How to load photos from DSLR to MAC avoiding iPhoto?

[Bockady]

I've new to MAC (1 month or so). I bought a 24" iMac. Coming from PC, which has been great for me for a long time, I decided to try out MAC. I'm a hobby photographer with a DSLR camera. I want to load my photos (RAW + jpgs) to my computer hard drive. Automatically, iPhoto pops up and it's like I can't do anything with photos without having to go through iPhoto. I want to avoid iPhoto all together and create my own folder structure system on the hard drive, but my camera doesn't show up in 'Devices' in Finder. How do other photographers load their photos? I find it hard to image they have to go through iPhoto every single time. I have the camera hooked to the computer via USB. Is there something else I should be doing?

Another question about iPhoto.. . Can you organize your photos in folders within folders? Or can you just have one level of organization? It seems like your photo library would eventually just turn into a humungous sea of albums. Any advice on how to be better organized with iPhoto.

 

[Brien]

If you're looking to skip iPhoto, just use Image Capture.

 

[Fizzoid]

Yup, just open Image Capture, fire up the camera and copy the pictures where you want them

 

[Poncho]

Wait a jolly minute!

All you have to do is fire up iPhoto and under preferences say you don't want iPhoto to open up when you connect your camera.

Then the next time you connect your camera it will appear simply as a disc image on the desktop. From here you can drag and drop the photos to your desktop and/or open them in preview/photoshop or whatever you want.

 

[Bockady]

Thanks guys, you've all been most helpful. Now, is there a way I can view the files on my camera without having to download them to my computer (via Image Capture) first? On my PC, I can just look at all the files on my CF card and cut/copy/paste them to my computer where needed straight from the camera. Is this possible with MAC?

 

[miles01110]

Thanks guys, you've all been most helpful. Now, is there a way I can view the files on my camera without having to download them to my computer (via Image Capture) first? On my PC, I can just look at all the files on my CF card and cut/copy/paste them to my computer where needed straight from the camera. Is this possible with MAC?

If it mounts as a disc, you should be able to open the folder and use preview or quick look to view the files. Or any of the view options available in the finder.

 

[Dunmail]

Personally I don't connect my camera directly to the computer to download but use a card reader, this mounts as a USB volume.

You don't say what app you wish to use to work on your photos but it is worth noting that the current generation of photo-editing s/w (Aperture, Lightroom, iphoto and to some extent the Photoshop family) are concerned as much about photo organisation as photo correction/manipulation. To this end they support (nay encourage) the use of tags. So while the import process may put the files in a folder named along the lines of pictures/YYYY-MM-DD the tags mean that you can organise your shots so that they "appear in several virtual folders.

As an example, let's say that today I'm taking shots of wildlife at the local pond. The files will all have a datestamp of 2009-05-01. It just so happens I visited another pond a couple of weeks ago and took a similar set of shots. I use Lightroom, so on import I assign keywords like: wildlife, wildfowl, Yorkshire, England. To all the images. Once they are imported I can select all the shots with ducks in and add the keyword "duck", similarly for geese and so on.

Now I can create some smart collections (essentially dynamic folders), let's say I call them "Wildlife", "Ducks" & "Geese". For each I specify the search terms for the images I want in that collection. Now when I click on the "Ducks" collection to view it, the s/w filters the images and displays all those images tagged with the word "duck", not just from the 2009-05-01 folder but also the folder of images I took a couple of weeks earlier.

This is a different way of thinking about organising shots, you don't need to be concerned with the physical location on disk, the software keeps track of where the files are and you just create specific views to look at various images. If this sounds suspiciously like a database then you'd be correct!

 

[synagence]

As above.... downloading from camera direct via USB is usually slow ... i use a card reader

But there are other free options like Picassa from Google to manage photo library

I use Adobe Lightroom (expensive option)

 

[skybolt]

As an example, let's say that today I'm taking shots of wildlife at the local pond. The files will all have a datestamp of 2009-05-01. It just so happens I visited another pond a couple of weeks ago and took a similar set of shots. I use Lightroom, so on import I assign keywords like: wildlife, wildfowl, Yorkshire, England. To all the images. Once they are imported I can select all the shots with ducks in and add the keyword "duck", similarly for geese and so on.

Now I can create some smart collections (essentially dynamic folders), let's say I call them "Wildlife", "Ducks" & "Geese". For each I specify the search terms for the images I want in that collection. Now when I click on the "Ducks" collection to view it, the s/w filters the images and displays all those images tagged with the word "duck", not just from the 2009-05-01 folder but also the folder of images I took a couple of weeks earlier.

This is a different way of thinking about organising shots, you don't need to be concerned with the physical location on disk, the software keeps track of where the files are and you just create specific views to look at various images. If this sounds suspiciously like a database then you'd be correct!

Actually, that is exactly the way iPhoto works. Assign keywords, make smart albums and there you are.

In answer to the OP's questions regarding albums, etc. in iPhoto, you can create a folder, maybe "Vacations", and then albums that go into that folder, maybe "Summer 2008", "Trip to Europe". etc. Very easy to find things that way. Using that along with smart folders really gives you great flexibility! that is what iPhoto was created for - organization. Give it a try! It works great!