iPhoto

Hello, I would like some help with using iphoto.

I am not sure how it works. What I currently do is copy my photo's from my camera to my macbook, then just create a duplicate of these pictures on a USB hdd to back them up.

When importing photo's in to iphoto, how does it work? does it copy the picture files to an iphoto directory or does it just referance the pictures from there current location, eg a hdd? (if it copys them to an iphoto file, where is this file?

How would I then go about creating backups of my files if it does this?

thanks

Pictures > Iphoto library. It will appear to you that the iPhoto library is one big file. However, you right-click > Show package contents and then you will find all your pictures and such in there. Don't move or rename anything in that folder.

Have you given though to using Time Machine as your backup manager? Cause it automatically backs up your iPhoto library and you can even recover your pictures right from the iPhoto interface.

thats good that is, so to backup my whole photo library all I have to do is copy that one iphoto file? I dont really want to use time machine.

One problem I can see is that if i keep all my photo's in iphoto, it may get to big for my 120gb hard drive. How would I get round this problem? Is there any way to set iphoto to get the library from a bigger external Hdd? Either this or I wont be able to keep all my photos from years gone by in one in iphoto, and only import the new ones?

I currently have some of my favored photo files on my macbook and then my whole library is on my USB hdd.

Yes , you can do this from within iPhoto I think, but I use an app called iPhotoLibraryManager

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/imaging_3d/iphotolibrarymanager.html

imme said:

thats good that is, so to backup my whole photo library all I have to do is copy that one iphoto file? I dont really want to use time machine.

Click to expand...

Just curious - is there a specific reason you don't want to use Time Machine?

You can hold Ctrl (I believe) while launching iPhoto and iPhoto will ask you if you want to specify the location for your library. Say yes, and then select the folder on an external HDD where you want it to put the new iPhoto Library file. Any subsequent photo imports will put photos into this new library.

I just tried out iPhoto library, it seems like the answer, just a shame you have to pay for it to be useful though. Is there any way to preform the same functions as this application manually?

If i created two library's, how do i specify the path of it in iphoto? (holding down ctrl seems to not work)
If i had two library's, how could i copy photo's and its data to and from them?

is there any program that will do this but is free?



update - I have decided to just create a new library for each year, then just use library managers limited functionality to switch between them.

Hold down option and launch iPhoto

You can create as many libraries as you like just drag your iPhoto folder/Package to it's new home (extern HDD) launch iphoto. It will claim it can't find your photos. Just pint iphoto to it's new location.

If you have several libraries just launch holding the option key you then chose which library to work in

Do all you guys use iphoto to manage your photographs, or do you just use an old fashion folder archive system?

iPhoto for family pictures and such. Aperture 2 for professional stock photos and such. No way I'm going back to folders and all. Just give this a little time and you will see how using a dedicated photo manager helps.

it does seem like the way to go, im not sure if i 100% trust keeping my photo's in this form in the iphoto library file though. I find it crashes quite a bit

I have imported all my images into an iphoto library, Do you think i should (or will it be ok) to now delete my picture files and folders I used to use?

Is there any way to export a whole iphoto library, putting all the photo's in there own separate event folders? I have had a fiddle and it just seems to chuck all of them in one folder so they get mixed up.

Read what Apple has to say here: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93603 This should keep them in their events.

Do not do anything to/with your photos from the library in finder! I can't stress enough how important it is to not meddle with the photos there. You will render your iPhoto app useless. Do anything and everything from within the app itself.

I keep my photos on an external. When you hold down the option key at iPhoto startup and select the iPhoto file (internal or external), that option will remain the default until you manually change it next time. I do have iPhoto Library Manager, but really don't use it. The iPhoto way works fine for me.

Hi Im about to switch to mac from PC (I have ordered a Macbook) and am a keen photographer. I have 2 questions...

What say I want to take say 30 photos from my iphoto collection and dump the jpegs onto a cd or usb stick that I can show friends/family/etc on another mac or pc or wateva?

If I get a huge library 50Gb+ does iphoto clog up and slow down etc? with windows I find I have to store my pictures in different folders on my HD to stop it lagging

You can just select what you want and burn them onto a disk. No big problem I do it all the time for both mates and for work (Totally PC)

Lots of RAM in your macbook will help with speed too

aeRo.nz said:

If I get a huge library 50Gb+ does iphoto clog up and slow down etc? with windows I find I have to store my pictures in different folders on my HD to stop it lagging

Click to expand...

There may be some slowdown. The more pictures you have, the longer it may take to load the i-Photo application. However, the lag should not be anywhere near to what you may have experienced using a Windows PC.

With 50gb of pics, I imagine they are divided up into a multitude of folders. You may be a little distressed to find that there is no way to alphabetize your events or albums in iPhoto.

I imported my pics and wound up with 200+ events (folders) that weren't in alphabetical order. It was impossible to find anything in them. Manually dragging them around to put them back in order would have taken days.