Converted from PC, need help with photos

[KayH]

I am still fairly new to Mac. I like to take and edit photos. I did this a lot with my PC and can't quite figure out an equivalent process to what I'm used to.
Here's how I used to organize my photos in folders and subfolders for example, Vacations>Hawaii>edits.
And as for my working process on the photos, I'd open a folder to view photos, choose one and open with editing software, then "save as" so I could keep my original and edited copies.
I'm getting frustrated because I can't figure out how to use iphoto to do what I need, but I know there has to be a good way to do this with Macs.

 

[satcomer]

For personal use I use iPhoto.app and for editing Pixelmator.

For audio I use Audio Hijack Pro and Amadeus Pro.

 

[KayH]

I'll check out pixelmator. Thanks! But I have been using iPhoto and I can't find a way to manage folders (albums, events, whatever) the way I want to. Any tips?

 

[Dark Dragoon]

But I have been using iPhoto and I can't find a way to manage folders (albums, events, whatever) the way I want to. Any tips?

First off, it doesn't sound like you aren't doing this but don't be tempted to manually move around the photos stored inside the iPhoto library using Finder, as it will mess up the iPhoto library. Do everything from inside the iPhoto application.

Now that that's out of the way, here's one option for using iPhoto. There are others but this sounds like it might work for you.

1) For each event, which could say be your visit to Hawaii or a specific day on your holiday, put the photos into an event and name it something meaningful. Do this for all of your photos. In the events view you will then have a lot of events.
2) Then go to File > New Folder, you can create whatever folders you want here for storing Albums. You can also put folder inside folders if you want. For example you can create a folder called Vacations. They appear on the left of the screen under Albums.
3) Then drag the events you want into the folder (or folders) you want them to appear in. So you could drag the Hawaii event into the Vacations folder under albums.

You can add and remove items from events and it will automatically update the contents of the Albums.
Also note that iPhoto stores the original photos if you edit them.

As a side note if you want to access your photos from another program without opening iPhoto you will find when you go to open a file in another program, Media > Photos is on the left side. Where you can view your photos stored in your iPhoto library.


Finally you may find you just don't like iPhoto and the way it manages your photos, in that case you can just bother with iPhoto at all and use the same process you used to use on the PC where you stored photos in folders. Though when editing instead of save as, (depending on the software) you would duplicate before making changes, or export after making changes and then revert. As depending on the system wide setting you will be saving changes automatically.

 

[drsox]

I'll check out pixelmator. Thanks! But I have been using iPhoto and I can't find a way to manage folders (albums, events, whatever) the way I want to. Any tips?

IMO iPhoto is a bit of a pain to manage. I only use it to copy stuff from iPxxx to Mac. Then I use Acorn and/or Pixelmator for editing (Acorn preferred - http://www.flyingmeat.com/acorn/) . For managing folder contents etc I use Lyn (written by a professional photog - http://www.lynapp.com) .

 

[KayH]

Thanks so much you guys! I'll be experimenting soon with your recommendations.