What is the actual location of the photos that iPhoto uses?

[Sir Loin Steak]

As far as i can make out, all the photos I see in iPhoto are copies of the original. But where are the original ones, then?

I usually connect my camera to the mac and the photos get copied form there, I know this much.

When I use Finder to try to locate a photo, it is iPhoto that opens it - I don't seem to have a choice. I might want to open the original photo in another program, for example.

Thanks.

 

[apfhex]

~/Photos/iPhoto Library. It shows up in the Finder as a single file but you can right-click > Show Package Contents to get to the actual JPEG files.

If you're importing them directly into iPhoto from your camera, then those are probably the only copies of the photos on your Mac. If they were already on your Mac before you imported them, it will have made copies. You can tell iPhoto not to copy items to the iPhoto Library (Preferences > Advanced).

A search would likely turn up some relevant information. I know this has been covered before.

 

[skybolt]

However, if you want to use iPhoto successfully, stay out of the library in finder! Just because apfhex told you HOW to see them, does not mean you SHOULD go there. iPhoto organizes things so that it can work for you by finding the photos where it put them, and if you do anything to them in the finder (move, organize, rename, etc.) you will cause the app to not be able to find your photos.

The photos you see in iPhoto are the app's way of showing you the photos in the library. Don't mess with it! Do anything any everything to/with your photos from within the app itself.

If you want to upload a photo to another site, simply drag it to the desktop from within the app (or use the export function for more control over size, etc) and upload from there. If you want to use some other software for editing, go to preferences and set that application as your default editor. Then when you click on a photo to edit, that editing software will open, you can edit, and when you save your work, the photo will be put right back where it belongs.

 

[DaveF]

Right-click a photo in iPhoto and select "Show in Finder" That will take you to that specific photo's file.

iPhoto's import function copies the pictures into its library. If you edit the original photo, a copy for edits is made in the library. It is always possible to revert an edited photo to the original.

When I use Finder to try to locate a photo, it is iPhoto that opens it - I don't seem to have a choice. I might want to open the original photo in another program, for example.

Thanks.

In iPhoto, set the editor to be your editor of choice, be it Photoshop or Pixelmator. Then when you edit a photo in iPhoto, it will launch the external editor of your choice. I use iPhoto's tools. My wife edits everything in Photoshop via iPhoto. Everyone's happy

 

[Sir Loin Steak]

Thanks everyone.

My main reason for asking is that when I got this mac, I brought all my photos from my windows machine over and they have been sitting in a folder in my documents, but of course iPhoto never pointed to them.

What I wanted to do, and now have done so because of the answers here, was to put them with all the existing photos that iphoto has imported since I got the machine.

So it looks like I'm sorted now.