Iphoto - Help

I don't understand Iphoto at all, I have copied my folders into Iphoto, only to delete everything from Iphoto, because I'm lost, and don't understand the app. I have about 50 gigs of pictures, but don't know what i'm doing in iphoto, so have reverted back to pc way. Troublesome, time consuming and I really would like to delete folders and use Iphoto only.

When putting pictures into iphoto, does it resize pictures? how do I organize into groups/folders in Iphoto ? is there a video anyone can recommend me watching as a study guide ? I live on an island, and we have no apple stores - so taking a class won't help.

any and all advice, is helpful

Watch this iPhoto tutorial by Apple. There are also others on the web you can view. Once you learn iPhoto, you'll enjoy using it.

Ntenze said:

When putting pictures into iphoto, does it resize pictures?

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No.

How do I organize into groups/folders in iPhoto ?

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You don't, for the most part -- it's done for you. iPhoto presents your photos to you grouped in a variety of different ways -- "Events" is a view of photos grouped together by the time they were taken, "Photos" is just a chronological list of all photos, "Faces" can be used to group photos of particular people, "Places" groups them by where they were taken and so on.

Beyond these default views, users can create "albums" and put pictures in there from any event, sorted any way the user wishes. You can create folders of albums.

The video linked above should help you.

Thanks for the advice , I look forward to using iphoto

iphoto

Hi there,

I am also a new switcher for only a couple of days.
Just wondering if it is possible to store all my photo collections in a NAS and direct iphoto to do all it works from there without copying everything to a local drive.

Thanks.

Yes. All you have to do is:

1. Open iPhoto holding down the option key (also known as the ALT key). This will offer the opportunity to create a new iPhoto library.

2. Save the new (blank) library on the drive you'd like it to be on. This new library will be the default one until you either change it back OR try to launch iPhoto when the NAS isn't mounted (so be careful not to do that!).

chas_m said:

Yes. All you have to do is:

1. Open iPhoto holding down the option key (also known as the ALT key). This will offer the opportunity to create a new iPhoto library.

2. Save the new (blank) library on the drive you'd like it to be on. This new library will be the default one until you either change it back OR try to launch iPhoto when the NAS isn't mounted (so be careful not to do that!).

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And remember to set iPhoto preferences NOT to import photos.

If the iPhoto Library is located on the other drive, it makes no difference whether it imports photos or not.

I use Aperture, which can I think be described as a souped up version of iPhoto, so they have similar image organization principles. I've been working on setting my wife up with iPhoto in her account on our iMac so she can sync her iPad and since image organization terminology is a bit different I've had to study iPhoto a bit more.

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/iphoto_08_getting_started.pdf
Apple - Support - iPhoto

My understanding is that they both store masters of images out of our sight in their libraries, so we only work on "versions". In iPhoto, masters are imported into "events" ("projects" in Aperture). We import masters, but see, edit and copy versions after importing images I think, but I just found a thread where someone wrote that deleting an image from events deletes the master too. I don't work with events, although many do.

In iPhoto, I like to create "folders" and within folders create "albums" and then drag image versions from events to albums. Images you see and work with are versions not masters. Images you put in albums are version copies, not the masters. In itunes, my wife can select the albums she wants to import to her iPad.

I think one can drag a folder of images from Finder directly into an Album in iPhoto. I must try that. The masters will go into whatever cave iPhoto uses for safe storage, but their versions will all be in that album for her to use.

Let iPhoto do the magic of storing your masters. There is a way to delete both a master and all versions, so be careful reading popups and menus.

By the way, don't go rooting around your computer file structure to find and mess with the iPhoto library, by the way. Causes lot of grief and takes special know-how.

chas_m said:

If the iPhoto Library is located on the other drive, it makes no difference whether it imports photos or not.

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Except the space factor.

Frustration for Newbe

I agree iPhoto is hard to learn--does not seem intuitive for one coming from Windows. Have tried to create folders in Albums, then sub-folders for those, but to no avail. Was using ACDSee for photo (+ 6000) organization simply to keep order then Photoshop for good editing. Will keep trying, but getting frustrated.

Great! It works. Thanks you all for your help.

alb81044 said:

I agree iPhoto is hard to learn--does not seem intuitive for one coming from Windows. Have tried to create folders in Albums, then sub-folders for those, but to no avail. Was using ACDSee for photo (+ 6000) organization simply to keep order then Photoshop for good editing. Will keep trying, but getting frustrated.

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ACDSee is also available for Mac, but the program isn't as far along as its Windows counterpart. All the core features are there.

You don't *HAVE* to use iPhoto, but the mental "breakthrough," the concept that you can let THE COMPUTER manage the photos instead of you having to do that much WORK, is *key* to understanding the "Mac mindset" and why people love Macs so much.

It's a bit like this: when you were a kid, you mowed the lawn. If you were lucky, a few years later you had a riding lawnmower. Now you have your own lawn to mow, which would you rather use:

a. buy your own riding lawnmower, or
b. buy a robot that does a perfect job of mowing and manicuring the lawn for you to your specifications, so all you have to do is enjoy it?

iPhoto

Sometimes I just want to be outside while the lawn is being cut--I get to enjoy the weather and the mechanics of a good well oiled machine. Occasiounaly the machine breaks, so its good to know how to open the hood.

Thanks for the reply.

alb81044 said:

I agree iPhoto is hard to learn--does not seem intuitive for one coming from Windows. Have tried to create folders in Albums, then sub-folders for those, but to no avail. Was using ACDSee for photo (+ 6000) organization simply to keep order then Photoshop for good editing. Will keep trying, but getting frustrated.

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One of the key reasons I switched last year to a Mac was my loathing for the bossiness of photos in Windows after XP.

I agree iPhoto is hard to learn

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My grandchildren (6, 9 and 10) use Windows at home but quite happily open and run iPhoto and look at albums when they visit. My wife, who finds computers very non-inuitive has absolutely no problems with iPhoto and I love it. It just works.

Anything can be hard to learn if you're coming to it with a bunch of pre-conceptions. The trick is to be like the kids -- let go of the pre-conceptions (tricky sometimes, but truthfully it works!).

iPhoto

Points well taken. The problem is learning new software steps-when you have more than 6000 pics, you really need to keep them organized. The concepts of libraries and albums is obvious, but what I'm trying to say is that the mechanics are a bit difficult. Start with the concept to organize all photos done in 2012, then separate categories each with their own sub-categories for some reason is not obvious to me. For example, I would use 2012/Family/Christmas etc to keep track--and I well understand iPhoto will remember all pics done 12/25 etc., but I kind of want to name my own sections.

Thanks for the input

You don't have to do all this work yourself. iPhoto can easily do it for you.

For example, the pictures you mention: a Smart Album with a criteria of "taken between (let's say 20-Dec-11) and (26-Dec-11)" is all that's needed. You can also create regular albums and manually pull things from different Events or whatever but the trick here is to let go of the idea that you have to do this all manually.

I switched with 8,000 photos and at first it seemed like it would take forever to get a setup that works for me after importing the whole file structure. I started renaming projects (events in iPhoto) and moving them into folders, and dragged images around into projects to reorganize them. Did a few every few days when the mood struck. In a couple of months I ended up with a far more useful photo storage system than I had in Windows. Then I found myself making albums. I guess it's a hybrid Windows-style folder system and Apple automated system. I ignore the whole date thing. Someone starting out in Apple could just relax into the Apple way from get-go.