One of the things I imagined would be a no-brainer when I started using my Mac was that all my photo work would be done on it. After all, Apple makes a pretty big deal that iLife (with iPhoto, iMovie, etc) is great for managing media like that. The reality is that it's been more difficult than I thought it would be.
For a non-professional photographer I take a lot of photos, especially when playing tourist. I have an excellent "Prosumer" camera: the Canon 30D, with a few decent lenses. I've got just over 19K pictures in my library and up to this point in time I used Picasa, the free photo management solution from Google.
Picasa has been wonderful for me. It does exactly what I need it to do which is ride herd on my photo collection. It tracks my folders just like I have them on disk, creates a huge contact sheet that I can scroll through very quickly and allows me to do quick and dirty editing. Most of my editing is removing the occasional red-eye and adjusting lighting. I'll sometimes use it to straighten out a picture or crop it too, but if I do much more than that it's off to Photoshop.
Getting the photos into iPhoto
I figured that I would simply blast those pictures into iPhoto and away I would go. My first step was to copy the 45GB of photos to my MacBook. Next, I imported them into iPhoto. It took a while to get that many photos in.
I was now using 90GB of disk space, not 45GB! The default installation of iPhoto takes the photos and copies them into a single large iPhoto library file. Once the files were in there I could delete them from my hard drive, but that meant that my photos moving forward would be stored in that file. I later learned that you can set up iPhoto to work nearly exactly like Picasa: leave the photos in their original location and view them in iPhoto. When I get a little time I'll move to that model.
One catch I experienced: Picasa leaves your photos in their original directory. If you retouch a photo it makes a copy under that directory and places the originals in there. When I imported the photos into iPhoto it also pulled in the originals.
iPhoto has two primary views: Events and Photos. I'm not sure what the significance is when it comes to how the pictures are broken up. It appears that both views categorize the pictures in the same way: they use whatever underlying folder structure you had to break up the pictures. Since I had a bunch of "originals" folders under my main folders, every other event had an adjacent "originals" folder. Not much could be done about that - just the nature of moving from Picasa to iPhoto.
I really do wish that iPhoto would break up the events into the days that the pictures were actually taken. Not the date/time stamp of the file but the date/time stamp embedded into the picture. That would really make it easier to find things.
What I Miss from Picasa
This list is surprisingly short: I miss the ability to zoom in on my previews while in iPhoto. If I am looking at all of my photos as a kind of contact sheet and double click on an item to make it expand to fill the window, I cannot zoom in further unless I switch into edit mode. There's a little zoom control in the lower right corner but it's disabled in preview. I am constantly tripping on that.
What I Like in iPhoto
Slide shows in iPhoto are excellent. It includes a "Ken Burns" effect that can be controlled very easily. I can add in music from iTunes or Garage Band and make something that just looks excellent.
The photo information can be edited in batch! That's great when your wife's digital camera runs out of juice for so long that it resets the date time to January 1, 2000 when she recharges it and every picture she takes has a date/time stamp from 7 years earlier.
While I haven't used it yet, the ability to have iPhoto just make a photo book for you is pretty darn cool. I realize that many online photo services like dotPhoto.com and Shutterfly have done this for years but the way iPhoto builds them is sweet.
Now that I've worked through my initial frustrations with iPhoto I think it's actually going to be able to replace my beloved Picasa.
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24 comments:
Hey thanks for the comment on my blog. Are you from the mac-forums? What's your ID there?
As for your iPhoto problems, I would highly suggest you get something more professional like Aperture or Lightroom. For such a large library you will definitely find the tools you need in Aperture (I prefer it over Lightroom).
iPhoto is great for family pics and such, but yeah, it can sometimes go a little against you. Although I don't know how it's using double the storage space..
Hi Milind - yep, I post there very regularly. DAlison is the user name.
While I have a lot of photos my needs are pretty small since it's really just casual home stuff. When I look at some of the more advanced tools like Lightroom I get sticker shock over the price. The other tool that I did look at was FotoMagic - it actually looks like it will do more of what I want to do.
Thanks for stopping by!
Hi David, I just bought my folks an iMac. It is their first computer. My dad loves the Mac. He also is an avid photographer and has been goofing around with iPhoto a lot. At first, I was a bit disturbed about how the new iPhoto stores all the pics in a single binary file instead of the old way, which was folder and file based. I went back and forth about either using Picasa or iPhoto for him. On my old Dell PC I used to use a tool from Adobe to manage my photos. Since switching to my Macbook I've imported everything in iPhoto. No looking back now. Hey, where is the setting you mention above where iPhoto leaves the pics alone in their directory?
I hit a wall recently with iPhoto - I have close to 10,000 images in my photo library. iPhoto stopped loading fast, and everything in it started to chafe: organizing photos, fast keywording, etc.
I looked around, and found a few iPhoto-style "replacements". Then I found iViewMedia Pro.
It has taken a little getting used to, but man this program kicks ass.
iViewMedia Pro, with "A Better Finder Attributes" (to correct bad timestamp and EXIF data), and ExifRenamer - I've got an awesome workflow everytime I download several hundred new images.
I've got about 6k photos in iPhoto and other than a slight lag at startup it's great. You might look at Keyword Manager http://bullstorm.se/KeywordManager.php . It provides an excellent keyword interface and very fast search in a non-intrusive way. I tag photos with names, objects, locations, etc and am able to quickly find the photos I am looking for.
I am totally with you, leaving Picasa behind has been the only bad thing from my PC to OSX switch. I am going to check out some of the suggestions here though.
@Perry: You will want to go into Preferences / Advanced and remove the check next to Copy Items into Photo Library.
You can have iPhoto open and import your photos right from your camera rather than copying them to your HD and THEN importing them into iPhoto. In the preferences, just go to "Connecting camera opens" and choose "iPhoto".
Also, the single file your library is store in is actually a package, a folder disguised as a file (all your apps are like this too). Right click on it and click "Show package contents" to get inside the folder.
Events are new in the latest iPhoto, and I'm still working them into my now 6 year old library. They make more sense when you start importing from a camera directly, as it's an attempt to automatically do what everyone does, stuff an event into a folder. It's a shame it doesn't read the EXIF data for the date on mass imports like what you did though.
Once a new batch of photos are imported, it's pretty easy to split or merge events as needed, and name them. My clutter of manual folders on the left side of iPhoto has been slimmed down a lot now due to them.
The iPhoto library is really not 1 file. it's a folder that "looks" like a file... right click it... show contents..
You can make aliases to that folders inside and put them in your home etc.
@Ed Bortoni: Very cool Ed - I'm learning a lot today. Thanks!
Speaking as someone who switched last year, I love my MacBook Pro. However, iPhoto is one program I just cannot bring myself to like. It has some nice features and the events view is great, but I feel like it's always Big Brothering its way through my pictures. On the PC I had everything in folders according to date and event, but on the Mac they are just jumbled in the monolithic folder. Not a problem when using iPhoto, but a big problem when using another program that browses by folder structure. I haven't been able to view pictures on my new Tivo from my Mac, and I'm guessing that the iPhoto folder structure is the reason. I also hate, hate, hate how when you click on the Photos folder it now opens iPhoto instead of letting me browse the structure. That was a horrible change over the last version. I'll give the "don't mess with my pictures" option a shot, but if Picasa is ever released for the Mac, iPhoto is going in the trash so fast it will make my hard drive spin.
A tip for iPhoto: if you keep all your photos in the default iPhoto location, you can still easily get to the original file on your harddrive: just right-click on any image in iPhoto and choose "Show File" -- it will take you right to that image in Finder.
Also, apparently Google is bringing Picasa to the Mac later this year.
Article from Ars Technica
I later learned that you can set up iPhoto to work nearly exactly like Picasa: leave the photos in their original location and view them in iPhoto. When I get a little time I'll move to that model.
Don't do it.
To use iPhoto properly, you have to trust it. Really. Fight it and you will have nothing but trouble. Do all file management inside iPhoto. This is a good thing. Really. Try to give up the necessity of worrying about individual files, folders, and their organization. You'll get used to it soon and it will all seem natural. Give it time. It will be a better experience.
The iPhoto library is *not* a single binary file. It just appears as if it's a single binary file. It's what's called a package, which is a folder that masquerades as a single file. The complexity of the contents are hidden from view so that users don't go in there and mess around with things. Yes, I knew that you were thinking of doing just that. Please resist the urge.
If you are curious to see what's inside the iPhoto library, Ctrl-Click on the library and choose Open Package Contents. Now you will see the reality of what's in there. It's just .jpg files inside folders inside folders, nothing at all proprietary or binary except for the indexes.
Again, don't move, delete, or otherwise mess with any of the files in here or you will be sorry. Do all file management inside iPhoto. This also goes for other Apple software like iTunes and Aperture.
If you really want a really powerful photo manager, try Aperture. It's iPhoto for the professional, light years ahead of Lightroom, because like iPhoto, it never makes you worry about where individual files are located.
It's a different world. It takes some time to get used to it. Give it time and don't fight it.
Paul
http://hefixedmymac.com
@Paul: Thanks for the tips. As a techie I like to understand how things work but as a software developer I appreciate that it's best to use software as it was designed to be used. I've had a strategy that's worked for several years with Picasa and I've been trying to adapt it to iPhoto.
I am going to continue to look around. I read a post in Mac-Forums from a very happy FotoMagic user that manages her photos much like I want to. It may end up being the solution for me.
The two primary views (events and photos) being the same for you is an artifact from importing a large directory structure. When you import images directly from a camera, iPhoto automatically sorts the pictures into events, based on image date stamps.
As others say just trust iPhoto to do its magic, it usually gets it right.
I really cannot understand why someone would want to actively manage 6000 files or however many 45G equates to. Some may call that big brother, but I call it an app doing its job to make my life easier.
Granted, iPhoto doesn't make it easy to transfer over from Picasa (or other folder structure) which is very unfortunate. There's a delightful battle going on between Apple's Aperture and Adobe's Lightroom with the user being the winner. You may want one of those instead as you're a prosumer. I don't have as many photos, but I strongly prefer how iPhoto handles the grunt work of file management over Picasa. The editing is pretty good but I still want the latest Photoshop Elements (6) once I can preview it before upgrading. I have that set as my external editor and invoke with double click, or use the full screen button for iPhoto editing.
Suggestions (from memory as I'm on my Winbox at work): Use QuickLook (press space with photo highlighted to get a larger image. You can also click on the full screen icon which is the third from left at bottom. This can be used to do editing but won't unless you activate any editing tools (or click edit?).
Next, I suggest you open your single "import" Event and start splitting them into something meaningful. The metadata in the files such as date are still there and can be searched. There might also be a way to change the folder structure so it is more to the importer liking. That would mean trashing your iPhoto library, changing things, then reimporting.
Once you have things organized, if you want to copy specific photos out of the library, just find them in iPhoto and drag them to the destination in the Finder.
The only thing I like about Picasa is that it's free -- and doesn't suck. I thought it had a retoucher but doesn't.
@Pecos Bill: It's really more of a time issue for me than anything. Between writing about my Mac experiences, writing the Startup 101 series and actually starting a new internet company I only seem to have time for short, focused tasks and getting everything into iPhoto will take some focused time. I'm a victim of "too many projects" syndrome!
@David: Corsa is setting you up for failure. The package is a database as you know. If you were to point aliases into the package contents, you could inadvertently change the database and hose iPhoto. Best to use iPhoto for most stuff. If you need to look at the files, use the context-click on a photo to pull up the orig or new.
Also, iPhoto builds a database of thumbnails for speedy scanning (as do most). It may ask you to rebuild it form time to time so be sure to say yes. If you run into ubrayj02's problem, you ought to try rebuilding the thumbs (or more). There's info at support.apple.com how to tell it to do it.
@Pecos Bill: Thanks man - I do appreciate the comments. At some point I hope to have the time to really focus on this.
"Best to use iPhoto for most stuff. If you need to look at the files, use the context-click on a photo to pull up the orig or new."
You just explained the reason why some of us would like to manually manage our photos and folders. iPhoto is great as long as you're only using iPhoto or a few other Mac programs to manipulate and view your images. But it falls apart when you try to look at them on other devices.
I have a drive full of pictures that I need to view from my MacBook, my wife's Windows machine, my Tivo, etc. Stuff looks fine and dandy in iPhoto, but when viewed from other devices it's a mishmash of directories (if the device can even read the "package" at all).
I would much prefer it if iPhoto would just browse and retouch my images but let me handle the folder structure. It wouldn't even have to be the default behavior if it were at least an option, but it's not.
Computer programs should adapt to the user's preferences, not vice-versa
I think you all seem to be forgetting that, in Leopard, no matter what app you're using, if you go to the File > Open File... menu, you can access everything in your iPhoto, Photo Booth and Aperture libraries, without actually opening/running any of those apps.
So, even though your iPhoto files might be wrapped up in a Package, you can still get to all your Events, Albums and Smart Albums simply by going to Open File. Look in the source list on the left and you'll see a new entry called MEDIA. Beneath MEDIA is Photos.
I also suggest that you take a look at GraphicConverter from Lemkesoft. Almost free, and with a zillion features, including a nice browser, slideshows, editing, batchprocessing, support for ~300 file formats etc. etc. Mac only!
I'm a pro who has NO NEED for Aperture - iPhoto is phenomenal for organizing - but you need to install iPhoto Library Manager (Freeware!). I make a new library for every assignment and then store on external harddrive by year as soon as I finish postproduction.
Of course, I also use photoshop and it is easily accessible from within iPhoto. It works great!
Proofsheets are better in Photoshop, though, so I export finished edit to folder on desktop to make them. Aperture & Lightroom aren't worth the trouble.
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