renaming photos in iphoto

[skybolt]

Step by step tutorial and show us newbies how great iPhoto is. I spent a whole day figuring out and grouping 125 photographs (no editing). As for organizing rolls I just named them 1,2,3... Never have found how to view each roll separately or explore each roll. Somehow all three rolls appeared as one huge proof or slide show?
Wound up grouping fotos using iPhoto Preferences to add key words and then tagging one foto at a time.
I selected all for ie. Dad and Kids group exported them to burn folder and burned the group. Then placed the disk in XP to import into photo shop elements, what I got was 6 originals and 9 thumb nails... What did I do wrong?
If you write a quick start step by step with links to more in depth instructions it would be helpful. I print stuff in my windows pc and go into mac then follow instructions.

There are many tutorials on the internet -- I believe Apple has one of their own. But, here is what I do:

I open iPhoto, and, camera (or card reader) connected and mounted, tell iPhoto to import. When it is done, I rename the resulting "roll" to something more descriptive -- San Francisco 2006 or Grandson's visit, etc. Then I name all the photos within that roll. Here is where you would use keywords, etc. (I haven't gotten into that, but with my collection growing by leaps and bounds need to get started with that!). Then, if I want to, I create albums for each category -- again, San Francisco, New Orleans, etc. I can create a folder "Vacations" if I want and put those albums in the folder to organize more fully. That's it! That is all there is to it!

If you are importing from something other than a camera/card, keep in mind that iPhoto will create one large "roll" unless you import folder by folder. Doing this will preserve the name of the folder as the roll name, and will preserve any titles, etc. that you have added. If you get one large roll, use the "create new roll" command to create the rolls you want and then move the photos into those rolls. For viewing by roll, just select the "view" in the menu bar and tell it to sort by rolls.

I edit the photos from within the rolls so that the changes are also made to the alias photos in the albums.

From there, you can email a photo, make a webpage with selected photos, export to a folder on your desktop to be sent to a photo finisher, MySpace, etc. All the info will be kept with the photo. To make a CD to share, do not use the "burn" button -- this is for backing up your photos in the iPhoto format -- to restore if you lose something. For sharing, export to your desktop from within iPhoto, and then drag that folder to the CD icon (after you have inserted a disc). This will copy the files you want. Or you could use Toast to burn (that's what I do).

For more info, go here: http://www.apple.com/support/iphoto/

Good luck!

 

[decksnap]

That's because the name of the image/file has not been changed (in the finder). Why does that matter? When the recipient gets the photo, they will know what the title is. What else do they need to know?

Re-read my other posts if you still don't understand the problem here. Of course I didn't name them in the finder. I want to be able to name them in iPhoto.

As it stands I have to disable iPhoto import and run an automator script to 'prename' my images before dumping into iPhoto. Don't bother trying to automate spotlight comments because those get removed.

 

[stork]

I think i've found the final answer! although it will probably make even more post's!

Import your photos into iPhoto, create albums and organise your pictures as you wish. E.g// Put all your pictures of Scotland into a scotland album.

Rename your photos! using the infomation tab in the bottom left hand cornor.

If you want to find a picture in your iPhoto dont use Spotlight, use the the search built into iPhoto. It will find them no problem. No matter what you've called them.

If you need to export a picture to say a website, go to File - Export.
If you click export, it will ask you to rename the file. From there you can rename the orginal file name, the file name the camera itself gives the photo.

Export to the desktop from where you will be able to find it when the website etc ask's you to browse.

This works better than renaming the orignal files in iPhoto, more complex names e.g// Scotland Landscape shot edit1 can be used instead of Scotland1245.jpg.

This makes the search work better in iPhoto.

Hope this clears up any confusion.

 

[stork]

Just a quick update, if you inport loaaadss of pictures of the same thing, e.g a full memory of pictures of your garden, to rename them all from the title given to them in-camera:-
Add them all to an album e.g//Garden 2007
Select all
Batch change
In the two coloums change it to Text and Title.
The menu expands to allow you to add a title, e.g Garden,
Click append a number to each photo.
Click OK!
And there you will have all the pictures renamed to ease searching and all numbered,

From there you can rank and keyword, creating a perfect libary of brillant pictures that with the post above allows you to export easily.

 

[skybolt]

Stork, you are exactly correct! That is the way iPhoto is meant to be used!

 

[decksnap]

Just a quick update, if you inport loaaadss of pictures of the same thing, e.g a full memory of pictures of your garden, to rename them all from the title given to them in-camera:-
Add them all to an album e.g//Garden 2007
Select all
Batch change
In the two coloums change it to Text and Title.
The menu expands to allow you to add a title, e.g Garden,
Click append a number to each photo.
Click OK!
And there you will have all the pictures renamed to ease searching and all numbered,

From there you can rank and keyword, creating a perfect libary of brillant pictures that with the post above allows you to export easily.

Again- doesn't this just change the title and not the file name?

 

[stork]

It only needs to be changed when you export, and it gives you the chance to.
When exporting the file name can be changed to one of your own.

The file name doesnt need to be changed when its held in iPhoto, you give it the title so you can search for it when in iPhoto.

 

[skybolt]

Just so we understand, why are you so intent on changing the file name? The file name in the library in finder does not matter -- you have the photo name (title) in the iPhoto app. What do you expect to do with a renamed file that you can't do from within the app?

 

[stork]

Exactly! The only time it ever needs to be changed is when its exported to your desktop to be moved onto a usb stick or cd, there you have the chance to rename the file with a file name of your choosing.
Renaming the file just isnt needed unless its been exported.
This is an example of a windows process been applied to the mac system and this isnt right.
Ive only recently (three weeks) moved to Mac and have quickly learnt this.

 

[decksnap]

I think you guys have to go back to the beginning of the thread and read why it was started. It's nice if your solution works for you... but the goal of changing the file names has not been accomplished. There are various reasons to want this.

 

[stork]

What reasons are wanted for the file name changes?

 

[iKwick7]

What reasons are wanted for the file name changes?

If you look back at the beginning of this thread, the main concern was that people wanted to email or upload photos. When you do this, the original, camera created filenam is there, not the iPhoto file name.

That being said, the automator suggestion seems to be the best workaround.

 

[chillywilly]

I think you guys have to go back to the beginning of the thread and read why it was started. It's nice if your solution works for you... but the goal of changing the file names has not been accomplished. There are various reasons to want this.

I have the same need to rename the physical filename before importing into iPhoto 06.

My needs are:

- physical backups of the photos. Outside of iPhoto, it would be nice to know what the picture is instead of trying to figure out what photo IMG_095858.JPG is.

- taking pictures to a local store to get prints made of them. I do this often and again, nice to know what pictures I want prints from, especially if I am giving them to the guy behind the counter that is printing my pictures.

- pure nature of just having things organized - regardless of how iPhoto organizes digital photos.

- sharing pictures with others that don't have iPhoto. My girlfriend's sister is new to all of this. I give her a CD with 100 or so digital photos on it. She is using Windows. She opens the CD and sees the list of pictures that have descriptive names on them. Granted, I know I can export from iPhoto and give more descriptive names at that time, but it's nice not to have to go through that step a second time.

I can go on about the benefit to renaming the physical filenames of your digital photos... but if iTunes can do it with a song (which I make corrections to the physical filename of my music often and iTunes updates without having to re-import the song into the library), then iPhoto should be able to do it with a digital photo.

FWIW, Aperture allows you to change the filename on import. I don't have Aperture, but a friend does and he showed me the import process (which is exactly what I would like to see in iPhoto).

Curious to know if iPhoto 08 adds this option, since it seems to borrow some features from Aperture.