iPhoto alternative?

[chuchichan2524]

I'm a little bit of a "neat freak" when it comes to organizing my photos. I really don't like how iPhoto creates copies, thumbnails, etc. I find that I really like creating a separate folder for my photos by (year-month-day) and then a little description...

So, while I do like how I can easily email photos with iPhoto (and knock down the size easily) I think I am in need of a different program. Right now I am using the Preview program to view my photos. If I see one that I'd like to email , I open it in iPhoto and cut down the size and then attach it to a message.

What programs out there are good for viewing photos and, if possible, also have the ability to cut down the size of a photo for emailing? Are programs like Photoshop good for this or are they more for just editing photos?

Thanks in advance.

 

[robbieduncan]

iPhoto is all about maintaining it's own database of photos. If you are using your own folder structure and the Finder to browse and simply want to resize iPhoto is not really worth it.

Mail.app (in 10.4 at least) can resize images itself you know...

 

[frenetic]

Out of sheer curiosity: why do you insist on using the finder for seeing your pictures? I find that the iPhoto interface is much handier because it is much more flexible, there are folders, you can look them up by keywords... I have often heard the same complaint about iTunes ("I don't want it to organise my files in folders") but who cares where the original files are as long as you can get through them through a good interface? I mean, I never copy a song by going through the finder, I just select it in the iTunes window and drop it on the desktop...

I don't know if I explained myself clearly... it's sunday morning and my brain is slow.

 

[chuchichan2524]

I don't like iPhoto because it creates too many folders and too many copies of things (thumbnail, etc.) I like my original photos to be in one folder because I won't be always keeping them on my hard drive. I'll be burning them to DVD to backup.

Basically, I don't like a lot of clutter on my computer, I like to keep things clean...it's a bit hard to explain...but basically I'm looking for suggestions for an alternative to iPhoto. Would Photoshop be it or is that mainly for editing?

Thanks...

 

[frenetic]

No photoshop is mainly for editing, not for organising. Dunno about other apps, I remember reading about one but can't remember the name... Anybody else on this forum remembers?

 

[revenuee]

Would Photoshop be it or is that mainly for editing?

Thanks...

Creative Suite comes with a beautiful little program called BRIDGE

this is the most amazing program i have used for browsing and organizing my files.

it maintains all of your files structure but gives you lots of preview features and the ability to organize your files without duplicates.

i hate the way iPhoto works as well

 

[calebjohnston]

doesn't aperture organize pictures really well too? and it's cheaper than EDIT: PHOTOSHOP if you aren't going to be using the photo editing part.

 

[robbieduncan]

doesn't aperture organize pictures really well too? and it's cheaper than iphoto if you aren't going to be using the photo editing part.

Aperture costs a lot more than iPhoto.

iLife costs (contains iPhoto) $79
Aperture costs $499
(US Apple Store)

Anyway if you don't like the way iPhoto store pictures you probably won't like Apertures way. It stuffs everything into packages.

 

[Eraserhead]

I don't like iPhoto because it creates too many folders and too many copies of things (thumbnail, etc.) I like my original photos to be in one folder because I won't be always keeping them on my hard drive. I'll be burning them to DVD to backup.

Basically, I don't like a lot of clutter on my computer, I like to keep things clean...it's a bit hard to explain...but basically I'm looking for suggestions for an alternative to iPhoto. Would Photoshop be it or is that mainly for editing?

Thanks...

You know you can create DVD Backups with iPhoto itself?

 

[mkrishnan]

Anyway if you don't like the way iPhoto store pictures you probably won't like Apertures way. It stuffs everything into packages.

Yes, I think if the philosophy underlying file storage in iPhoto angers you, Aperture would throw you into psychotic rage.

OTOH, if you like what iPhoto does, Aperture sounds intriguing!

 

[road dog]

You know you can create DVD Backups with iPhoto itself?

Which are only useful if you are using iPhoto to look at them.

To put photos on a CD or DVD that anyone else (Mac or PC) could look at, you need Toast. The iPhoto burn function puts that whole silly folder/sub-folder structure on the disc. What a joke.

 

[steve_hill4]

I've also had people complain that they burn a cd/dvd through iPhoto and any edited images are burnt along with their originals. Take that to be developed and you are paying for the originals you don't want too, without realising.

 

[chuchichan2524]

How much does Creative Suite cost? How exactly does it allow you to organize your photos?

Also, is there a program other than iPhoto that allows resizing of photos for email attachments? Someone mentioned that the Mac Mail program would do that, but I don't see that as an option. I'm using Panther.

Thanks.

 

[Laser]

What about Elements?

 

[EGT]

Anyway if you don't like the way iPhoto store pictures you probably won't like Apertures way. It stuffs everything into packages.

Packages? What do you mean?

 

[mkrishnan]

Packages? What do you mean?

The backend of Aperture is essentially an industrial-strength database, that uses all the techniques that databases use to manage data -- transactions, rollback, etc, related tables, etc. That's the whole point of what Aperture does. All the photos go into the database structure.

That's why Aperture can maintain an undo history of all the changes you've made to all of your photos. You don't get to be OCD about the file structure. It wouldn't be able to do its job if you were.

 

[DerChef]

Only one choice

iView Media (pro)

Problem sorted

END OF

 

[Marky_Mark]

I know exactly how you feel. When I switched across I found iPhoto immensely frustrating to use. It created copies of all my photos, didn't store em where I wanted em, was butt-draggingly slow and generally peed me off.

There isn't anything that does exactly what I want, but there are a couple of packages which might be close enough for you:

CocoView:
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/16598

Graphic Convertor:
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/263

Both allow you to store photos in your own directory (oops, sorry...folder) structure and browse the folders with a thumbnail viewer, open photos full screen individually or as a slideshow.

I don't know CocoView very well (I downloaded it, compared it to Graphic Convertor and made my choice) but Graphic Convertor certainly has some better-than-rudimentary editing tools included as well.

I actually parted with cash and registered my copy of GC because after months of searching, it was the closest thing I could get to my old PC-only version of FotoTime on a Mac.

Photoshop Elements browsing capabilities may help you out as well, but they're pretty basic - you can't even view a series of photos as a slideshow in version 2.0, which is what I have. It does have a nice 'Save for web...' function though, which is a good one-click dialog box for cutting photos down to easily-transportable size. It drops the output where you specify and then it's a simple drag and drop into Mail.

For the sake of completeness, here are links for iViewMedia:

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/11744

and iView Media Pro:

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/5534

but be warned - they also do this cataloging stuff that iPhoto does - something I think both you and I have been trying to avoid. The only answer is to download them, take them for a test drive and decide which one suits you best. Everyone wants something slightly different.

Good luck!