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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
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    Boulder
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    stupid mac saving multiple copies of pictures

    so my pictures are saved in "my photos" within my photos is the iphoto folder (along with my other pic folders) in this folder are 3 more folders... DATA , ORIGINALS and MODIFIED. In each of those folders are the same pictures in my "my photos" folder and even the pictures that stunk and I deleted. So I essentially have 4 copies of everything... no?

    Stupid mac's do some stupid things.
    Anything I can do about this?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
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    north by northwest
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    Preferences/Advanced: unclick "Copy files to iPhoto folder on import". empty the trashcan and photos you deleted (from the Library folder in iPhoto) will disappear from the harddrive

    edit: i have no idea how that works with image manipulation: you may not be able to revert to originals.
    Last edited by f2f; 10-23-2006 at 08:59 PM.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Bellingham WA
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    1,933
    Quote Originally Posted by XtrPickels View Post
    so my pictures are saved in "my photos" within my photos is the iphoto folder (along with my other pic folders) in this folder are 3 more folders... DATA , ORIGINALS and MODIFIED. In each of those folders are the same pictures in my "my photos" folder and even the pictures that stunk and I deleted. So I essentially have 4 copies of everything... no?

    Stupid mac's do some stupid things.
    Anything I can do about this?
    Just get rid of Iphoto, it has to be the biggest piece of shit photo program out there, not only is its organziation system fucked, it will actually damage your files.

    Do yourself a FAVOR and either get aperture or lightroom.

    BTW lightroom is free
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  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Boulder
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    Quote Originally Posted by mtbakerskier View Post
    Just get rid of Iphoto, it has to be the biggest piece of shit photo program out there, not only is its organziation system fucked, it will actually damage your files.

    Do yourself a FAVOR and either get aperture or lightroom.

    BTW lightroom is free
    Ya know what, THANK YOU for calling iphoto out
    I've been using it a little bit and i keep saying to myself "Damn, this sucks" but I keep thinking it must be good because of those mac commercials with the cool kid and the nerdy windows guy.

    So thank you sir for agreeing with me

    And thank you f2f for helping get rid of the copy of a copy of a copy

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Iron Range
    Posts
    4,961
    Yeah, iPhoto sucks. Lightroom, however, does not. I am pretty impressed. Thanks for the tip on that MtBS.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
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    20 steps from the hot tub
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    3,773
    Quote Originally Posted by XtrPickels View Post
    So I essentially have 4 copies of everything... no?
    No, you don't.

    The Data folder contains very small data files for each photo. A 2MB photo will be represented by a data file that is maybe 40-50KB. So these don't take up much disk space. Don't delete them, since they reference the original image.

    The Originals folder holds any photos that you imported into iPhoto. If you choose, for whatever reason, to save your pix first in a different folder, then do as F2F suggests and turn off the preference to "Copy files to iPhoto folder on import." (Preferences/Advanced: unclick "Copy files to iPhoto folder on import.") If you do this then the Originals folder will only contain an alias (short cut) to the original image in whatever folder you have stored it. So this would again not use up much disk space.

    The Modified folder is a very useful thing. It stores a new version of any photo that you modify in iPhoto, such one that you colour correct, crop, resize etc. This means that your Original image remains unchanged if later you decide you need it. For instance if you crop a photo and later on want to go back to the full frame. You can do this by selecting the photo, and choosing "Revert to original" under the "Photo" menu. This feature creates a duplicate fullsize image in the Modified folder, so it does take up additional disk space. But only for any photos that you modify. The modified folder is an excellent feature that leaves your original image untouched, something that is crucial.

    As F2F also mentioned, photos you delete are saved in the trash can until you select "Empty trash can" from the Iphoto menu. This can save your bacon if you trash some photos and suddenly realize you need them. Empty the trash and the files are gone for good and don't take up any space.

    Sure, iPhoto is not Aperture or Lightroom, however for free it does a very good job. And its integration with the other iLife apps is very useful.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
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    north by northwest
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    for all my photoshopping needs i use gimp, but the default stuff that comes with iPhoto (i use the new one, 6.0.5) is plenty good for color-boosting, cropping and aligning images that i'll be sending to friends.

    it is trivial to import image from iPhoto to iMovie for example (admittedly i don't know how difficult it is to do with just plain files stored on disk) so that also is a plus.

    i'm not a graphics guy so i can't pretend my advice is any good, but for what it's worth the i* programs on the mac have made it very easy for me to create moderately impressive stuff which makes my family think i'm more than just a lowdown systems programmer:

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=SWOzJF0S6PA

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