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Saving photos in iPhoto
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cogarret
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Join Date: Apr 2005
 
2005-05-10, 20:07

I just switched from a PC and am now importing all of my photos (I have a few thousand). On my PC I had them all organized in different folders that were named according to what was in their respective folders. Now that I want to migrate the photos to my new powerbook, i am running into some kinks. For example, I don't understand why when i import photos into iPhoto, the source file of the photos are then sorted by date in the Finder/Pictures/iPhoto Library instead of by the name of the folder that i imported into iPhoto. I don't have trouble finding the photos in iPhoto, but if i want to locate them in the finder, it is near impossible (if they are only saved by date in the finder). So if i wanted to add a picture as an attachment to a message in my Gmail account, i would have to find the picture i wanted in iPhoto, determine the file name, and then find it in the Finder and attach it. I want to be able to organize my photos by folder name in the finder, but still view them in iPhoto without having duplicate folders on my hard drive. I hope my ramblings make sense. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
P.S. I am running tiger and have a 1 week old PB.
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frizz
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: San Jose
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2005-05-10, 20:21

Select the photos and go to the share menu and go to the email option. it will launch mail and attach the pictures. With the Gmail you have to turn on the POP email feature and set up mail for the Gmail. Gmail has a page that show you how to do it.
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cogarret
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Join Date: Apr 2005
 
2005-05-10, 20:57

Thanks for the fast reply frizz, but, respectfully, that doesn't solve my problem. I know about the mac mail application as well as entourage, and they both work when i want to attach a photo, but i want to know if there is another way to use iPhoto to be my photo browser and not have it store my photos by date in the Finder.
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torifile
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Join Date: May 2004
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2005-05-10, 21:48

iPhoto tries, for better or worse, to remove the need to know where the photos are in the filesystem (e.g., the finder). It's got its own way of categorizing photos, generally in this type of folder structure:

year of photo -> month of photo -> day of photo.

All of these are within the iPhoto library folder in your Pictures folder. I say "generally" because there are times the photos aren't tagged with exif info properly. If the date/time on your camera are off, it's going to be inaccurate. I'm not sure how it works with importing. I suppose it depends on what kind of exif info stayed with the photos when you initially imported them.

While I know how to find photos pretty easily (and now you do too), it can get complicated when you make changes. iPhoto makes a duplicate and applies changes to that duplicate, this way the original photo remains untouched. But all you'll *see* in your iPhoto library is the changed photo. And chances are, the touched up photo is the one you want to email.

What I do is just export the photos I want to find to the desktop, do what I want with it and then delete it from the desktop. If I'm exporting a bunch, I'll create a folder on the desktop for temp storage and then go from there.

The thing you need to remember is that this is probably the best way to deal with photos (and these types of data generally). I don't know about you, but I've got thousands of photos. And they're all easily findable within iPhoto. Why deal with a filesystem that's not ideally suited to this type of data when you've a nice clear window to see exactly what you want? Same goes for letting iTunes organize your music. It's just *better* that way. Not because you can't do it yourself, but because with proper metadata, the best way to do it is simple and ideally suited for a catalog program like iPhoto or iTunes.

Let go of your need to control your files and you'll be a happy camper. Welcome to the Mac.

edit: I just realized that I didn't really respond to your second post. I've gotta ask "why?" do you want to do the file management? Seriously. Think about it for a minute. You may have good reasons but most people just think that they *should* without having a real reason. Just my 2¢.

edit2: iPhoto is actually an "Apple Product" so it should be in that forum.
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cogarret
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Join Date: Apr 2005
 
2005-05-10, 21:52

thanks mr. t, that does help. i really like the way that iTunes automatically sorts my music, and i guess it seems logical for iPhoto to store them in the same way (according to the file info instead of an arbitrary name that i give the folder that they are in). thanks for your help.
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cogarret
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Join Date: Apr 2005
 
2005-05-10, 21:55

in response to your edit, i guess i just feel that need because that is how i have done it for the past 10 years with my PC. I am just used to knowing where exactly all my files are stored at their source. I guess i hate having to rely on an outside application to find my files. I want to be able to locate (quickly) the pix at their source. that's the reason, maybe not a logical reason, but the reason all the same
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cogarret
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Join Date: Apr 2005
 
2005-05-10, 21:57

haha, yeah, in reply to your 2nd reply i realized after I posted the thread that I had put it here and not in the Apple Product forum. oops
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Brad
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Zone of Pain
 
2005-05-10, 22:10

Moving...
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Noel
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Chicago
 
2005-05-11, 00:00

Okay, Cogarret, one thing you might find useful if you want to quickly find a specific photo in the iPhoto library in the Finder is this: open iPhoto and choose to show the information pane (click the little "i" in the circle at the bottom left). Now, when you select a photo in your library, it will tell you the date the photo was taken and its filename. You can then quickly navigate to this date in the Finder.
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cogarret
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Join Date: Apr 2005
 
2005-05-11, 12:44

thanks noel, i didn't know about that information pane, that will make it much faster
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johnny5w
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Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Denver, CO
 
2005-05-11, 16:06

One way to do it with the Finder would be to use a smart search. Search for

kind -> images
pixel width -> greater than -> 240 (thumbnail size)
created -> exactly -> (date the file was created)

or any criteria that matches your needs. Then any time you need to search for a picture in your iPhoto catalog in the Finder just edit the smart folder (for date created, modified, last opened, etc.).

Last edited by johnny5w : 2005-05-11 at 16:15.
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toneloco28
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Join Date: Jul 2004
 
2005-05-11, 18:50

Why not just find the photo you want in iPhoto and drag it out, use expose to find your mail window and drop it in. This way seems faster than navigating to the precise file within the finder then attaching it. Even better, since your on Tiger, why not just pull up a spotlight search window, and find the photo your looking for by name,keyword,comments,roll name etc. Drag and drop it into your mail window fom there. If your not using Apple's mail application and gmails web interface, you can drop the photo into the open dialog that pops up, which will direct the finder to the physical location of the file. Hope that makes sense. I too came from pc-land a year ago ,and was accustomed to working through everything on my computer rather than letting it work for me. OS X allows you to drag nearly anything and drop it into another application or window. Once i discovered this little gem, my productivity has increased substantially.
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BarracksSi
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Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Washington, DC
 
2005-05-11, 18:54

If I need to really mess with any pics in iPhoto, I drag them out of the window and either copy them to the Desktop or drop them onto another application like Photoshop (even via the Dock).

I never messed around much with digital music until iTunes. Similarly, I never messed around much with digital photos until iPhoto. I've only got 3300+ pics, but it's still so much easier than if I were constantly creating & organizing folders on my own.

I only wish I had something as easy to use for organizing & cleaning my apartment.
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torifile
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Join Date: May 2004
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2005-05-11, 20:13

Quote:
Originally Posted by toneloco28
Why not just find the photo you want in iPhoto and drag it out, use expose to find your mail window and drop it in. This way seems faster than navigating to the precise file within the finder then attaching it. Even better, since your on Tiger, why not just pull up a spotlight search window, and find the photo your looking for by name,keyword,comments,roll name etc. Drag and drop it into your mail window fom there. If your not using Apple's mail application and gmails web interface, you can drop the photo into the open dialog that pops up, which will direct the finder to the physical location of the file. Hope that makes sense. I too came from pc-land a year ago ,and was accustomed to working through everything on my computer rather than letting it work for me. OS X allows you to drag nearly anything and drop it into another application or window. Once i discovered this little gem, my productivity has increased substantially.
Beautiful! You have seen the light. Maybe others will follow in your footsteps. That said, you know you can just drag whatever you want to attach to the Mail icon and it'll create a new message and attach it.
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