste of space to me.. does this even when i uncheck 'copy files to library on import' hurm

 

[147798]

I migrated from Picasa to iPhoto about 18 months ago, and I had a little work to do, and iPhoto has a bit of a learning curve, but iPhoto is MUCH better than Picasa once you learn how to use it.

That being said, I have seen press releases (not just rumor postings) that Google is nearing the release of Picasa for Mac. I'd still recommend moving to iPhoto -- it is a great product -- but you might want to Google Picasa for Mac, and read the updates for yourself.

 

[cutcopypaste]

call it a syndrome of being raised on windows... but I find unfathomably stupid and pretty much a dealbreaker that to use iPhoto with 13 gigs of photos (those RAW files get larrge) I need to have 3.3 gigs locked away in a file called iPhoto library even with it set to not actually copy the photos.. 3 gigs of thumbnails? what the heck.

can someone expand on actual reasons WHY iphoto is better than picasa?

 

[XianPalin]

call it a syndrome of being raised on windows... but I find unfathomably stupid and pretty much a dealbreaker that to use iPhoto with 13 gigs of photos (those RAW files get larrge) I need to have 3.3 gigs locked away in a file called iPhoto library even with it set to not actually copy the photos.. 3 gigs of thumbnails? what the heck.

can someone expand on actual reasons WHY iphoto is better than picasa?

I haven't found good reasons, I much much much prefer Picasa and setting it to auto-scan folders, and doing everything manually. Everything is in my control and it just seems much easier to find what I want (I create folders such as 2008-01-20 - Trip to Ireland, so everything is sorted by date). I just don't get that with iPhoto and I'm not a big fan.

I have the Google Mac blog in Google Reader, and every time it says there's a new post I sit there hoping it's an announcement of Picasa for the Mac. It never is

 

[cutcopypaste]

man.. didn't even think of the not scanning folders thing! that's a kind of Mac thing right? bc itunes doesn't do that either as I recall. hmph from a pc perspective, that's pretty basic functionality. (though if you're using iphoto to import from yor camera, not a huge deal.. but i really like how picasa tracks all the changes i make/images i create in other programs automatically)

 

[147798]

man.. didn't even think of the not scanning folders thing! that's a kind of Mac thing right? bc itunes doesn't do that either as I recall. hmph from a pc perspective, that's pretty basic functionality. (though if you're using iphoto to import from yor camera, not a huge deal.. but i really like how picasa tracks all the changes i make/images i create in other programs automatically)

That's because the Mac and PC have a fundamentally different approach that you'll need to consider. Adjusting mentally will help you understand the Mac better. Essentially, the Windows platform assumes you manage files and then you have applications to adjust those files. The Mac assumes you use an application for activities (like photo and music) and that files are a consequence of doing those activities. So, the Mac mindset is that the app manages the files for you. This is not 100% true on both platforms, but is true enough that you should keep that in the back of your mind when comparing the two platforms.

Someone asked above what can iPhoto do that Picasa can't. Here's a couple: how do you darken the exposure of a photo in Picasa? Maybe I'm missing it, but I only see sliders to INCREASE the exposure. Would Picasa recover blown highlights at all from RAW or jpg? iPhoto isn't the best at this, but it is possible. How do I increase saturation in Picasa? iPhoto allows adjusting a slide for the histogram. I don't see that in Picasa. I also don't see tint, sharpness or NR sliders on Picasa. Can I also edit full screen, when my picture takes up the ENTIRE screen, with nothing but black in the background? When I try to edit in Picasa, I get a PC looking interface, and the picture limited to about 60-70% of my screen height. I'd like it bigger than that.

Don't get me wrong -- I like Picasa. I use it on my work PC. But the editing capabilities in iPhoto are, AFAIK, much better. Add to that the fact that iPhoto will be stitched into the other Apple products (like iMovie, iDVD, etc.). If you were just looking at photo organizing, Picasa might be equal or preferable, depending on your view. But in simple development of photos, I think iPhoto is way ahead of Picasa. For me, this means that 80% of my adjustments are done in iPhoto, and I rarely launch PSE6.

iPhoto isn't great at managing folders outside it's database, though. For that, you might want to look into Aperture or Lightroom. But, if you copy a sub-segment of your picture database, and try working in iPhoto for a while, you might find you like it a lot.

Good luck.

 

[cutcopypaste]

if i were to get aperture, would it create a several gigabyte library file to waste space on my hd the same way as iPhoto? I'm guessing that it would..

 

[wheelhot]

if i were to get aperture, would it create a several gigabyte library file to waste space on my hd the same way as iPhoto? I'm guessing that it would..

huh? Why are you so negative about everything? If you were so afraid of changing, why change to mac in the first place? Just need to understand.

 

[147798]

if i were to get aperture, would it create a several gigabyte library file to waste space on my hd the same way as iPhoto? I'm guessing that it would..

Aperture can store files in its database, or it can reference files.

By the way -- anytime you edit a file in Picasa, it also duplicates the picture, doubling your hdd use. Additionally, if Picasa is NOT generating thumbnails for viewing (I'm not sure if it does or doesn't) but if it's NOT, then that means as Picasa has to open up all the pics you see in the film strip in the bottom and then downscale them for your viewing, which hogs RAM and processor, hurting performance. If Picasa creates thumbnails for easy viewing, then it is using up HDD space.

I don't know the guts of Picasa, but one of your issues COULD be this -- that iPhoto rolls up ALL it's files into a single library file (which makes backing up everything very, very easy -- just copy the library folder to an external HDD). Picasa MIGHT be spreading it's duplicates and thumbnails in various folders, which might give it the appearance of being smaller, but it's likely not.

There cannot be such a thing as a non-destructive editing photo program that does not generate thumbnails and does not hit your RAM and processor hard. You either have duplicates on your HDD and with that you get performance and the ability to reverse changes OR you have an app that doesn't take up a lot of space on your HDD BUT changes your original file and hits your processor hard. You can't have it both ways. Through the years of photo editing software development, the clear winner is database-oriented changes, such as found with iPhoto, Aperture and Lightroom and, I'll bet, Picasa -- though you just may not recognize it as such.

 

[cutcopypaste]

huh? Why are you so negative about everything? If you were so afraid of changing, why change to mac in the first place? Just need to understand.

never said i was afraid of changing. also one cannot know all the little quirks of an operating system anyway without using it for several months. i think largely the negativity is retaliation to the widespread opinion here that if you don't like the way macs do things you just don't get it and should restructure your opinion (not just in this thread). so i get frustrated and lash out at you lovely people and your lovely machines. i like a lot about my mac and overall I may prefer it to Windows (hard to know after using one for 10 years and one for a month), i just struggle to see why certain decisions were made.

Bking does a good job of elucidating some advantages of the library system... bc of RAM and stuff (thank you). With Picasa in the folder itself there's a thumbnail file and an ini but that totals 1 mb for 161 mb of images, and then my application data there's about 660mb of locked up database type stuff (of which 648 mb is previews and thumbs and vs 3.2 gb for a few less pictures in iphoto).. I think that's it after checking the folders the photos are in, As far as I can tell it just tracks the edits in a procedural way and applies them when you view the file (not totally sure).. which does seem a bit system intensive, but honestly picasa runs pretty well on my rather aging PC so I dunno if the impact in that area is all that great.

Don't worry if I really dislike certain aspects of iphoto though i can just use something else. I am however very interested in the technical differences/drawbacks/bonuses of how the programs differ.

 

[147798]

Well, Picasa is out. I've given it a quick whirl. Seems slower to me than iPhoto. Also, I don't like the white background, and the editing tools aren't as nice. The plus side is that it let's you use your own folder structure, which many people like. Also, the collage and movie making features are great, and indexing movies is also cool.

I think Picasa is easier and more intuitive to learn, but I have to say I still like iPhoto better.

 

[XianPalin]

Yeah, after all this waiting, and now I'm finally not as excited about it as I once would have been, especially after getting a DSLR. I think my preferred tool now is Lightroom.

 

[milan.smart]

hello, im moving from pc to mac. on pc i used picasa. now i wanted to switch to i photo.. but i hate that it duplicates most of the pictures :/ is there any way to solve this duplicating issue? thanks in advance.

milan

 

[koobcamuk]

hello, im moving from pc to mac. on pc i used picasa. now i wanted to switch to i photo.. but i hate that it duplicates most of the pictures :/ is there any way to solve this duplicating issue? thanks in advance.

milan

Only through using Picasa!

 

[milan.smart]

thats sad.. i was looking forward to iphoto and its faces sync to iphone and i also wanted to use a native app, but i've already started moving my pc picasa library to mac picasa, cause iphoto seems really lame :/

 

[odinsride]

Once your photos are imported to iphoto you can safely remove the original files you imported (either move to external hdd or delete them), since they are in iphoto and managed by the application. Or you could get something like Aperture or Lightroom which allows you to manage the files/folder structures in Finder yourself. I prefer having the app take care of all of that for me.

 

[milan.smart]

i know, but iphoto creates "originals" and "modified" (or something like that) folders and is keeping unnecessary duplicates of photos

 

[ftaok]

i know, but iphoto creates "originals" and "modified" (or something like that) folders and is keeping unnecessary duplicates of photos

iPhoto only puts files into the Modified folder if you perform some sort of editing to the original.

So if you upload 10 pictures into iPhoto, there will only be 10 pictures in your iPhoto library. As soon as you start editing, then files will populate your Modified folder(s).

I'm guessing you know why iPhoto behaves this way, but for others stumbling onto this thread ... the reason is so you can always go back to the original file if you mess up on the editing.

I believe there is an option in iPhoto to make the modified photo the only one (kinda like making the edits permanent). But I think it's done on a file by file basis.

Until iPhoto does edits the way Picasa (and Aperture) does, you're going to have multiple files.

 

[milan.smart]

but each photo which is taken vertically, automatically rotates when imported and is put to that "modified" folder.

 

[aristobrat]

but each photo which is taken vertically, automatically rotates when imported and is put to that "modified" folder.

Rotating the picture makes a modification to it, so it goes in the "modified" folder.

When I used iPhoto, I would use the Image Capture program to make sure my photos were correctly rotated, and then have it import the photos into iPhoto.