[ikoiko]

A major problem in our house is the inability of "them" to (a) delete pictures (b) back up pictures.
I am here to ask about (a).
We have 32,000 pictures in iPhoto and with video we have, it is max'ing out the iMac we have.
So.... What is a better way to store the older pictures, still on the HD? I would want to view them, but not in iPhoto. If need be, selected ones could be imported as needed.
I just imagine iPhoto takes up more space than need be (it IS created by a hardware company, isn't it!?)
So, failing short of exporting all these older year 2000 - 2004 pictures to PREVIEW, are there any good photo handlers out there?
Thanks,
click.

[Skybolt]

I think the best way is to create multiple iPhoto libraries and split your photos into categories -- maybe by year, etc. You can use software like iPhoto Buddy, iPhoto Library Manager or you can simply create a new library by holding down the Option key when opening iPhoto and following the prompts. Your photos will take up the same amount of space whether or not you use iPhoto or some other program, so you are not gaining anything by not using it. AND, if you start mucking about in your iPhoto library in finder, you will cause yourself so much headache it is unbelievable -- lost photos, corrupted photos, etc. Need to do anything and everything to/with your photos from within the app itself.
I keep my main library on an external hard drive, and only the most recent two years on my internal to save space on the internal. Could work for you, as well.

[dcpics]

Definitely moving them to an external drive is the first thing.
You can also look at Apple's Aperture for archiving. It will allow you to keyword a bunch of photos at once as you move them over to the new drive. By putting specific keywords on images when you want to find certain ones you can easily search and narrow down your edits.
Going to visit Uncle Bob and want to take some pictures along from the last time? Just use Aperture to narrow down photos with the Uncle Bob keyword and maybe Beach as well so you will only see those images with Uncle Bob on the visit to the beach last summer.
You can download a trial of Aperture and maybe play with a hundred or so of the photos to see if it meets your needs.

[MacKayaker]

I have rescued a number of customers from iPhoto messes. I consider it to be one of Apple's poorest pieces of software.
I agree that an external HD is a good option. I would largely avoid iPhoto, as especially for these kinds of things it is far simpler if YOU are in charge of the organization, archiving, etc. of images and their location. It has gotten better, but i still tend to encourage people to this outside of iPhoto. So I would suggest setting up Image Capture to NOT launch iPhoto when you attach a camera or card reader, but instead deal with them as a mass storage device. Then you control the copy, the location and the organization of the images and it is very simple to archive what you want, copy what you want etc.
One option for that organization is to copy the folder of images from the camera/card reader, then change it's name starting with the year, month, then a useful description. i.e. 2007_08 - Birthday party. This stores the images, when viewed by name, in a chronological order. There is third party software that is good for viewing a folder or folders of images, with re-sizable thumbnails without it actually making thumbnails that require more HD space, as does iPhoto and without the crazy filing system that iPhoto uses. PhotoGrid is one I like and I think Adobe's Bridge was largely based on it, since first there was PhotoGrid, then Bridge and the first gen of Bridge was nearly a mirror of PhotoGrid. I use Bridge most of the time myself, but I do high end digital image work so use Photoshop and all it's buddies from the creative suite for the other parts of the projects.
One key final thought - backup. It's not enough to have it organized and accessible. I would commit things to disk (CD/DVD) and hard drive, or have two hard drives. If only on one and it goes south - you may well not get them back.

[kleonard59]

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I have rescued a number of customers from iPhoto messes. I consider it to be one of Apple's poorest pieces of software.

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Hi MacKayaker,
I have to agree. iPhoto makes a shocking mess of folders. I like to keep folders for each event/month, whatever I choose, not how iPhoto dictates. Can you recommend a good folder /picture viewer? I have tried Adobe Bridge and find it quite clunky. Dare I say it, Windows Explorer does a far better job displaying digital photos than any I have come across for Tiger. Will this feature be improved in Leopard's finder?
I want to be able to open:
a main picture folder,
anual sub-folders,
event or monthly sub-folders.
When I reach the sub-folder, I want to be able to choose to view the photos as thumbnails or larger photos or a slideshow.
Bridge will do all the above but Windows Explorer does it better.
Finder doesn't do the larger photo view. It has to open another program. like Preview.
Keith

[smax013]

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When I reach the sub-folder, I want to be able to choose to view the photos as thumbnails or larger photos or a slideshow.
Bridge will do all the above but Windows Explorer does it better.
Finder doesn't do the larger photo view. It has to open another program. like Preview.
Keith

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How are you defining "larger photos"? I ask because you can adjust the size of the "thumbnail" in OS X upto 128x128. And you can do a slideshow from the Finder (select all the pictures you want to be in the slideshow and right/Option click the photos and select Slideshow from the pop-up menu...in OS 10.4 at least you can).

[kleonard59]

Hi,
Thanks for the response. When I say larger photos, I mean something at least 800 x 600 size. Icon thumbnails in Finder are small, 128 x 128 at their largest, and especially small on a MBP with screen res at 1440 x 900. If you use Tiger's zoom feature to enlarge the image, it looses its sharpness as you zoom into a low resolution thumbnail.
I have used slideshow in Finder which is strangely hidden away in the contextual menu (right click). You have to select a range of photos first. By default Windows Explorer shows the open folder, which for the majority of the time is what is wanted.
Keith

[smax013]

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Hi,
Thanks for the response. When I say larger photos, I mean something at least 800 x 600 size. Icon thumbnails in Finder are small, 128 x 128 at their largest, and especially small on a MBP with screen res at 1440 x 900. If you use Tiger's zoom feature to enlarge the image, it looses its sharpness as you zoom into a low resolution thumbnail.
I have used slideshow in Finder which is strangely hidden away in the contextual menu (right click). You have to select a range of photos first. By default Windows Explorer shows the open folder, which for the majority of the time is what is wanted.
Keith

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I do have to admit that Windoze XP (have really seen what Vista can do in this area) has edge over the Mac OS this area. It is much easier to get to a slideshow in Windoze XP...and the "filmstrip" view is sometimes handy for cycling through pictures in a larger format. And using the Windoze Pciture and Fax Viewer is much easier in many regards than Preview as you can cycle through pictures rather easily.
It kind of hurts some to give Windoze some credit! /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[JohnVL]

I use iPhoto solely to sort slides, upload to iWeb & Web Gallery and to create slide shows. After I'm finished with them, I delete them from the iPhoto Library completely. (Command-Option-Delete)
My system of organizing slides outside of iPhoto in folders is simple:
2007--->July 2007--->Seattle Vacation--->Best Seattle (and sometimes)--->Hi Res./Lo Res.
John VL

[kleonard59]

Hi John,
What program do you use to view your photos in your folders?
Keith

[Dan Frakes]

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I do have to admit that Windoze XP (have really seen what Vista can do in this area) has edge over the Mac OS this area. It is much easier to get to a slideshow in Windoze XP.

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I don't know if I'd say it's easier: select a bunch of photos in the Finder, right-click, and choose Slideshow. You can view one at a time or a "contact sheet."
That said, Windows does currently have more "quick preview" functionality in this respect.

[OldToad]

You might look at Expression Media (previously iView MediaPro) which is considered by many professional photographers as the best DAM (digital asset management) application. I lets you manage your folders as you'd like, write metadata to the files, manage by either keywords, hierarchical Catalog Sets, or by Supplemental Categories. I use is as my primary image management application and use iPhoto for books, calendars, etc..

[MacKayaker]

Quote:

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I want to be able to open:
a main picture folder,
anual sub-folders,
event or monthly sub-folders.
When I reach the sub-folder, I want to be able to choose to view the photos as thumbnails or larger photos or a slideshow.
Bridge will do all the above but Windows Explorer does it better.
Finder doesn't do the larger photo view. It has to open another program. like Preview.
Keith

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Because I use Photoshop CS3 for editing, I use Bridge for this functionality, but I would suggest PhotGrid - the shareware that I think inspired Bridge. You get a Finder like interface on the left and then thumbnails (at whatever size you want, though it takes a menu to change the size - not the slick slider iPhoto features). Any image you want to see larger, you double click and it opens in a new window and can be zoomed into, or out of, to your heart's content. Slide shows are simple, too, with PhotoGrid. Either manual mode or set the interval, background color and whether it fades or not.
Honestly, though, when I need to make a quick choice, I don't use Bridge or PhotoGrid. I simple select all the images I want to check out, drag them onto Preview and it gives me a large view of whatever image is selected and thumbnails on the side that I can zip through with the arrow keys on the keyboard.
Lastly, if you use column view in the Finder, the last column will show a preview of an image selected in the list to the left of that window.
Many ways to preview images on a Mac running Mac OS X.

[JohnVL]

I just do a Command-A to select all then a right click to slide show, as someone else mentioned.