Switching iphoto for Lightroom help..

[bedtimeforbonzo]

Hi All.

I have not used iphoto for a while, and now have Lightroom which I want to start using. Problem is, due to varous MB backups over the years I have multiple iphoto libraries all over the place.

How can I pull my images into one folder, and separate the wheat from the chaff? I am dyslexic and get very confuse by all the technical folders of caches, and data and so on.... I just want to get to the original files!

Is there an easy way?

 

[telecomm]

If you've got the hard drive space to have a (temporary) duplicate of your libraries, the easiest way would be to do this:
1. Create a folder where you'll store all your images.
2. For each library, load it and select all images (or all events, as long as you've selected everything), then choose Export... from the File menu, and in the first drop down list, select Originals.
3. Export the originals to the folder you created, then delete that iPhoto library and repeat for each library.

When you load up Lightroom you can add all the photos in that folder to a catalog, and you're up and running.

 

[bedtimeforbonzo]

Could I not just copy and paste from the iphoto_'Originals' folders in finder?

 

[telecomm]

Could I not just copy and paste from the iphoto_'Originals' folders in finder?

Of course, but are all your originals actually in there? (You mentioned having multiple libraries, so I had assumed the originals were located in various folders across your hard disk.)

 

[fcortese]

Could I not just copy and paste from the iphoto_'Originals' folders in finder?

You probably could but then you would have photos in both iPhoto and LR. If you have the space on your HD or you have a backup HD to store the photos the choice is yours. If you copy and paste the original stays in iPhoto, I believe.