organizing photos in iPhoto

I'm finding it harder to keep my digital photos organized in iPhoto than it was on my previous Windows computer. This is partly because things remain in the Library even after being put into albums and so it's hard to see what has been put in albums and what hasn't. Is there any way to alter this, or to quickly check whether a photo is stored in anything besides the Library? And is it possible to delete a photo from an album in such a way that it is also deleted from the Library? Is there any other free or low-cost photo-organizing software that is Mac-compatible?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Jo

In the iPhoto preferences there are options to organise photo's in many ways. By Roll, by date etc etc.
You can create albums easily enough by creating a titled album and dragging the photo's you want into them.
If you delete a photo in "view all photo's" view, it deletes it from the iPhoto library as well.

When photos are put into albums, the album only references the photo, not actually moving the photo there. That is why the photos remain in the library. If you delete from the album, you are only deleting the reference (alias) to the actual photo. To delete the photo altogether, move it to iPhoto trash from the "photos" or "events" pane.

To determine if there are photos that are not in albums, you can create a "smart album" where the criteria is "album" "is none" (or something like that, I am not at the mac right now so can't check exact wording). That would tell you if you need to put some photos in albums. Also, the "event" view is really helpful to find photos from a given date, or however you have them sorted.

iPhoto is mainly an organizational software, and it does its job brilliantly. As a new-ish user, you need to give it time, and investigate its power. Look into Folders for your albums (for instance, "Vacations") and then put your albums into those folders ("Summer 2009", "San Francisco", etc.). Look also into keywords and "smart albums". These will automate the organization of your photos even more. You may want to check out some of the tutorials regarding "getting started" here: Apple - Support - iPhoto

Good luck and let us know how we can help you more.

Barely related, but is there a way to do this in Aperture? I'm usually pretty good about foldering my photos when I import them, but I always worry that I've skipped a few.

i am using iphoto for image saving and use manual viewing. this has taking me about a year to organize my images the order i would like to see them all... but it is a nightmare to move images around the quirky image drag option is super-slow or uber-fast. for example~ill try to move the 30 or so new imported images to a certain section of other images by selecting the 30 images manually and literally dragging them to the spot where i want them~~~~and it turtles along till i accidentally move the mouse back and forth lightly then half the time its on crack ...goes wayyyyyyy tooo fast and i end up trying to go back the other way and zooooom right past the spot 10 times before i just give up... they get stuck near where i want them... the copy feature works but the paste does not > ? why is that ? and what is the reason for the horrible drag feature >

I hate that is saves multiple copies of photos. Modified, originals ect. Even after you have deleted them from iphoto it still saves them in dated folders in the package contents right? I went in and got rid of a lot of them and it cleared up tons of space for me. Is there an easier way around that?

JoM, darque and ImmortalBeloved: the real problem is that you are not understanding how iPhoto works. I'd suggest taking a look at the iLife book by Jim Heid for a clearer view of how iPhoto works so you can stop fighting against it.

If you're determined to do a lot of extra work to get things how you like them, then perhaps iPhoto is not for you. Other programs (see my sig for an example) offer less restrictive (and thus more "hands-on") ways of organising (or not organising, as you like).

Chas you are right. I have never really completely understood it. I am a fairly new switcher and had my MBP about a year now and I'm still learning all the time. I am still trying to really get the hang of iphoto. Thanks for the suggestion I will check that book out it sounds good. I would rather not "fight" with any of the apps at all! I really want to learn to get the most out of them especially one like iphoto!

Great link thanks!