iPhoto 4.0.2 In July?

[Porchland]

Really though, the point of iphoto isn't "whats a file structure?", its to have a graphical interface for accessing photos. It seems that iphoto should be as intuitive as itunes for organizing its files. Instead it buries them to such an extreme degree that a casual user would have no idea at all how to find the files on their hard drive should the need arise.
When I have something in iphoto that needs some actual editing (other brightness/contrast or the silly "Enhance" button), I have to export the file to the desktop to open it in photoshop (and I DON't want to have to open photoshop every time i want to view something as other than a thumbnail). Then I have a file on my desktop thats different from its iphoto counterpart, which I could add to my library, but then iphoto would put that image in some other random ass directory, and we're back where we started. Boo.

Have you tried dragging the thumbnail in iPhoto onto the Photoshop icon? I use this regularly, and it should open right up in Photoshop, save your changes, and close it.

EDIT:

Oops, just saw post No. 12.

 

[Kingsnapped]

I don't have a problem at all with the iPhoto structure.
iPhoto lib.>year>month>day>pic
When I'm uploading a picture to an FTP, it only takes a couple seconds.. less if I have iPhoto open so I can see the title.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

I noticed that I can't Picture Share with other users on the same computer. I'd like to have access to them without having to fast user switch to them.

The best I have come up with is to store the library in a 'public' folder, and have each user use the one library in its shared location. I haven't yet tried having iPhoto running for more than one user simultaneously, though. I imagine that could cause problems. (By that, I mean having iPhoto open with two users logged in at the same time, change a photo, fast user switch, and see if it changed on the other user. I do *NOT* know if that will work.)

 

[sjk]

are you allowed to have folder within another folder?
or an album within another album?
sub dividing the albums further?

Nope.

otherwise... there's going to be hundreds of albums sooner or later. terrible library system on iPhoto...

Yep, as I wrote in my previous post -- iPhoto needs album hierarchies and/or some way to temporarily hide albums.

 

[DJY]

needs better library / heirarchy system if you ask me...
and a better way to locate specific photos within albums and libraryies - w ithout having to create smart albums

If I know the name of a photo I'd like to be easily able to get to it / display it. I'm only a new swticher as well - but I have had some trouble saving photos of the net or from email attachments into iPhoto as well... must do some homework in the forums to work this one out easily as well.

 

[Demon]

so... i guess iPhoto sucks!
but damn it, i'm a die hard Apple fan... so i'll just wait for improvements. haha, drawback of loyalty.

make it worth it Apple!

 

[fracai]

try using Image Capture to get movies off of your camera. they won't be imported into iPhoto but it's a nice, easy, Apple method for accessing your camera contents.

 

[mdelaney123]

Exactly, and thats the spirit and thinking of using a Mac ! Why should you care what a file structure is ? Just use the App !

Well, one really BIG reason to care about the file structure is that there may come a time that you will not be using iPhoto... 😱

In that case, what are you going to do with the thousands of pictures?

There is no way to understand the file system that is used to organize the photos! All of the date changes, keywords, captions, file name changes... EVERYTHING is LOST!!!!!!

That is a BIG risk to be taking....

I realized this after I had 5000+ pictures "organized" in the app...

And this is the very reason I stopped using iPhoto!!!!

As an owner of both a PC and 2 MACs, I have to give the nod to Microsoft when it comes to Digital Image organizers... Digital Image Suite includes Digital Image Library, which blows iPhoto away in every aspect...

Keywords, ratings, captions, date changes, file name changes, etc are all stored WITH THE PHOTO in the EXIF information...

Although the program does not "automatically" organize the photos into direcotires, it does provide a very easy way for you to organize them yourself... Even if you do a crappy job at it, you can sill pull up all your pictures by date, keyword, rating, etc...

I love my MACs, especially for iDVD... But man, iPhoto BLOWS! 🙁

 

[w00tmaster]

I want them to support small video flicks that I take with my Canon Ixus. I had to get myself a card-reading dongle where I insert my memorycard, in order to get them onto my computer.

I have a Canon Powershot A70, and I just use the software that came with the camera to get the movies off. Their software is a bit slow, but it does it's job, never had it crash on me in OS X.
It's still a pain though, I have to open 2 different applications.

 

[7on]

how else would you organize pictures? By color intensity? The year>month>day format works ok, though I never use it because I drag the photo out of iPhoto itself onto the desktop and edit. Then I redrag it into iPhoto and compare side by side with the original. Only thing though, is that I wished iPhoto would delete the original file (if you've edited) like every month or so. And have an automatic album called "originals." Nested albums would be awesome. It'd allow me to stop using the pictures folder for my misc pictures. Like backgrounds, web funies, etc. I only use iPhoto for my digital camera shots now.

The point of itunes and iphoto is so the user does have to worry with the finder hierarchal system. Apple might has well have made the folders invisible by default.

 

[mdelaney123]

The point of itunes and iphoto is so the user does have to worry with the finder hierarchal system. Apple might has well have made the folders invisible by default.

Yes, maybe so... But that is no excuse NOT to have a good folder/file system!!!!

iTunes has it... WHY NOY iPHOTO?

Why make iPhoto's file system so illogical and un-friendly???????

😕

 

[Freg3000]

Yes, maybe so... But that is no excuse NOT to have a good folder/file system!!!!

iTunes has it... WHY NOY iPHOTO?

Why make iPhoto's file system so illogical and un-friendly???????

😕

Yeah, it is not very friendly, but at least it is possible to understand. It would be much more easy to understand if instead of "04" it said April for the month.

Dunno why it is so hard to change that, and make it so much easier.

 

[ClimbingTheLog]

Is AI in Tiger?

yes, but intelligent file handling is an indication of an intelligent app 😉 i really love the way itunes handles files, so the same standard can be expected from iphoto as well. apple will be able to do better than this.

Right... where's the metadata for iPhoto to use to automatically determine your file structure?

iTunes has the CDDB. Do you expect iPhoto to say, "Oh, that's a picture of Aunt Sally," and file it under Photos > Family > Annoying > Aunt Sally?

Most people don't annotate their photos so iPhoto has nothing to go on but date.

 

[JFreak]

Right... where's the metadata for iPhoto to use to automatically determine your file structure?

iTunes has the CDDB. Do you expect iPhoto to say, "Oh, that's a picture of Aunt Sally," and file it under Photos > Family > Annoying > Aunt Sally?

Most people don't annotate their photos so iPhoto has nothing to go on but date.

excellent question, but i didn't suggest any cddb-like thing because that is impossible and not needed. digital cameras store that date metadata automatically within the image file, so that's there by default. it's easy for iphoto to extract it and arrange files accordingly.

now, the way iphoto does it, that sucks; in comparison, itunes keeps its library in an xml file where everything is nicely structured and keeps its files in nicely organized directory hierarchy. there's nothing wrong with iphoto placing image files into directories by year/month/day but that's only a half of the solution, and apple needs to implement the same kind of xml data storage to iphoto as in itunes, because currently the directory hierarchy contains all kinds of extra files in addition to the image files. itunes doesn't do that, the xml data storage is enough. but iphoto... sheesh, you don't need to import anything into iphoto to make a new directory entry into the iphoto library. it is enough if you just open the app and it puts a file into its library to show that you used the app that day.

i'd just like that the "iPhoto Library" folder would only contain my photos, and only that, nothing else. all extra data and album info must be stored somewhere else, not there.

 

[katanna]

my (not so) quick responce...

I just glanced through this thread. Two things that I saw were that the file structure is terrible and that iPhoto should be able to support other media types (video, audio, ect.)
First of all, this is iPhoto. iPHOTO!! (not to be confused with IFOTOS). iPhoto does exactly what it does: takes care of photos. If you want to use your audio with your camera, use iTunes. Video, that is why we have iMovie.
To those that think that the file structure is off... I agree, and so what? It is kinda like in iTunes: who ever needs to look at the file structure any way? If you want to find a picture, go to the top left, choose export (and to the person who said it is clunky... I dissagree 100% It is hardly one more click past Save). It is that easy.
I appologize if I am harsh, it is just that I am tired of people rejecting a great program because of one minor thing. I was in another forum today and there was a guy who renounced iTunes, said it was the worst program ever, and was cussing it! Why? Because after he bought some songs online, he deleated them from his computer and expected Apple to give them back. Give me a break!! This is why PC people will never like Macs. Because they are 1% different, they are unexeptible and will never be looked at again!
I am sorry about the raving, but it really gets me mad when people refuse to give a great program a second chance.

Matthew

PS: Thanks for that tip about Photoshop... I will use that!

 

[katanna]

excellent question, but i didn't suggest any cddb-like thing because that is impossible and not needed. digital cameras store that date metadata automatically within the image file, so that's there by default. it's easy for iphoto to extract it and arrange files accordingly....

I do agree with JFreak on his entire post. One thing that I have noticed the only time I tried to look through the actual files, is that the pictures are not the only files there, and the pictures seem to be in several places. I was rather confused right away, so I just export my pictures instead... that way I never have to worry about it!

Matthew

 

[katanna]

so... i guess iPhoto sucks!QUOTE]
Please, Please, Please don't come into a forum like this and listen to all of the whining and moaning about a product and decide if you like it. iPhoto is one of the greatest pieces of software that comes on a Mac. Compare this to what you get on a PC: preview. wow. great. With iPhoto, you can do just about anything a family needs for it's home photos. It is an amazing piece of software, and these people are here complaining about it's few small faults, talking like it is the end of the world!

I realized this after I had 5000+ pictures "organized" in the app...

Bingo, there is your problem right there. While iPhoto can handle a load this size, it was never designed for it. It is suposed to be for family pictures, that you take on the weekend, or on vacation... I have several hundred pictures and iPhoto works great. If you have more than 5000 pictures, please, use something else!! It is kinda like making Spiderman 2 using iMovie. It is just not what it was designed for (though this has been done... There have been movies in Europe that were made in iMovie, and many American movies have been made using Final Cut Pro, even popular ones (can't remember titles, sorry!)).

Matthew

PS: Sorry, didn't mean to tripple post, but I kinda got dragged into this discussion...

 

[mdelaney123]

To those that think that the file structure is off... I agree, and so what? .......I appologize if I am harsh, it is just that I am tired of people rejecting a great program because of one minor thing.

iPhoto stinks becuase of more than 1 minor thing!

1. File structure is useless
2. Keyword, dates, etc... Not stored with photo
3. SLOW with large amounts of pictures
4. Chaging/adding Keyword and dates is clunky compared to other programs
5. Keeping original photos with no option to NOT keep them is silly

To me 1 and 2 are show stoppers...

If you want to see it done right, check out Mucrosoft Digital Image Library (contained in Digital Image Suite) on the PC...

(I am not bashing the Apple... just iPhoto.... I cannot live without iMovie/iDVD... ) 😀

 

[JFreak]

iPhoto stinks becuase of more than 1 minor thing!

1. File structure is useless
2. Keyword, dates, etc... Not stored with photo
3. SLOW with large amounts of pictures
4. Chaging/adding Keyword and dates is clunky compared to other programs
5. Keeping original photos with no option to NOT keep them is silly

To me 1 and 2 are show stoppers...

If you want to see it done right, check out Mucrosoft Digital Image Library (contained in Digital Image Suite) on the PC...

(I am not bashing the Apple... just iPhoto.... I cannot live without iMovie/iDVD... ) 😀

first point is a major issue with iphoto, i think you should - as well as others too - whine about it in www.apple.com/feedback site. i have already, and will do after every version update if this issue is not addressed properly.

second point is just whining. does jpeg standard have keywords in it? if it doesn't, there is no way apple can include keywords into jpeg files. can the keywork data be put into EXIF data? dunno, can someone confirm this?

third point will perhaps be addressed in the future major upgrades, as we saw the iphoto4 being A LOT faster than previous versions. again, please provide feedback so apple knows we care.

fourth and fifth, i have nothing to comment except... GIVE FEEDBACK TO APPLE, please!

 

[mdelaney123]

first point is a major issue with iphoto, i think you should - as well as others too - whine about it in www.apple.com/feedback site.

I have sent them a detailed feedback...

second point is just whining. does jpeg standard have keywords in it? if it doesn't, there is no way apple can include keywords into jpeg files. can the keywork data be put into EXIF data? dunno, can someone confirm this?

Whining??? To answer your question, YES, the jpeg standard allows for EXIF data to be stored with each picture. The EXIF data has space for keywords, captions, comments, dates, ratings, etc!!!!! Why Apple does not support this is anyone's guess... As I stated, Microsoft's Digital Image Suite 9 supports this feature, and it does it blazingly fast!

 

[Earendil]

iPhoto stinks becuase of more than 1 minor thing!

1. File structure is useless

That is a bit black and white. After all the much easier (in my mind) ways of doing what you want to do, I'm not sure why the file structure is all that important. But really, aside from changing "04" to "April" how exactly would you have iPhoto store photos aside from year/month/date ?!

2. Keyword, dates, etc... Not stored with photo

They are for me...
Perhaps not ratings and notes, but certainly dates (like every file) and it keeps all my EXIF data intact, like exposure time, aperture size, ISO settings. So you want the ratings to stay within the EXIF data? why? AFAIK, if you stored "iphoto ratings" ect in the EXIF data, it would only be useful to a program that knew how to read EXIF data put there by iPhoto.

3. SLOW with large amounts of pictures

I have a 1.25mgz computer and load 4000 pictures amounting to 1.8 gigs, and the library loads faster than PS CS can open a picture...

4. Changing/adding Keyword and dates is clunky compared to other programs

haven't tried other apps, but I do wish it was easier to change dates in mass (and not all to the exact same date).

5. Keeping original photos with no option to NOT keep them is silly

does it actually keep two completely different copies of the image? I always assumed it just recorded the effects (to which there are very few in iPhoto) and applied/un-applied them as people messed with photos or reverted back to original.

To me 1 and 2 are show stoppers...

If you want to see it done right, check out Mucrosoft Digital Image Library (contained in Digital Image Suite) on the PC...

(I am not bashing the Apple... just iPhoto.... I cannot live without iMovie/iDVD... ) 😀

sounds to me a bit like you are expecting Prosumer results from regular joe shmoe (and even that is low) program for sorting pictures that is essentially free. Especially for you, seeing as you obviously will continue to buy iMovie/iDVD as it is updated, you are getting iPhoto for nothing.

If there is a better program to use, by all means go use it. I don't think Apple is claiming iPhoto as the professional picture sorter of the year, nor are they charging a professional price for it. Certainly my parents don't care about EXIF data (or know what it is), nor do I'm sure 99.9% of Apple users today. My mom has a hard time navigating the file structure of the OSX, yet she can handle the GUI of iPhoto with ease. This I believe is the point of iPhoto.

So why complain about Professional style features on an obviously consumer level product?
For the record though, iPhoto works splendidly for my own professional photography work, and the price is far lower than any other program I use.

-Tyler Zuck

 

[JFreak]

yes, iphoto keeps two copies of those photos that have been changed within iphoto. even if the change was a simple 90 degree rotate. when you make a change, iphoto creates an "originals" folder to store the original file and after the backup has been made, iphoto generates a new file to the library.

it is good policy to store the originals (which can be compared to the "film frame" of analog time), but having a large library, those original backups waste a large chunk of hard drive space, too. i just recently deleted a gigabyte of originals 😉

 

[katanna]

So why complain about Professional style features on an obviously consumer level product?

This is exactly what I was trying to say in my above posts, but I couldn't put it in good words (no, I am not an English Major!). Thanks for saying what I ment!

Matthew

 

[må¥å]

Expose v2

Off Topic however I want to see an Expose style sheet added to all the iApps.

Would be sleek and never done before think about it, keep the UI clean and simple unless you want more power and control over every part of the iApp all you hav eto do it reveal it via a different sort of Expose system style.

Now I don't think this idea has been implemented in any application so if anyone developes this I want a cut or recognition. 😉 😀

And to make it ever so better an application will be small and grow as the uses grow in its useability. Its the evolution of any application.

cheers mates.

 

[faintedlife]

How about a fix for the problem with loading photos?

I had over 1000+ photos in my library and a few weeks after loading iPhoto 4, iPhoto decided not to load my photos. All it does is sit there with the revolving waiting icon. It's useless for me now.

Anyone have the same problem and fix it? I've tried the support boards and nothing works.