iTunes-like organizing for photos

[Ktdhc]

Is there any photo organizing app that organizes pictures into actual OS folders, like iTunes does with music?

I don't like the database storage concept since there are certain risks of corruption, and also I like the control over my files because it's easier to backup and move things around. And also, it just creates a duplicate which doubles the required storage.

I've googled and searched the forum and I couldn't really find a solution. I think only Picasa can do this but Picasa interface is quite cluttered.

Any suggestions?

 

[Zerozal]

I use Lightroom set up exactly like this. Lightroom allows you to add/remove OS folders from within Lightroom itself, and that's where the photos live. The database itself is only used to store the metadata.

 

[Brian33]

Not totally sure what you're looking for, but have you explored iPhoto's library? iPhoto stores my originals in Brian's iPhoto Library-->Masters, which has a subdirectory for each event, which just contains plain .jpg files. Similarly for the modified/edited versions, which are organized in the Previews folder.

Now, the metadata may be stored in a more obscure way (I haven't explored it), but I don't see how any photo organizing program could avoid that... surely Lightroom and Picasa don't store all their metadata in the .jpg files themselves? They must have some sort of database, too.

(Note: to explore the iPhoto library (which is really just a folder), right-click on it and select Show Package Contents.)

----------

To resolve the "duplicate file" issue, I just import them to iPhoto and delete them wherever they came from. Just need one copy and it's there. Of course, i have a good backup procedure in place.

Not trying to talk you into iPhoto, though -- sorry if this post came across that way.

Cheers.

 

[geoffpalmeruk]

I used to use iPhoto, Now everything is in aperture. I love the organisation of the photos in there

 

[Icaras]

Mac user?

iPhoto.

 

[Ktdhc]

Thanks for all the inputs.

I've decided to simply use Renamer and sort the pictures manually by event.

iPhoto is WAY too unorganized and wastes too much space because of the previews and thumbnails. I added a single event of about 1.7 GB, and the iPhoto event total came to about 2.2 GB - that's like 30% extra wastage.

I'll try out Lightroom at some point.

 

[sigamy]

Disk space is cheap and abundant. You are going to save a bit of disk space but lose tons of time having to manually sort and then later search for your photos.

The benefits of iPhoto or a similar app--face detection, geo tagging on maps, Events, albums, smart albums, sharing, system integration with Media Browser, printing--far out way any loss of disk space for me.

Thanks for all the inputs.

I've decided to simply use Renamer and sort the pictures manually by event.

iPhoto is WAY too unorganized and wastes too much space because of the previews and thumbnails. I added a single event of about 1.7 GB, and the iPhoto event total came to about 2.2 GB - that's like 30% extra wastage.

I'll try out Lightroom at some point.

 

[geoffpalmeruk]

Aperture 3 is the way to go in my opinion