Pictures in Iphoto

Well just got a mac yesterday really new to it, ive been adding all my photos just to iphoto. Now how do I actually see them in like a folder? For instance I was trying to set my avatar on a forum to a pic i had in iphoto but when i browsed to pictures then iphoto I couldnt go in and see my photos so i had to go back to where i found it and save it to just pictures, know what i mean lol

iPhoto keeps all of its images in a database called "iPhoto Library" in your Pictures folder. Right click on it and choose "Show package contents" to see inside. I recommend just dragging the photo from iPhoto to your desktop if you want to, say, upload it as an avatar though.

that is correct. if you go messing around with the files themselves, outside of iPhoto, iPhoto will loose contact and you will have to reimport them.

It's good to know about package contents, but its not like a mini windows directory or file tree. It's not a place for users to transact business. If you make changes in a package, you can wind up causing yourself a whole lot of unnecessary trouble. The package is there for the application to use, not you.