How I use iPhoto for my digital supplies....

[CajunFrancks]

I am in the process of transferring everything from my PC to my new MacBook... and I'll be honest I'm not loving the Mac... my husband said to stick it out and give it time and I'll love it... but right now I'm so frustrated I want to cry and/or pull my hair out.

I'm going the iphoto route to organize all my digi stuff... I played with Shoebox and bridge and I think that iphoto will be the best for my needs...

I've read through the tutorials I can find on here but I still have some questions.

1. I want to set up folders like I did in ACDSee on my PC... like having a bunch of subfolders... and subfolders within subfolders... can I do that? So far I'm not having a lot of luck.

2. How do I keep a folder complete and whole? Whenever I add a kit folder to my album called kits it doesn't keep it in its original folder...

For example this is how I would like to set things up

Designer (main folder)
Ali Edwards (subfolder)
AELoveCircles (the kit which is another sub folder off of Ali's folder)

Right now its taking everything from the Love Circles folder and dumping it all in the Alie Edwards folder which isn't what I want... i want to go to Ali's name and see all of her kits in their own folder underneath her name.

Does that make sense? Am expecting too much. I know the new ACDSee Beta is out but I can't do what I need it to do right now so i'm going to see how iphoto works for me.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Thank you!

[AllynD]

The best way to do this is to keep everything in its original folder, but use "albums" and "smart albums" in iPhoto.

So, you have a big folder named "Scrapbooking," for example. Inside that, you have each folder (DD stuff conveniently comes in a folder prefaced with the designer name and the title). You don't move stuff around to organize it-- you do that in by cataloging it in iPhoto.

After you import everything to iPhoto, set up the albums you want to find the stuff. You can add keywords to your stuff and use that to set up smart albums, or you can just make dumb albums the hard way.

Once you relax and let the iPhoto catalog do the work, you can enjoy scrapping instead of spending all your time organizing. Trust me on this.

[Avas Mom]

I know I am bring up a old thread..but I must ask...

What if I want blue paper?? Do a make a smart album "paper" and another smart album "blue"

I am soooo use to folders and subfolder.....

please dont hate me for asking ... i am soo slow...-

[Avas Mom]

I know I am bring up a old thread..but I must ask...

What if I want blue paper?? Do a make a smart album "paper" and another smart album "blue"

I am soooo use to folders and subfolder.....

please dont hate me for asking ... i am soo slow...-

---------------

In response to myself ...teeehee... I think all i need to do is click on the smart album "paper", then search my keyword "blue".
I dont need to create subfolders... i bet i can even search by multiple key words by using "and" in the keywords field.

I am such a dork! teeheee
Carie

[AllynD]

Hi, Carie,

Glad you found a way that works for you-- there are probably a few ways to do it.

I found that if I searched for all the .jpg files, I would come up with all the Previews and the papers. Most other items are .png, .psd or .abr files. From there, I could select and tag the papers all at once. I could also go through and easily make each of the previews the key photo for its "event"-- the original file with all the items in a product folder.

I don't bother tagging papers with colors-- I think it takes too much time, so I just scroll through the papers to pick the ones I want.

[Avas Mom]

Lynn:

At the beginning of the thread you mention ".PNG files are displayed on a black background. BUT in EDIT mode, they are on a white background, so that is my personal work-around for this, and it works like second nature to me now. I simply look at any black .PNG files (like brushes, for example) in edit mode. "

so i have kept my preferences so that i can edit in iphoto -- and drag and drop if i also want to edit in pse6-- but for some reason when i go to edit a png file, like a brush or a stitch, etc, it's still all black and i can't see the stitch or brush. I just got an imac, so i assume and have done all the most recent updates. Could my problem be because the most recent version of iphoto doesnt let you change to white? I went into iphoto preferences and changed the slider in appearances to white -- but png files are still all black.

MANY thanks

carie

[AllynD]

I just went into iPhoto to check this out. When I merely double left click on a .png it is larger, but still on black and very hard to see. But if I right click and choose 'edit' from the pop up menu, it appears on a white background. Alternately, if I hit the edit icon (the pencil) on the lower left, it opens in edit mode on white. Let me know if this still doesn't work for you....

[Avas Mom]

it's still not working... i tried to do some research tonight... found the following discussion re: iphoto '09 at apple support.. seems that other scrapbookers are having this problem:
---------------------------

++how do I change background color to white when looking at single image?++
+Posted: Feb 4, 2009 12:30 AM

+I know I can go to 'preferences' and choose white backgrounds but this changes only the background of the page that shows all my photos together. If I select one photo to view, the background turns to black again - as it does if I view an image at screen size. Can I change these backgrounds to white?++

I would like this ability as well. The standard background colour in iLife '08 was white. It has been changed in iLife '09.

The answer back in February was that this couldn't be changed. Does anyone know if that is still the case? I'm hoping maybe Apple made a software adjustment to allow for this now? For what I'm trying to do, I just can't use a black background."

The reply:
That hasn't changed.

Regards

TD

--------------

so i assume it's a glitch with iphoto '09??

bummer

[AllynD]

Are you sure you are in the edit window? That does not mean just double clicking on the image. You have to click the pencil icon.

I took some screen shots, but I don't know how to include them in this message..

[Avas Mom]

Originally Posted by AllynD

Are you sure you are in the edit window? That does not mean just double clicking on the image. You have to click the pencil icon.

I took some screen shots, but I don't know how to include them in this message..

As sure as i can be... i've tried only clicking on the pencil icon.. right clicking --> edit. If I right click and go to show file, then I can see the files with a white background -- however this is king of cumbersome... for instance I will pull up all the alandia brushes when i right click --> show file.. I have to see which brush i want then remember the name then go back to iphoto.

I guess it's not to bad.. cause atleast i can see the files with the show file function.. just seems like the way you're doing it is quicker..

do you have iphoto 09 or and earlier version?

thx carie

[AllynD]

I have '08, but Patricia has '09 I think...

[AllynD]

Carie,

One thing I have noticed is that when I open a brush in edit mode, sometimes it takes a few moments for my background to change to white-- no more than a few seconds, but I wonder if that is happening to you and perhaps taking longer.

[luv2cre8]

Recently I switched over to a Mac Book Pro laptop. It comes with iPhoto. This organization method has changed the way I scrap Lynn! It is so easy! I have a TON of supplies. I have created separate libraries for Paper Packs, Elements, Kits, etc. Before I started using iPhoto, my supplies were "buried" on my computer. Now, I can easily scroll through and see everything at a quick glance. I LOVE that once I see something I want to use that I can simply drag it right on to my layout. I am thrilled. Thank you for your excellent advice and instruction.

[AllynD]

Hi, Jill, Glad you are having success with it. I would suggest you think about having just one library and use smart albums for Paper Packs, Elements, Kits, etc.

I investigated a bit and found that Carie is correct, that '09 has changed the edit window background to black, making it very difficult to see brushes-- but I usually look at the brushes in the preview, and can see them well enough in iPhoto to pick the right one to drag and drop. The ABR files never import to iPhoto, anyway, so I have to go to the original product file when I want to load brush ABR files.

I have been in the process (this weekend) of switching over to Lightroom for all my photographs, so my Scrapbooking Supplies Library will be the only thing I use iPhoto for now. (I have over 9,000 photos, spanning about a hundred years-- and I haven't even finished having 20 years worth of snapshots of my kids scanned!!)

[deblynn53]

Just an fyi... there's a great little program called Brush Pilot for the Mac that very simply lets you preview and upload all of your brushes. It's just a browser that finds all of you brush files on your HD and/or EHD and shows you previews of them. It's one click uploading of those brushes to PS or PSE when you want to use one. It also lets you preview separately the brushes you already have uploaded to PS/PSE. I love it, and I believe it was only $15.00. It might help solve the issue of trying to see brushes on a black background in iPhoto.

Also, I have a question for Lynn about using iPhoto for my digisupplies. I have iPhoto'09, and am considering switching from using Picasa for my digisupplies, to using iPhoto based on Lynn's wonderful posts about her method. So my question is:

Can I use iPhoto for organizing my supplies when I have all of them stored on an EHD?
I have over 100 gigs of supplies, and my internal HD on my iMac has about 116 gigs of space left. So I need to keep my supplies on an EHD. Will that work? Can an iPhoto library be created on the EHD so that it and the supplies will be on the same drive?

TIA!

Debbie

[deblynn53]

Oh, and one more thing, Lynn, since you're a Mac and iPhoto user, I'm wondering how you made the decision to use Lightroom over Aperture?
I'm thinking Aperture looks pretty cool, but may be overkill for a simple point and shoot camera user like myself. Did you even compare the two?
Just curious. I'm always trying to learn.

Thanks, Debbie

[Avas Mom]

Teehee... from previous posts, I bet it's cause Lynn is frugal...

Thanks Lynn for all you help on this topic

[HeatherPrins]

so what is the biggest benefit to iphoto over bridge?

[AllynD]

Debbie,

I chose Lightroom because everyone here raved about it, and because I figured Adobe probably knew more about photography than Apple. Aperture users seem quite happy with it Aperture, though.

I have heard that iPhoto program likes to be on the same disk as its library. You can experiment with it and see. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. If I kept my digi supplies on an EHD, I would still probably keep my iPhoto library on my HD anyway. I actually have some iPhoto libraries on an EHD and it works fine-- but I don't access them often. I would guess it might be slow. Why not give it a try?

I only use iPhoto for my digi-scrap supplies, so I have not upgraded to '09. The edit background being black in '09 would make it hard to view PNG files. That facial recognition thing in '09 looks like it would be fun to play with-- maybe it could figure out the identities of some of my long lost relatives that no one recognizes.

Can I officially retire from this thread now? I don't have any Apple stock, it is just simple and easy and I am lazy.

[deblynn53]

LOL!! Thanks, Lynn! Yes, you can retire now! I just discovered this thread, but I do see that it's been going on a looooong time now!

All of your info is great, and I'm going to experiment with using a separate iPhoto library for a small number of my digisupplies just to see how it works. I'm thinking I don't really need Aperture or Lightroom because iPhoto '09 works well for my simple needs. The Faces feature is very cool!

~Debbie

[maureenreynolds]

Heather, I found Bridge, which came free with PSE6 to be very slow. I was more familiar with Iphoto and have never lost my keywords, even in a erase of my hd. (I had saved all to an ehd first!) I find Iphoto simpler and that's a good point in my mind. ymmv

[HeatherPrins]

ok thanks for the answer. I think i will give it a try!

[deblynn53]

Carie, just wanted to let you know that tonight I was experimenting with setting up a new iPhoto library with some of my digisupplies. I have '09 too. I see what you mean about not being able to go to edit mode to see the items that are black or on a black background. But what I found out quite by accident, is if you highlight the item you want to look at closer, then press the space bar, it brings the item up in quick look mode and the item becomes visible. It's still on a black background but for some reason it's visible this way. I hope I'm making sense. If not, let me know and I'll try to explain it better.

Debbie

[Avas Mom]

Originally Posted by deblynn53

Carie, just wanted to let you know that tonight I was experimenting with setting up a new iPhoto library with some of my digisupplies. I have '09 too. I see what you mean about not being able to go to edit mode to see the items that are black or on a black background. But what I found out quite by accident, is if you highlight the item you want to look at closer, then press the space bar, it brings the item up in quick look mode and the item becomes visible. It's still on a black background but for some reason it's visible this way. I hope I'm making sense. If not, let me know and I'll try to explain it better.

Debbie

--------

NICE! that is awesome! Thank you, thank you!!

[deblynn53]

Here's a great software program for all who might be interested in managing their multiple iPhoto libraries without using the Option key. It also lets you have different Preferences set for each library. You can have "Copy to iPhoto Library" checked in your photo library, and have it unchecked in your digital scrapping library. It isn't all or nothing like it is without this software program. This software is frequently recommended by the guys at the Apple Forums. It's Shareware that can be downloaded for free to try it out, but you can pay for a premium version if you like it and want more features.

iPhoto Library Manager


Debbie

[nztreasure]

Oh wow - this is awesome, I am a new digi scrapper and I have just purchased an IMac, Im finding the switch from microsoft to imac easier than I thought and my kids love the photo booth, but transferring all my files over was looking to be an intimidating job - thanks for the fabulous tips here!