Picture Folder or iPhoto

Hi,
I am not sure whether this is a dumb question or not
I have been playing around with folders recently and learning to use Automator, and all is going fairly well. But I am now looking at my Pictures folder in Finder and have got myself confused. I was about to start renaming and sorting as I would have done in Windows but:
Am I right to think that all my photos are already in iPhoto and it is much easier to organise, rename etc. using that application?
I believe that all my photos are not linked to the Pictures folder from iPhoto but are actually stored in a separate, folder which should not be tampered with?
If I am right that the photos are in fact in two places then following on that it is a waste of time to organise both locations, am I also wasting disc space by keeping the photos in Pictures as well - I could just delete them and rely on iPhoto?

Pigstick said:

Am I right to think that all my photos are already in iPhoto and it is much easier to organise, rename etc. using that application?

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I think iPhoto is a fantastic way to organise pictures, and it's already there so why not?

Just my opinion, but I didn't buy a computer so that *I* could do more organising work, if you see what I mean.

I believe that all my photos are not linked to the Pictures folder from iPhoto but are actually stored in a separate, folder which should not be tampered with?

Click to expand...

By default, this is correct. You can have it work with your existing organization by turning this default behaviour off.

If I am right that the photos are in fact in two places then following on that it is a waste of time to organise both locations, am I also wasting disc space by keeping the photos in Pictures as well - I could just delete them and rely on iPhoto?

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Yes.

Thanks for the reply! iPhotoing I shall go...

Since it may be a bit different than the way you are used to working, I'd suggest having a look at the iPhoto tutorials on Apple's website, just here:

Apple - Find Out How - iPhoto - iPhoto

and here:

Apple - iPhoto - New full-screen views, emailing photos, and more.

Thanks for that! Spent a large chunk of the day on iPhoto and am fairly blown away with the result. Never mind batch renaming photos and folders, between Places and Faces etc. combined with Smart Folders it has allowed me to catalogue photos far beyond what I could do before.
Awesome!

Pigstick said:

Thanks for that! Spent a large chunk of the day on iPhoto and am fairly blown away with the result. Never mind batch renaming photos and folders, between Places and Faces etc. combined with Smart Folders it has allowed me to catalogue photos far beyond what I could do before.
Awesome!

Click to expand...

And even better? You can edit to your heart's content and the original is still protected so that you can go back and refine your edits in the future. It's kind of like a vault for your photos.

A lot of people don't like to relinquish what they feel is "control" over their files or data. But I think when you finally do "let go" and use these applications and their organizational features, it makes your life a lot easier.

I remember feeling the same way about iTunes - I wanted all of my music sorted in folders "my way". Now I don't worry about it - and in all the years that I've let iTunes manage my library, I can't say that there's ever been a time that I couldn't do what I want to with my data.