organizing photos?

i switched from pc to mac about 2 years ago (although i did have a powerbook 520 in 1995!) and i'm just getting around to really thinking about how i store my photos (having kids really messes with your computer time).

when i had a pc, i used to use the camera software to import the photos and then store them in date specific folders (2008, 200806 (june 08), 060108). when i got the mac i started using image capture to upload into a photos folder and then i'd drag them all into iphoto. but then i moved everything from the photos folder into the old date specific folders.

the whole process is arduous and probably unnecessary. i take a ton of photos and videos (about 9K-10K a year) and i like to make sure i have backups. but is this whole process unnecessary? is it taking up extra room on my mac (it's been running slower and slower)?

thanks!

for reference, i have an imac with these stats (specs?):

mac OS X 10.4.11
intel core 2 duo
2.16 GHz
1 GB memory

I organize my pictures in Finder. I have folders set up like:

Pictures > 2008 > 07/29/08 - BBQ > [all the photos from that event, with the file names that my camera gave them]

I don't let iPhoto organize my photos because I find it way too slow when dealing with my thousands of photos, and because I don't like having to open up a program just to look at a photo.

Based on what you wrote, it sounds like you are creating duplicates (or more) by using image capture to import. Why do you not just let iPhoto handle the imports? That would be my suggestion.

You absolutely MUST continue making backups, but hopefully your backups are not on the Mac itself. Save to an external drive. I strongly recommend Time Machine; backup without all the hassle. This will take care of your backups for you.

iPhoto creates a very similar hierarchy for saving the files, actually. Inside the library folder (which you can open by right or control clicking the iPhoto Library and selecting Show Package Contents) you will see a hierarchy which includes this, for example: Originals --> 2008 --> January 1, 2008 --> List of photos from that date.

Some people don't seem to like iPhoto's approach, but that is the structure.

By the way, if you want to help your Mac perform better, I recommend upgrading your RAM to 4 gigs.

jroller said:

iPhoto creates a very similar hierarchy for saving the files, actually. Inside the library folder (which you can open by right or control clicking the iPhoto Library and selecting Show Package Contents) you will see a hierarchy which includes this, for example: Originals --> 2008 --> January 1, 2008 --> List of photos from that date.

Click to expand...

While you can look at photos this way you don't want to move them around or rename any of them this way if you are going to be using iPhoto. If you do, iPhoto will lose it's connection with the file and you will not be able to see it in iPhoto and will have to re-import it/them.

thanks!

so is it best for me to just import using iphoto? and then not make my own folders at all?

when i upload photos to a webpage can i just navigate to the place where iphoto saves them?

it seems like i'm just making duplicate copies. i upload using image capture, organize into date folders and then import into iphoto. does this mean i have more than one copy of each photo? should i delete the date folders i have? is that safe?

i backup to an external drive (western digital?)...i'm using OS 10 (10.4) so i don't think i have time machine?

I am still trying to figure if I even want to mess with iPhoto myself... two weeks into my new Mac experience. Isn't it true that when you import the photos into iPhoto you are making a duplicate?? One copy on the HD and one copy in the iPhoto location??

rosiegirl8 said:

thanks!

so is it best for me to just import using iphoto? and then not make my own folders at all?

when i upload photos to a webpage can i just navigate to the place where iphoto saves them?

it seems like i'm just making duplicate copies. i upload using image capture, organize into date folders and then import into iphoto. does this mean i have more than one copy of each photo? should i delete the date folders i have? is that safe?

i backup to an external drive (western digital?)...i'm using OS 10 (10.4) so i don't think i have time machine?

Click to expand...

Yes if using iPhoto just import using iPhoto or you will have dups.

Yes, when upload to a site you can go directly to the file. I find this a chore. If I am uploading picts I usually just drag the picts I want from iPhoto to the desk top. Makes it easy to find and upload. When done I just delete them from the desktop.

Yes, you are making dups. Since you have taken the time to sort them, I would just burn them to a CD for backup then delete them from the hard drive. That's the safest.

didjaever said:

I am still trying to figure if I even want to mess with iPhoto myself... two weeks into my new Mac experience. Isn't it true that when you import the photos into iPhoto you are making a duplicate?? One copy on the HD and one copy in the iPhoto location??

Click to expand...

I have heard that used to be true. I don't think so any longer. However, if you edit a picture iPhoto makes a dup so you can always revert to the original

cool...thanks all!

i'm going to upgrade to iphoto 8 (is that the newest version?), etc. and start uploading through iphoto. once i back up all my dated folders, i'll delete them!

one question: i looked at the iphoto library and everything is organized by year but then it's just organized by roll and not date. am i looking in the wrong place?

Okay wait. I simply use iPhoto's importer to import my picture. When I went about deleting duplicates, everything got messed up.

What should I do to not be wasting HD space? I'm really concerned about this.

Honestly get aperture is such a better program then iPhoto. Especially for photo management.

dakineyj said:

Yes, when upload to a site you can go directly to the file. I find this a chore. If I am uploading picts I usually just drag the picts I want from iPhoto to the desk top. Makes it easy to find and upload. When done I just delete them from the desktop.

Click to expand...

This is the approach I use as well since the iPhoto Library is not the easiest thing to navigate through the Finder.

rosiegirl8 said:

i looked at the iphoto library and everything is organized by year but then it's just organized by roll and not date. am i looking in the wrong place?

Click to expand...

Yea... I've seen that, too. Frankly, I don't know why that happens. I'm sure they have their reasons, but I don't know what they are. Maybe there is a difference between importing straight from a camera and importing from some other source (CD, HD, etc...)?