iPhoto Fog

[MacQuizzical]

I really trying to understand how iPhoto manages my photos--- especially so I can find them and also to avoid accidentally deleting them! I need to be able to understand what happens when I take pictures on my phone... where they go, and when and where I can move them around, create folders, and delete some copies without deleting the 'originals'.
Thank you.

 

[Rod]

Wow! That's a big ask, welcome to these forums MacQuizzical. I really don't know where to start. You might be interested in this site http://www.noteboomproductions.com/mac-tutorials/tutor-for-iphoto-for-os-x/
As you can see just the topic headings take up a page. There are probably other alternatives but if you want it all in a visual format rather than a book like "iPhoto for Dummies" this is pretty good.

 

[chas_m]

Nope. Not at all. You don't. Seriously, no.

You do not need to know where iPhoto stores your photos, or how it organises. Because it's utterly irrelevant. As long as you are making backups of your system using Time Machine or some other backup program, then your iPhoto Library is backed up and you don't have to worry about it.

If you want to avoid accidentally deleting them, then make routine backups and don't muck about in iPhoto's database, because the latter is THE quickest way to lose your photos.

I realise this is a difficult concept for some people to wrap their heads around, but iPhoto is -- well, several things, but at its core it is a database. It stores your originals in a folder called, cunningly, Originals, by time/date/year (if you must know) inside a hidden package. On purpose. To protect them.

If you've modified the photos, then there is a second copy in a folder called -- wait for it -- Modified. Organised the same way. The reason it is not important for you to know any of this is because the thing that a lot of people just don't get is this: anything you want to do to your photos can be done within iPhoto, completely eliminating the need to do your best to corrupt your own photo library by mucking around with it.

Seriously, name ANYTHING you want to do with your photos (apart from micro-managing where they are -- there's a reason you bought a computer rather than a shoebox, isn't there?) and I'll be happy to tell you how to do it -- it's nearly always incredibly simple (and extra-safe, because Apple designed iPhoto from the ground up to protect your photos).

What happens when you take pictures on your iPhone is this: they are stored on the Camera Roll of your iPhone and, if you've set up Photo Stream properly, a copy of them is delivered to your iPhoto on your Mac.

If you want to "move photos around" in iPhoto, make an album. Choose sort. Sort the album. Done.

If you want to create folders, create albums in iPhoto.

If you want to delete "copies," (do you mean duplicates, perchance?) use a safe third-party program to do this called Duplicate Annihilator by Brattoo. Costs $8.

 

[MacQuizzical]

Thank you for your response. I can tell you know a lot about this program, and truly, I don't really WANT to know the intricacies of what iPhoto does behind the scenes. I've been using this program for many years... not having too many problems but not really confident that I was using it to my full advantage. I'm currently running Version 9.6 on my iMac, iPhone and iPad.

I confess I've never tried to get inside the database. I just work within the confines of the program as I see it presented.

Here's an example of my problem: I take a picture on my iPhone of my daughter Becca. Now it's in my Camera Roll on the iPhone and a 'copy' has been sent to the Photo Stream folder on my iPhone, my iPad, and my iMac.

Now, I can go into that Photo Stream folder on my iMac, for example, and create an album. I take several photos from my Photo Stream, including the photo of Becca, and 'drag' them into the newly created album. Now I have this picture of Becca in my camera roll, my photo stream (on all of my devices), and now in this album. Actually, I also have it in Events.

So--- I have the album containing the photo of Becca... but let's say I want to 'clean up' some big collections of pictures that I am not explicitly using anymore. If I take the photo of Becca in my Camera Roll and throw it away... what happens to the 'copy' in the album I have created? How about the copy in Photo Stream? If I have created an album containing the photo... does it stay there? Can I remove it from Photo Stream and Events... and will it survive in my album? THAT is my issue! Many thanks for your help. Steve

Nope. Not at all. You don't. Seriously, no.

You do not need to know where iPhoto stores your photos, or how it organises. Because it's utterly irrelevant. As long as you are making backups of your system using Time Machine or some other backup program, then your iPhoto Library is backed up and you don't have to worry about it.

If you want to avoid accidentally deleting them, then make routine backups and don't muck about in iPhoto's database, because the latter is THE quickest way to lose your photos.

I realise this is a difficult concept for some people to wrap their heads around, but iPhoto is -- well, several things, but at its core it is a database. It stores your originals in a folder called, cunningly, Originals, by time/date/year (if you must know) inside a hidden package. On purpose. To protect them.

If you've modified the photos, then there is a second copy in a folder called -- wait for it -- Modified. Organised the same way. The reason it is not important for you to know any of this is because the thing that a lot of people just don't get is this: anything you want to do to your photos can be done within iPhoto, completely eliminating the need to do your best to corrupt your own photo library by mucking around with it.

Seriously, name ANYTHING you want to do with your photos (apart from micro-managing where they are -- there's a reason you bought a computer rather than a shoebox, isn't there?) and I'll be happy to tell you how to do it -- it's nearly always incredibly simple (and extra-safe, because Apple designed iPhoto from the ground up to protect your photos).

What happens when you take pictures on your iPhone is this: they are stored on the Camera Roll of your iPhone and, if you've set up Photo Stream properly, a copy of them is delivered to your iPhoto on your Mac.

If you want to "move photos around" in iPhoto, make an album. Choose sort. Sort the album. Done.

If you want to create folders, create albums in iPhoto.

If you want to delete "copies," (do you mean duplicates, perchance?) use a safe third-party program to do this called Duplicate Annihilator by Brattoo. Costs $8.

 

[chas_m]

Here's an example of my problem: I take a picture on my iPhone of my daughter Becca. Now it's in my Camera Roll on the iPhone and a 'copy' has been sent to the Photo Stream folder on my iPhone, my iPad, and my iMac.

Now, I can go into that Photo Stream folder on my iMac, for example, and create an album. I take several photos from my Photo Stream, including the photo of Becca, and 'drag' them into the newly created album. Now I have this picture of Becca in my camera roll, my photo stream (on all of my devices), and now in this album. Actually, I also have it in Events.

Events, like Faces, Places and so forth, are just different ways of looking at the original photos. They are not copies. Nor is the photo in the album you created. Again, it's just a pointer to the master working photo as seen in Events (the default view) or Photos. If you deleted a photo from an album, it only removes it from the album. If you delete the master photo (from Events or Photos) then its deleted from any albums you have it in.


So--- I have the album containing the photo of Becca... but let's say I want to 'clean up' some big collections of pictures that I am not explicitly using anymore. If I take the photo of Becca in my Camera Roll and throw it away... what happens to the 'copy' in the album I have created?

Nothing.

How about the copy in Photo Stream?

Photo Stream automatically archives all its pictures every month. You may notice there are events called "Photo Stream March 2015" or similar. Those are events that are separate from the photo stream, so if you delete a photo in Photo Stream it will no longer appear on any of your iOS devices, but your iPhoto archive of it is safe. There's no real reason to delete anything from Photo Stream anyway -- the pictures "fall off" after 1,000 images, and they are not stored anywhere but in the cloud.

Hope that clears things up.