Managing and creating photography albums, files, folders

Does anyone know of a good resource to learn how to create and manage photography albums, files and folders? I just switched from a PC (filing was very simple) and I find the Mac's system confusing, not intuitive and not user friendly. When I download photos they seem to go into three or four different places. But when I open Bridge (Photoshop), Bridge opens my documents - which is not where my photos are. I've experimented with iPhoto and Preview and while there are some helpful things they do, overall, I find the system bewildering.

What are you using to download your pics? Most apps can be set to download where you want them, preferably your Downloads folder.
As far as filing, there are several good apps besides iPhoto/Photo. Aperture, Lightroom, PhotoMechanic among others.
Depends on your needs.

If you really mean downloading, where you use Safari, then in Safari/Preferences/General you can change the Download place to anywhere you want, but remembering, when you download anything, it will all go to that folder.
If by downloading, you mean Importing, from camera/USB/SD card/iPhone, when you first use one of those listed, you can can Stop using that App to Import the images.
For the way I'm understanding, you would be better off using the built in App, Image Capture in the Applications Folder, and you can then import the images into a Folder of your choosing. It will import them into Pictures, but you have the option to import them into a New folder within Pictures if you want, then when you open Bridge, you will have these folders in the Left Pane, or even drag the newly created Folder into favourites.

The way iPhoto works, is it creates a library, but really to get to those images, you need to open the App, OR dig down through the Library to see the images, which is not recommended, as iPhoto does all the work from within the App, and if you move things around, outside the App, this can cause issues.
So use Image capture to Import your images and put them where you want. OS X is the easiest and most intuitive OS I have used, and it puts things in a Logical place, but coming from Windows, makes it difficult to grasp, but once you use OS X for a while, you will see how easy it really is. You just need to get away from the Windows way of thinking.

EDIT: If you are a DSLR Photographer, and are looking for a DAM, then don't go to Aperture, as Apple is phasing it out, so look towards Lightroom, Capture One, and the likes, but if you are just doing iPhoneography, then the way I described above is your best bet.

Both answers very helpful. Thanks!

I'm having trouble choosing a folder when downloading photos using Image Capture. I no longer see the choice of where to download. Where do I reset this feature?

Thanks.

cmaciel said:

I'm having trouble choosing a folder when downloading photos using Image Capture. I no longer see the choice of where to download. Where do I reset this feature?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

For what it's worth, I always just create a new folder on my desktop first and give it an appropriate name and maybe date and then just select it in Image Capture.

It's unfortunate that many of Apple's apps don't always allow the creation of a new folder from within the app lately. That used to be such a basic thing back in the OS 8 & 9 days!!

Then move it to where you might keep or store your folders of photos/movies when you've finished using it.

iPhotos

TattooedMac said:

If you really mean downloading, where you use Safari, then in Safari/Preferences/General you can change the Download place to anywhere you want, but remembering, when you download anything, it will all go to that folder.
If by downloading, you mean Importing, from camera/USB/SD card/iPhone, when you first use one of those listed, you can can Stop using that App to Import the images.
For the way I'm understanding, you would be better off using the built in App, Image Capture in the Applications Folder, and you can then import the images into a Folder of your choosing. It will import them into Pictures, but you have the option to import them into a New folder within Pictures if you want, then when you open Bridge, you will have these folders in the Left Pane, or even drag the newly created Folder into favourites.

The way iPhoto works, is it creates a library, but really to get to those images, you need to open the App, OR dig down through the Library to see the images, which is not recommended, as iPhoto does all the work from within the App, and if you move things around, outside the App, this can cause issues.
So use Image capture to Import your images and put them where you want. OS X is the easiest and most intuitive OS I have used, and it puts things in a Logical place, but coming from Windows, makes it difficult to grasp, but once you use OS X for a while, you will see how easy it really is. You just need to get away from the Windows way of thinking.

EDIT: If you are a DSLR Photographer, and are looking for a DAM, then don't go to Aperture, as Apple is phasing it out, so look towards Lightroom, Capture One, and the likes, but if you are just doing iPhoneography, then the way I described above is your best bet.

Click to expand...

This is exactly what I am rapidly learning, forget Windows, iOS is nothing like it and makes things a lot easier when used properly but I am a beginner and have a lot to learn like don't create folders in an album list because it can't be removed, at least, I can't remove it !

You replied to a 2 year old post which is OK as long as you find the info useful. You also referred to the Mac operating system as iOS which is incorrect. iOS is the operating system used on iPhones and iPads. OS X is what Macs use. Current version is macOS Sierra 10.12.6.

I have found the answer myself by intuition: go to VIEW - ALBUMS - EDIT - IMAGE - DELETE. None of the 'How To' articles I found about using Photos told me that.

DCM_UK said:

I have found the answer myself by intuition: go to VIEW - ALBUMS - EDIT - IMAGE - DELETE. None of the 'How To' articles I found about using Photos told me that.

Click to expand...

Right click on anything in Photos - the menu or thumbnails and you get a drop down menu with loads of options, including delete.

DCM_UK, you don't have to use intuition. There are plenty of training helps at Apple. Here, for example, is the link to the entire help for Photos.

https://help.apple.com/photos/mac/1.2/

To get help, all you do is go to Apple.com, click on Support and enter into the search box what you want help with. I entered "photos" and one of the links was to that page. Apple is very careful to put all of this information out there for new users. You don't have to go it alone with just intuition when you want to know how to do something.

Thanks for that, I'll bookmark the site. Having used Photos a little more, I like the album concept as opposed to the folders idea.