Thread: Photo Organization & Viewing for Mac

So I got a macbook, after using PC's for a few years, which isn't a big deal as I grew up w/ macs, however, I got used to organizing, storing, and viewing my ski photos on my PC with just the finder, windows picture and fax viewer and photoshop if necessary. Switching to Iphoto has got me all mixed up. I used to organize my photos by date, with folders for year, month and day, and it worked pretty well. I'm wondering how other people use Iphoto for organizing their pics... Do you just let iphoto organize the library how it wants? I personally think it SUCKS and kills your HD space if you edit much. AND even if you let iphoto do it's own thing with the library, sorting the pics into albums and whatnot within iphoto is a PITA, especially if I'm going to have to do it retroactively. I also can't stand how iphoto organizes new photos from my camera in "rolls"... Any opinions? maybe I should just succomb to the blackhole of iphoto and use it the way it's designed to be used, or maybe i'm missing out on some features, or some different programs...

EDIT: If you use the finder, or directory to browse and organize photos, how do you organize them... by date? location? event? organizing by date worked alright for me, but was kind of a PITA when looking back for particular beta shots on big lines n stuff. maybe organizing by date, combined with tagging photos for searching like in iphoto is the way to go... i don't know

iPhoto sucks balls, I couldn't stand the way it sorts everything either. I just organize my photos by hand into folders, and edit in Gimp (I'm a total editing JONG, but it's free!)

Aperture.

If you use iPhoto, use it the way it is clearly meant to be used. Otherwise you'll be fighting it forever. IMO once you get the hang of it, it is pretty darn good for basic consumer photo management. If it does not sing to you that way - find something else and avoid a perpetual struggle.

Also, what version are you using? "Rolls" disappeared back when -- the newer version uses "events" which I actually find handy. Definitely get on the latest if you go the iPhoto road.

Originally Posted by Wetdog

Aperture.

I'll second that one. Get Apple Aperture or you could also try Adobe Lightroom. Both are great for organization within the program and they also make it easy to control exactly where your photos are on the hard drive.

I hate Iphoto and just organize my photos based on date range/subject in folders in finder.

in iPhoto/Preferences/Advanced de-select "copy photos to iphoto folder" and you can keep your organization as you want it. when you want to copy new photos to iphoto drag the folder in the "album" section and you'll have a new album created, while all photos will be available in the general section.

all changes to photos will be kept by iPhoto and not relegated to the originals in your own directories, but if you want to "export" you can just create a new folder anywhere on your machine and drag the photos you want (with changes made in iphoto) to it.

As stated above, iPhoto sucks donkey balls..


And between Aperture and Lighroom, well, I guess it is the same as it was between Nikon and Canon. One likes the another..

Personally I use Lightroom for work.

I allso tested Aperture for a month, and I decided I would never touch it again, even if I would be threatened with a gun. Not that the program was a bitch to use,it was just plain dangerous with the "vault" system,it is a absurd system hog (practically didnt run on a G5 Quad as Lightroom runs on a iBook..) and the raw developement was just not up to par. Dont know how much they have changed though.

But lets say, I dont know personally a single pro-photog that uses aperture but about two dozen that uses lightroom.



Just check it the free betas (both are aviable for trial for 30 days) and decide yourself,wich suits you better.

Lightroom is the way to go, and like meathelmet said it's personal preference between that and aperture. I much prefer Lightroom because it's like an iPhoto on steroids; it works similarly but much better of course, making it easier to maneuver and fuck around with. I also like all of the photoshop tools it has so you only need to transfer your picture over to photoshop for intense changes

schweet. I knew i'd get some good feedback. sounds like I'll try lightroom first (any good torrents that you knnow of ) and aperture. Those iphoto tips are good though, makes me think about using it, I still don't like it resaving changes . Checked out the screenshots n stuff with gimp, might have to try that later. Thanks!

Now how to organize the bastards...

I organize all my photos in the finder. First by year, then subfolders by month, then folders from each day I have photos from.

I view folders of photos with a program called fr-photostudio. I dig it, because it's simple and easy to just view a folder of photos with. It's also cheap.

I edit photos with lightroom and tell it not to mess with my original photos. In a folder of photos, I'll often have a separate lightroom folder for the photos I've exported from lightroom.

I batch process photos for the web with EasyBatchPhoto, which I think is freeware, but might be a small fee. Lets me set a size/quality and folder output, then just drop all the photos you want into a little box in a window. Often I'll have a "web" folder in a photo folder just for web processed photos.

It's a bit of a process, but now that I'm used to it, it's super fast and easy.

Here's a screenshot to show what my organizing looks like. Whenever I copy new photos from my camera, I just make a new folder for it. You can also see the Lightroom edits folder and the web folder in the Berthoud folder from skiing on may 5, 2007.

Originally Posted by jon turner

I view folders of photos with a program called fr-photostudio. I dig it, because it's simple and easy to just view a folder of photos with. It's also cheap.

hint for Leopard: select the photos you want to see in Finder and hit the spacebar: instant preview with controls and slideshow options.

I batch process photos for the web with EasyBatchPhoto, which I think is freeware, but might be a small fee. Lets me set a size/quality and folder output, then just drop all the photos you want into a little box in a window. Often I'll have a "web" folder in a photo folder just for web processed photos.

i have a script i created in Automator that picks up all the photos in a folder, applies the sRGB color profile to them and creates thumbnails and scaled images useful for the web. a second script then creates the html for the web gallery.

i can share the automator script if anyone is interested.

Originally Posted by f2f

hint for Leopard: select the photos you want to see in Finder and hit the spacebar: instant preview with controls and slideshow options.



i have a script i created in Automator that picks up all the photos in a folder, applies the sRGB color profile to them and creates thumbnails and scaled images useful for the web. a second script then creates the html for the web gallery.

i can share the automator script if anyone is interested.

That's pretty badass, thanks for the leopard tip. I've always wondered why preview can't do something similar. I'd be interested in that automator script.

here's the workflow: http://mirtchovski.com/tgr/ImageScale.workflow.zip

i've given you that, rather than the application so you can see how it works and modify it for your needs. what it does is to ask you for a folder, then it looks for all images that end in 'JPG' in that folder, applies an sRGB color profile to them and resizes them to max 1600 pixels width or height. then it creates two subfolders: "scaled" and "thumbs" in the same directory, copies the images there and resizes them to max 800 pixels (scaled) and 120 pixels (thumbs).

all of this can be modified. when you're ready save as Application.

Originally Posted by f2f

here's the workflow: http://mirtchovski.com/tgr/ImageScale.workflow.zip

i've given you that, rather than the application so you can see how it works and modify it for your needs. what it does is to ask you for a folder, then it looks for all images that end in 'JPG' in that folder, applies an sRGB color profile to them and resizes them to max 1600 pixels width or height. then it creates two subfolders: "scaled" and "thumbs" in the same directory, copies the images there and resizes them to max 800 pixels (scaled) and 120 pixels (thumbs).

all of this can be modified. when you're ready save as Application.

sweet. thanks!

Originally Posted by awake1563

schweet. I knew i'd get some good feedback. sounds like I'll try lightroom first (any good torrents that you knnow of ) and aperture.

Good idea. Definitely try both programs before you decide on one versus the other. Honestly, they are both great and each has advantages/disadvantages.

I think what Meathelmet mentioned is true, the subject of Aperture vs. Lightroom can be a lot like Nikon vs. Canon!

NOTE: The new Aperture runs great on the Intel Macs, but not so great on the older Macs with G5 processors if you work with a lot of RAW files.