Find the location of photos in iPhoto

[johnnnw]

I was going through my iPhoto and theres a bunch of photos that I can't find anywhere in my Finder.

How do I locate these photos?

When I right click I just get a Copy, Trash, Rate and Show Event option. None of which take me to the finder where they are.

Help? Thanks

 

[johnnnw]

This is what I see when I right click the photo whether it's a preview or just single double clicked expanded view of the photo within iPhoto

 

[Chridsdk]

Are you aware that the files from iPhoto are to be found inside the iPhoto library file?

 

[prisstratton]

I was going through my iPhoto and theres a bunch of photos that I can't find anywhere in my Finder.

How do I locate these photos?

When I right click I just get a Copy, Trash, Rate and Show Event option. None of which take me to the finder where they are.

Help? Thanks

...

 

[Cheese&Apple]

I was going through my iPhoto and theres a bunch of photos that I can't find anywhere in my Finder.

How do I locate these photos?

When I right click I just get a Copy, Trash, Rate and Show Event option. None of which take me to the finder where they are.

Help? Thanks

There is a way to do it but don't. The library operates within, and is dependant on, the iPhoto application. If you mess with it using Finder, you'll make a mess of the library.

Things have indeed changed since file organization in Windows. Do all your photo organizing, edits, deletions etc using iPhoto. When moving photos into the library - import and when copying out - export using iPhoto. This will help to maintain a healthy library structure.

Hope this helps.

~ Peter

 

[johnnnw]

There is a way to do it but don't. The library operates within, and is dependant on, the iPhoto application. If you mess with it using Finder, you'll make a mess of the library.

Things have indeed changed since file organization in Windows. Do all your photo organizing, edits, deletions etc using iPhoto. When moving photos into the library - import and when copying out - export using iPhoto. This will help to maintain a healthy library structure.

Hope this helps.

~ Peter

The thing is I really dislike iPhoto, I was just going through it for fun and saw a bunch of pictures I couldn't find.

I've read about the "Package Contents" thing but I wouldn't do that. I was just looking for where the original photo is. It is my understanding that iPhoto doesn't store photos correct? It just uses the ones in your Pictures folder and displays them?

I think the thing above is what I'm looking for but now my problem is when I do that it just takes me right to the folder and I can't see the path of where it is. So now I've found this folder and I have no idea how to get there.

----------

...

Thank you very much! This is what I needed but now I have the problem of it going right to the folder and I'm sure the path of all the folders before it. So I'm not even sure where it is located.

I know on Windows in the top bar is shows the path to the folder like ex. (User > Pictures > Random > Folder1 > Folder 2

Can't find something like this on my Mac

 

[Tumbleweed666]

The thing is I really dislike iPhoto, I was just going through it for fun and saw a bunch of pictures I couldn't find.
<snip>

Thank you very much! This is what I needed but now I have the problem of it going right to the folder and I'm sure the path of all the folders before it. So I'm not even sure where it is located.

I know on Windows in the top bar is shows the path to the folder like ex. (User > Pictures > Random > Folder1 > Folder 2

Can't find something like this on my Mac

That would be because iPhoto doesn't work like that (though it can). Really the point of iPhoto is that everything lives in its library and you don't need to know or manage exactly where any particular photo is.

If you don't like iPhoto, and especially if you want to manage where everything is located use something like Picasa or PSE.

 

[jimthing]

That would be because iPhoto doesn't work like that (though it can). Really the point of iPhoto is that everything lives in its library and you don't need to know or manage exactly where any particular photo is.

If you don't like iPhoto, and especially if you want to manage where everything is located use something like Picasa or PSE.

Is Aperture any better with this issue?

Also, I've always wondered... some people seem to use BOTH iPhoto and Aperture for their photo library, why do people do that?

 

[ApfelKuchen]

:::snip:::
I've read about the "Package Contents" thing but I wouldn't do that. I was just looking for where the original photo is. It is my understanding that iPhoto doesn't store photos correct? It just uses the ones in your Pictures folder and displays them? :::snip:::

Just the contrary. iPhoto does store photos, and does not use the contents of the Pictures folder unless you take steps to make that happen.

If you used iPhoto when you imported photos from your camera, by default the images are stored inside the iPhoto Library "package."

If you placed photos anywhere else on your HDD (including the Pictures folder), they have to be Imported into iPhoto before iPhoto can work with them. By default, when you Import an image, iPhoto makes a copy of the original and places it in the Library. You can modify that behavior if necessary, in iPhoto Preferences (Import the photo, without placing a copy in the Library), but I don't recommend it. In the most orderly of worlds when you use iPhoto, you'd have every photo on your HDD inside the iPhoto Library, and none outside of it.

The iPhoto Library is actually a very carefully structured "normal" folder system. However, Apple hides those folders inside the package, where a casual left-click in Finder can't reveal them (potentially leading to counter-productive behavior). iPhoto depends on finding images exactly where they were located when Imported. Trust me, you'd be sorry if you moved them and continued to use iPhoto.

So chances are, the photos you can find are the photos you copied from your Windows machine over to Mac (whether you put them in the Pictures folder, or elsewhere). The photos you're "missing" were probably imported from your camera, directly into iPhoto.

You can view the contents of the iPhoto Package. Just promise to look, and not touch! In Finder, right-click on the iPhoto Library package. Select Show Package Contents from the context menu. You'll find the original image files inside the Masters folder, in folders very logically organized by year, month, and day.

Folks new to iPhoto and Aperture often worry that iPhoto will become obsolete at some point, and their master images will be lost inside an "uncrackable" library, or that the images inside the Library are illogically organized. Not so. Should the day come, they can pull the Masters folder from the Package, and have every image file, in its original form, organized by date.

If they want to preserve all the edits they've made? Then they'd have to use iPhoto to Export those images in their edited form.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Is Aperture any better with this issue?

Also, I've always wondered... some people seem to use BOTH iPhoto and Aperture for their photo library, why do people do that?

Aperture is designed with the needs of professionals and serious amateurs in mind. While in iPhoto it's expected you'll have just one Library, in Aperture you can have many Libraries (though only one can be open at a time). That allows for creating a separate Library for each customer or job, for example, and for easily archiving inactive Libraries in offline storage). There are also far more robust tools provided for finding images (files that have been moved when they ought not to have been, or moved intentionally and therefore have to be re-integrated into the database). Among other things, this makes it easier to work with master image files located outside of the Aperture libraries. When you have hundreds of thousands of image files to manage, this flexibility becomes critical.

I think the biggest reason for using both iPhoto and Aperture is the transition from one to the other. If you've become fluent with iPhoto's image editing tools, you may want to keep using them while you master the far more complex tools in Aperture.

iPhoto and Aperture use the same Library structure, so either program can work with the same Library (but only one program can have a given Library open at a time). Edits made in one are reproduced in the other.

 

[jimthing]

Aperture is designed with the needs of professionals and serious amateurs in mind. While in iPhoto it's expected you'll have just one Library, in Aperture you can have many Libraries (though only one can be open at a time). That allows for creating a separate Library for each customer or job, for example, and for easily archiving inactive Libraries in offline storage). There are also far more robust tools provided for finding images (files that have been moved when they ought not to have been, or moved intentionally and therefore have to be re-integrated into the database). Among other things, this makes it easier to work with master image files located outside of the Aperture libraries. When you have hundreds of thousands of image files to manage, this flexibility becomes critical.

I think the biggest reason for using both iPhoto and Aperture is the transition from one to the other. If you've become fluent with iPhoto's image editing tools, you may want to keep using them while you master the far more complex tools in Aperture.

iPhoto and Aperture use the same Library structure, so either program can work with the same Library (but only one program can have a given Library open at a time). Edits made in one are reproduced in the other.

Oh I see, same library can be worked on in either programme. I didn't realise that. Thanks for the info.

 

[Cheese&Apple]

Oh I see, same library can be worked on in either programme.

The unified library also makes the upgrade from iPhoto to Aperture very simple if anyone is considering it.

FYI...printing books, calendars, cards, etc. stays with iPhoto but because they share the same library, switching back and forth is easy.

 

[johnnnw]

Just the contrary. iPhoto does store photos, and does not use the contents of the Pictures folder unless you take steps to make that happen.

If you used iPhoto when you imported photos from your camera, by default the images are stored inside the iPhoto Library "package."

If you placed photos anywhere else on your HDD (including the Pictures folder), they have to be Imported into iPhoto before iPhoto can work with them. By default, when you Import an image, iPhoto makes a copy of the original and places it in the Library. You can modify that behavior if necessary, in iPhoto Preferences (Import the photo, without placing a copy in the Library), but I don't recommend it. In the most orderly of worlds when you use iPhoto, you'd have every photo on your HDD inside the iPhoto Library, and none outside of it.

The iPhoto Library is actually a very carefully structured "normal" folder system. However, Apple hides those folders inside the package, where a casual left-click in Finder can't reveal them (potentially leading to counter-productive behavior). iPhoto depends on finding images exactly where they were located when Imported. Trust me, you'd be sorry if you moved them and continued to use iPhoto.

So chances are, the photos you can find are the photos you copied from your Windows machine over to Mac (whether you put them in the Pictures folder, or elsewhere). The photos you're "missing" were probably imported from your camera, directly into iPhoto.

You can view the contents of the iPhoto Package. Just promise to look, and not touch! In Finder, right-click on the iPhoto Library package. Select Show Package Contents from the context menu. You'll find the original image files inside the Masters folder, in folders very logically organized by year, month, and day.

Folks new to iPhoto and Aperture often worry that iPhoto will become obsolete at some point, and their master images will be lost inside an "uncrackable" library, or that the images inside the Library are illogically organized. Not so. Should the day come, they can pull the Masters folder from the Package, and have every image file, in its original form, organized by date.

If they want to preserve all the edits they've made? Then they'd have to use iPhoto to Export those images in their edited form.

Okay, I think I understand what you're saying. They were indeed imported from my iPhone in 2011 it says. That would explain why I can't find them.

So if I wanted to access these files and say copy them to a new location so I could not use iPhoto to view them, would it be okay to Show Package Contents and take them out?

I'm not overly worried about iPhotos organization as I really don't like it. I preview to go through my photos the old fashioned way in the finder like you would do with Windows.

Thanks for all the help.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Okay, I think I understand what you're saying. They were indeed imported from my iPhone in 2011 it says. That would explain why I can't find them.

So if I wanted to access these files and say copy them to a new location so I could not use iPhoto to view them, would it be okay to Show Package Contents and take them out?

I'm not overly worried about iPhotos organization as I really don't like it. I preview to go through my photos the old fashioned way in the finder like you would do with Windows.

Thanks for all the help.

Yes, you could view package contents and Copy them, but I recommend you leave the copies behind in the Library as well - better safe than sorry.

Another way to do it would be to select the photos in iPhoto, and use the Export function (export Original).

I'm a fan of the iPhoto/Aperture approach, so it's kind of hard to see someone prefer the old way (which to my mind has a lot of shortcomings). I can give you a sales pitch on the benefits, if you wish. Otherwise, I'll keep mum.

 

[glenthompson]

I'm a fan of the iPhoto/Aperture approach, so it's kind of hard to see someone prefer the old way (which to my mind has a lot of shortcomings). I can give you a sales pitch on the benefits, if you wish. Otherwise, I'll keep mum.

I have some pictures stored in folders from my Windows days that I haven't yet imported into Aperture/iPhoto. It's very hard to find those pictures. All the pictures I've taken since I started using iPhoto then Aperture are very easy to find. I cannot imagine trying to manage a photo library without Aperture or equivalent.

I think the biggest mistake people make with iPhoto is trying to make it work with their old way of managing things instead of understanding how and why it does things the way it does.

 

[johnnnw]

Yes, you could view package contents and Copy them, but I recommend you leave the copies behind in the Library as well - better safe than sorry.

Another way to do it would be to select the photos in iPhoto, and use the Export function (export Original).

I'm a fan of the iPhoto/Aperture approach, so it's kind of hard to see someone prefer the old way (which to my mind has a lot of shortcomings). I can give you a sales pitch on the benefits, if you wish. Otherwise, I'll keep mum.

Great, thank you! I probably just don't properly understand iPhoto and that's why I don't really like it.

All my photos are sorted by "events" and I really don't like that. Lots of random dates and stuff that I don't need to know.

 

[Twimfy]

The really really easy way of getting access to those photos in iPhoto is to drag the thumbnail out of the event and to the desktop.

It'll immediately create a copy on your desktop and you can do what you want with it.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Great, thank you! I probably just don't properly understand iPhoto and that's why I don't really like it.

All my photos are sorted by "events" and I really don't like that. Lots of random dates and stuff that I don't need to know.

You don't have to access the photos by Events if you don't want to - you can create Albums that organize the images in any and every which way that you please.

The thing is, Events, Albums, Faces, Places.... they are all really just search engine results. You can have the same image in as many Albums as makes sense to you. Meantime, the image still appears in the Events folder if you ever need to know,"Where are the photos I took on January 21, 2014?" None of those folders contain actual images, just links to the master images stored in the Library. Since they're only links, you can make as many links to the same image as you want. Since they're only links, you don't have to waste hard disk space with multiple copies of the same image.

Then there's Faces: If you take the time to identify individuals by name, iPhoto's facial recognition software can then gather all the photos that (recognizably) contain Mom or Great Aunt Sally, as you please. If a photo has both Mom and Great Aunt Sally, it will appear in both Mom's folder and Great Aunt Sally's.

Places: If your camera has GPS (as an iPhone does), your photos will be automatically organized by location as well. So if you frequently visit Yosemite, you can readily find all your Yosemite images. (If the photos don't have GPS data, you can manually add location info to the images' database records.)

Non-Destructive Editing: The other thing to understand about iPhoto is that it's non-destructive editing - the Master image is never changed - the iPhoto database stores the edits you've made as a list of commands, which are applied if you view them, or Export a file of the final, edited version (in video production this is called an Edit Decision List). You can make multiple versions of the same image - different cropping, different color correction... whatever. All without having to store multiple copies of the image on your hard drive.

That's why you don't have to worry about where the master image files are stored on a day-to-day basis. iPhoto organizes them, knows where to find them, and you don't have to change the way they're organized on the hard drive. As long as the database knows where they are, all is well in the world (that's why you shouldn't move them around on your own).

If you're familiar with how iTunes works, iPhoto is much the same - one copy of the song, which you can find whether you look in Albums, Artists, Songs, Genres, Composer.... Playlists in iTunes and Albums in iPhoto are much the same - you select the songs or photos, and can sync the contents of specific playlists or albums onto your iPhone/iPad/iPod.

Well, so much for my pledge to not give a sales pitch!

 

[johnnnw]

You don't have to access the photos by Events if you don't want to - you can create Albums that organize the images in any and every which way that you please.

The thing is, Events, Albums, Faces, Places.... they are all really just search engine results. You can have the same image in as many Albums as makes sense to you. Meantime, the image still appears in the Events folder if you ever need to know,"Where are the photos I took on January 21, 2014?" None of those folders contain actual images, just links to the master images stored in the Library. Since they're only links, you can make as many links to the same image as you want. Since they're only links, you don't have to waste hard disk space with multiple copies of the same image.

Then there's Faces: If you take the time to identify individuals by name, iPhoto's facial recognition software can then gather all the photos that (recognizably) contain Mom or Great Aunt Sally, as you please. If a photo has both Mom and Great Aunt Sally, it will appear in both Mom's folder and Great Aunt Sally's.

Places: If your camera has GPS (as an iPhone does), your photos will be automatically organized by location as well. So if you frequently visit Yosemite, you can readily find all your Yosemite images. (If the photos don't have GPS data, you can manually add location info to the images' database records.)

Non-Destructive Editing: The other thing to understand about iPhoto is that it's non-destructive editing - the Master image is never changed - the iPhoto database stores the edits you've made as a list of commands, which are applied if you view them, or Export a file of the final, edited version (in video production this is called an Edit Decision List). You can make multiple versions of the same image - different cropping, different color correction... whatever. All without having to store multiple copies of the image on your hard drive.

That's why you don't have to worry about where the master image files are stored on a day-to-day basis. iPhoto organizes them, knows where to find them, and you don't have to change the way they're organized on the hard drive. As long as the database knows where they are, all is well in the world (that's why you shouldn't move them around on your own).

If you're familiar with how iTunes works, iPhoto is much the same - one copy of the song, which you can find whether you look in Albums, Artists, Songs, Genres, Composer.... Playlists in iTunes and Albums in iPhoto are much the same - you select the songs or photos, and can sync the contents of specific playlists or albums onto your iPhone/iPad/iPod.

Well, so much for my pledge to not give a sales pitch!

Sorting by Album name would be nice but I can't figure out how to do that. I found a view that shows some of my folder names, but theres a lot of "Untitled Events" in there as well, so it is still sorting by Event. How would I go about sorting by Album names only?

I turn off Location Service on my iPhone settings on purpose because I share photos online and I want them to have the location exif data on them, so that GPS sorting, while neat, is not something I would use. Plus I don't leave my town much with the exception of my cottage

As far as the editing stuff I never edit photos so the master edit thing isn't too useful either lol. I am pretty simple when it comes to the photos. Just want them sorted nicely and want a way to look at them.

It does seem like a very useful program for more editing inclined or someone who takes a lot of pictures. I on the other hand not so much.

 

[mtngoatjoe]

Sorting by Album name would be nice but I can't figure out how to do that. I found a view that shows some of my folder names, but theres a lot of "Untitled Events" in there as well, so it is still sorting by Event. How would I go about sorting by Album names only?

I turn off Location Service on my iPhone settings on purpose because I share photos online and I want them to have the location exif data on them, so that GPS sorting, while neat, is not something I would use. Plus I don't leave my town much with the exception of my cottage

As far as the editing stuff I never edit photos so the master edit thing isn't too useful either lol. I am pretty simple when it comes to the photos. Just want them sorted nicely and want a way to look at them.

It does seem like a very useful program for more editing inclined or someone who takes a lot of pictures. I on the other hand not so much.

This may help. http://support.apple.com/kb/PH2397

But to be honest, you're probably better off sorting by date anyway. If you do need to find an event by title, just search for it.

And don't forget that you can split and merge events all you want. For example, I usually merge all my Christmas season photos together. But my sister's birthday is during the Christmas season, so that event is split out and separate. I personally don't like using very many albums and folders. Smart albums can be very handy, but usually, if you're using faces, places, ratings, titles, and keywords correctly, then you don't really need very many folders or albums. YMMV.

Oh, and if you do go on a vacation, then turn location services on. Using the travel slideshow with GPS data is a lot of fun.

 

[glenthompson]

I usually import pictures into events by day since I typically shoot one subject in a day. When I want to split them finer or coarser, it's quite easy. Thanksgiving 2013 makes a good event name for the activities that day since everything occurred at one location. All this makes it easy for me since I tend to think chronologically. It doesn't make sense to merge Xmas 2013 with Labor Day weekend just because both events were at the same location. The places ability is handy here if I want to see everything at a particular location.

iPhoto, Aperture, and Lightroom are all photo databases. When using them you have to think of them in that manner. If using a SQL database do you care where the individual tables or records are stored on the disk? As long as I can get to the photos when needed, why do I care how they are stored on disk?

 

[photogirl13]

You don't have to access the photos by Events if you don't want to - you can create Albums that organize the images in any and every which way that you please.

The thing is, Events, Albums, Faces, Places.... they are all really just search engine results. You can have the same image in as many Albums as makes sense to you. Meantime, the image still appears in the Events folder if you ever need to know,"Where are the photos I took on January 21, 2014?" None of those folders contain actual images, just links to the master images stored in the Library. Since they're only links, you can make as many links to the same image as you want. Since they're only links, you don't have to waste hard disk space with multiple copies of the same image.

Then there's Faces: If you take the time to identify individuals by name, iPhoto's facial recognition software can then gather all the photos that (recognizably) contain Mom or Great Aunt Sally, as you please. If a photo has both Mom and Great Aunt Sally, it will appear in both Mom's folder and Great Aunt Sally's.

Places: If your camera has GPS (as an iPhone does), your photos will be automatically organized by location as well. So if you frequently visit Yosemite, you can readily find all your Yosemite images. (If the photos don't have GPS data, you can manually add location info to the images' database records.)

Non-Destructive Editing: The other thing to understand about iPhoto is that it's non-destructive editing - the Master image is never changed - the iPhoto database stores the edits you've made as a list of commands, which are applied if you view them, or Export a file of the final, edited version (in video production this is called an Edit Decision List). You can make multiple versions of the same image - different cropping, different color correction... whatever. All without having to store multiple copies of the image on your hard drive.

That's why you don't have to worry about where the master image files are stored on a day-to-day basis. iPhoto organizes them, knows where to find them, and you don't have to change the way they're organized on the hard drive. As long as the database knows where they are, all is well in the world (that's why you shouldn't move them around on your own).

If you're familiar with how iTunes works, iPhoto is much the same - one copy of the song, which you can find whether you look in Albums, Artists, Songs, Genres, Composer.... Playlists in iTunes and Albums in iPhoto are much the same - you select the songs or photos, and can sync the contents of specific playlists or albums onto your iPhone/iPad/iPod.

Well, so much for my pledge to not give a sales pitch!

Thanks so much for the above information. It makes it much clearer how iPhoto actually works. I have been using iPhoto as an introduction to editing images, and was wondering where the master "copy" was in order to back-up my files. It seems as long as I select export "originals", it will keep the original image, as well as any manipulated images in the particular album. This puts my mind at ease a bit.

Thanks for taking the time to give us background information, and how to best use iPhoto.

-Lex