iphoto

Why does iphoto have to be so frustrating? 2 years into Mac ownership and I'm still tempted to give up with it and just file the pictures in folders...
I can never find anything, the Mac seems to put pictures in weird places I'd never think of looking, pictures disappear, can't find them when I want to add an attachment... what am I doing wrong?

The Apple web site has some useful videos on their support pages and perhaps you need to check out a decent manual like 'iPhoto - The Missing Manual'.

Had you tried right clicking on a picture and choosing show file? It will show the iphoto folders with all your pics in different folders. If you have certain folders imported it keeps the pictures in the same folder and you can copy a pic to the desktop if you want to post it in a website. I'm new to the max too and I'm in afghanistan so I don't access to the video tutorials but I often tinker around in the hardrive looking and understanding the OSX.

iPhoto is simple if you understand one simple thing:

Everything you want to do to the pictures in iPhoto MUST BE DONE WITHIN IPHOTO.

So you want to attach a picture to an email? Easy. Open iPhoto, click on a picture, click on the Mail button. Done.

You need a copy of a photo to do some manipulations on in another program? Easy. Open iPhoto, select the picture, drag it out to the desktop. Copy made. Done.

You want to edit an iPhoto picture in another program (like Photoshop)? Easy. Preferences, General, Edit Photo In ... (point it to Photoshop), click okay. Now double click on the photo in iPhoto. Voila, PS opens with your photo, you do whatever, save and close ... it's updated in iPhoto.

You get the general idea here.

I'm not saying iPhoto is the only way to go; there are alternative programs if you want to have a more hands-on management approach. I'm just saying that most people just misunderstand the iPhoto "mindset" but once they do get it, it becomes obvious (and easy).