Consolidating all photos

[Pilsbury1981]

Hi all

I currently have all my photos saved across iPhoto, Aperture 3 & Lightroom 4. They are all saved on my iMac's HD. Is there a way to export all the photos into 1 file on an external drive but still have both iPhoto and Lightroom access the same folder? If not how do i export all the files off my iMac into a format that 1 of the programs can use?

Hope that makes sense???
Thanks for all responses.

 

[maflynn]

You're talking about two (three technically with aperture) different applications. I'd pick one application and stick with it. This will greatly simplify your work flow.

I prefer Aperture because it can hold all my images in its library container file. I don't have to manage the images via reference. My workflow is that I easily move the Aperture library off my laptop onto my DAS every January so I have a new library every year.

Lightroom doesn't do this as easily and I prefer not managing the files that way. I'm not hating LR, but Aperture fits my needs better.

tl;dr you're better off sticking with LR, or iPhoto or Aperture don't try to use all of them

 

[Pilsbury1981]

Thanks. How do i lift all my photo's out of the programs and put them into the one (say aperture)? Do i have to export them all into a file and then put them all into the chosen program? is there a quick way to move them?