New Mac user: iPhoto question

So i got a great deal on this really nice MDD off craigslist that I couldn't pass up on, the specs were just right and so was the price. I know its not the greatest mac out there but I've always wanted one and this one fits me perfect.

Anyways, the question is pertaining to iphoto which came with the computer, its the old version not 08 release. When I add pictures to the library everything works as it should however when I want to look for that particular file on the HD, iPhoto arranges the files in so many different folders that its impossible to locate.

What I have had to do is to open the picture with Preview and just export to the desktop and then I can upload to my photobucket, or Flickr accounts. There has to be a better way than what I'm doing. I will eventually upgrade to 08 here pretty soon but in the mean time does anyone know what I can do?

Thanks in advance.

iPhoto organizes its photos in a bizarre file structure because it assumes that you won't go dicking around in its file structure. It assumes that if you want to access your photos you'll open up iPhoto and do it from there.

So basically there's nothing else you can... but an easier way is to bypass Preview and just drag the photo right out of iPhoto onto your desktop. That will place a copy of the original, full-sized image.

iPhoto 06 really sucks. I couldn't stand to use it when I first got my Mac. I really like iPhoto 08 however, and it makes organizing photos very simple.

I can't wait to get the upgrade, from the demos on the apple site it sure looks like they did improve the program. So by dragging the pics to the desktop I'm not moving the file but rather making a copy, that works for me. I'm still trying to get used to what drag & drop does on a mac, worried I might screw something up.

Ok so quick question about images again, when I had Windows I could run paint and use it to resize pictures, what does OS X come with that does that?

Cause most of my picture files are around 4mb in size and they're a pain to email and upload unless I resize them a bit. I used to just resize to 35-50% of original and that brought the file size down to under 1mb.

Thanks for the quick responses btw, this place is awesome!

You can use the built in Preview to resize images. Just open an image within Preview, click on Tools at the top and select Adjust Size. There are a variety of options available.

If you want to change a whole bunch of files, then you can use the built in Automator.

If you just want to reduce the file sizes to upload on the web, then you can simply use iphoto's export function....File>Export & then select the appropriate option..

For emailing, use the email function within the iPhoto app and you will be prompted to indicate what size you want the photo to be. Same as with exporting them.

Awesome guys, thanks for all the help. I didn't even know those options were there to be quite hones, I guess I need to slow down and read more.