iPhoto is scary, and Lightroom is too much - help!

[patricklavoie]

<p>When you read; i like iphoto but i find it limited, i dont want ligthroom because it overkill even if he do what i want and things like that , it make me wonder if you really want some help, or if you just complain about eveything for nothing.<br>

Sorry if that offend you, i said it was the feeling i got, it up to you to tell me it is not.</p>

<p>Glad you finally post it and get over your problem this week : )</p>

[kerry_grim]

<p>Robin: I actually use Canon DPP. My son uses Lightroom. He got a book by Scott Kelby. It is thorough but may be overkill for for you to do your project. You may want to do a search as Lightroom books have been discussed previously. No doubt there are courses as well.<br>

Scott Kelby does have a book on Mac OS which talks about iphoto as well. Hopefully others will chime in with some recommendations.</p>

[robin_briggs]

<p>Kerry,<br>

Thanks for the suggestion. I do like Scott Kelby's books, I'll take a look at it.</p>

[jmarshall]

<p>Robin --</p>

<p>Are you looking for something to do file management, or do you just need photo editing capabilities?</p>

<p>If you want to create your own file structure and naming conventions, what might be the simplest thing for you to do is to disable the automatic importation of photos into iPhoto. Then you can just create your own file structure/naming conventions and simply move photos from your memory card (or camera, if you're hooking the camera directly into the computer) into files using whatever names you like. Realize, though, that unless you go into the drive and change all the image names, even this method is still going to result in files named IMG_0327, etc. That's the name that the camera gives the file.</p>

<p>If you don't want to use iPhoto for editing, Photoshop Elements might do the trick. It's not free, but you can do a lot (or a little) editing and it doesn't "force" a file structure on you.</p>

<p>I never really like iPhoto much either, but have found myself really liking Lightroom. It's not just you!</p>

<p>Hope this helps.</p>

[kerry_grim]

<p>Robin, I just noticed on the Beginning Questions forum that someone questioned about Lightroom: editing software--->Lightroom!<br>

The third reply to the question leads to a Lightroom forum and likely there will be more good responses. This is a new forum and I find it very interesting as answers are usually very informative. I've been a photographer for 40 years and will say this is not mearly a forum for beginners. The questions are often better than some of the other forums on photo.net.</p>

 

[robin_briggs]

<p>Jennifer,<br>

Thanks for the thoughtful reply. Yeah, I should probably just try to manage the files outside of any program, either that or suck it up to pay for Lightroom over and over and not use most of it. And maybe if I took some time to learn it better, there might be more of use to me. <br>

Thanks again.</p>

[robin_briggs]

<p>Thanks Kerry! I will run over there and check it out now!</p>

[patricklavoie]

<p>i dotn get the " suck it up to pay for Lightroom over and over and not use most of it"..you only paid when a major release appear, if you feel for it..like with Iphoto and all other paid program.</p>

<p>Many user in photo.net still use a Ps 7 and its all they need for there needs..even if they are 4 version behind, if they dont need it they dont have to pay for it. Same with Lr.</p>

<p>In the end, why compliacted your life by trying to managed the name outside a software you dont like or feel limited..when whe all said from the beginning that Lr is certainly what you need.</p>

<p>Get a demo its FREE for 30days, and test drive it yourself?! maybe you will see that it is in fact what you want, and should have get 1 year ago.</p>

<p>Sometime i have a hard time understanding people; i want a edge without a edge, the best program without paying for it, the knowledge without reading....digital asset management is not magic; you want full control you get Ligthroom. You dont want to spend money you get 2-3 software solution, and you complicated your life knowing that there is something out there that does it all but you dont want it just because.</p>

<p>I think you should have by now receive a lot of good info, book, site, to help you make a good decision, i might be rong, but this time i dont think so.</p>

[mglopez]

<p>Robin...<br>

I purchased Lightroom v1 right after it completed beta testing. I have installed the subsequent updates (I think I'm on 1.4 now) and the program works like a charm. There is no reason to upgrade to version 2, etc. unless you would like to take advantage of newer features.<br>

Although you are primarily interested in file management, the application offers so much more should you decide to dig deeper and utilize the image manipulation tools. I save all my photos to an external hard drive and modified the Lr preferences so that the pics are not moved when importing to Lr library.<br>

Since you already invested in Lr, you should give it a chance. Hide the panels on the right side of the screen (the histogram, color correction, etc). Those on the right are primary to the file management functions and those on the bottom provide access to different views (and can also be hidden)<br>

This link will take you to Lynda.com's Lr 1.3 for Digital Photographers course. There are 6 links available under the "Getting Started" section which should cover your basic needs. Good luck!<br>

<a href="http://movielibrary.lynda.com/html/modPage.asp?ID=563">http://movielibrary.lynda.com/html/modPage.asp?ID=563</a></p>

[robin_briggs]

<p>Mike,<br>

This looks great - thanks for sending the link. It's funny - I did poke around in the Lynda.com training for Lightroom, and couldn't find it, so I'm glad you sent this to me.<br>

Maybe you're right about the panels - it might just be too much information for me, so it's freaking me out a little. I'll try to take those off and spend some more time in here.<br>

Quick question for you: If all of your photos are on external HDs, what happens if you open Lightroom and the HD isn't connected/on? Can you still see thumbnails of the pix? I tried to do this, but I think I messed it up somehow.<br>

Thanks.</p>

[Jeff Lear]

<p>"Many user in photo.net still use a Ps 7 and its all they need for there needs.."</p>

<p>Hey, I'm still using Elements 2.0 and I know for a fact that I'm not the only one. Like Kerry, I also use DPP from Canon for batch processing and renaming. I'm not sure what the copyright issues are with "borrowing" this program as it is not sold but comes in the box with all Canon DSLR cameras, updates are free, and there are numerous options for batch processing most common image formats.</p>

[jmarshall]

<p>Robin -- Somehow I missed that you already have Lightroom!</p>

<p>For training, another suggestion is Lewis Kemper's 4 week course on BetterPhoto.com. It's not inexpensive, but Lewis is really a great teacher and you'll learn the basics, have the opportunity to ask questions and get feedback. I also bought (and use a lot) the Rob Shepherd book on Lightroom. Most of it is about manipulating the images, which may be overkill for you, but it also has some good info on file management (it's where I picked up the system I use now). </p>

<p>Here's a link to the BP course. <a href="http://www.betterphoto.com/courseOverview.asp?cspID=166">http://www.betterphoto.com/courseOverview.asp?cspID=166</a></p>

[nsaskr]

<p>I use Photshop Elements 5.0 (I think 7.0 just came ou) and it works great. The tagging system is very handy once you have spent the time to set it up. It also allows you to make some simple changes as well as the major things like layers and removeing/adding colours.<br>

It might just be a good balance for you.</p>

[mglopez]

<p>Robin.<br>

You should still see thumbnail images even if your external drive is not connected/on. Lr creates a catalog file (x.lrcat) that stores the preview image and any metadata you choose to include. You can adjust the size and quality of these previews and the frequency of backup for the catalog file in Preferences.</p>

[lesterphoto]

<p>you can get Renamer4Mac for free to rename your files. I use it and swear by it. If any application scares you, then you need to educate yourself. There are several books on iPhoto available and any other application you want to work in. You can probably find something on YouTube. Try your local library, they might have the book for free!</p>

[robin_briggs]

<p>Steve - I think you are referring to PSE for Windows? which has an organizing module. The Mac version does not. :-(</p>

[stephen_asprey2]

<p>Hi Robin,<br>

This is just the reason that I am staying with film for the moment. I scan negatives using Canons free software and then just use the finder for the moment. I, too am looking at SIMPLE digital workflow. In fact there is a lot to be said for just using Flickr.<br>

I looked at lots of PJ sites and read lots of interviews. Most upload using the high res jpeg setting from the camera and do not do any image manipulation. RAW files are still too big for the usual bandwidth limitations. I also do not want to be an IT geek just to look through my photos and send some off if they are good.<br>

I also looked at Lightroom and Aperture. These are heavy duty programs for professional image management. And typical Adobe, try to keep some proprietary file management to lock you in. I'm also going to look at Picassa.</p>

[allardk]

<p>I've used Xnview for Windows. It's not bad, but I liked Faststone better. That is only for Windows, but apparently the developer of XnView is working on a mac version. See <a title="http://pagesperso-orange.fr/pierre.g/xnview/enhome.html" href="http://pagesperso-orange.fr/pierre.g/xnview/enhome.html" title="http://pagesperso-orange.fr/pierre.g/xnview/enhome.html">http://pagesperso-orange.fr/pierre.g/xnview/enhome.html</a> or download directly from <a title="http://download.xnview.com/XnViewMP-mac.tgz" href="http://download.xnview.com/XnViewMP-mac.tgz" title="http://download.xnview.com/XnViewMP-mac.tgz">http://download.xnview.com/XnViewMP-mac.tgz</a> . This is an alpha version, I haven't tried this version of the program at all, but maybe it's useful for you. At least it's free.</p>

[godfrey]

<p>Robin, </p>

<p>If you want full control over the file system, its organization and naming, etc etc, then just get the upgrade to Lightroom 2.1 and forget iPhoto. There's nothing wrong with using LR just to manage image files ... it's very good at it and doesn't require that you spend a lot of time in image processing. </p>

<p>iPhoto is not designed to give you that explicit control. It is designed to do all of that for you and allow you to concentrate on titling, tagging and organizing images into events and albums. BTW, you might not realize it, but you can have as many different iPhoto libraries as you'd like ... you can only have one open at a given time, but you can organize iPhoto libraries for, say, 'all photos from 1975 to 1980' as a separate thing from '1990s Family Picnic Photos', for instance. However, you cannot have explicit control of the file system structure and file naming as that is what iPhoto manages for you automatically. </p>

<p>In my workshop, I intentionally separate the use of Lightroom as a management tool for importing, titling, organizing, printing, etc vs as an image processing tool. Most all the photographers I know can dive in and figure out how to make the Develop module do what they want, to greater and lesser degree, without much help from me. What most do not seem to be able to grasp without some assistance is how to use the image management functionality to best effect ... because that's where knowledge of how computers and file systems work, the context in which Lightroom operates, comes into play. </p>

<p>Godfrey</p>

[francie_baltazar]

<p>Light room does not control any of your files - they can all be found on your computer - they are in the lightroom incarta files and you can access them - while I am not a mac user - as a professional photograper I would not go without light room - I use many of it's functions and use PSC2 for just a few things now... it is a beautiful program - BUT it is not an easy program to learn intitutively - you have to read the books - I recommend Scott Kelby's book - read it from cover to cover then keep it near your computer for reference... then you will question "what was I thinking - this is a great program"</p>

[jpo3136b]

<p>Robin, I didn't read all of this, but:</p>

<p>You should be able to get into your iPhoto files through Finder. Use finder to locate where the library is. You can always open the photo file with another program by using a command click on the Mac.</p>

<p>I don't know what Lightroom is; I use Aperture, which makes exporting super-easy; the Photoshop programs work well for people who like to heavily edit; between Aperture and another drawing program, Corel Draw, I have been more than satisfied.</p>

<p>Point is, if you don't want to buy anything else, you don't have to. There are plenty of good editing programs like Gimp out there which are free. I do all of my simple animations of Gimp; have intermittently for a few years. A good program. Proceed with confidence, and your choices will go a lot better. You don't have to wait a year to post on here. I'm sure there are guys like me who will make your thoughtful questions look good. J.</p>

[vrankin]

<p>I have thousands of photos in iPhoto and have no problem finding any specific photo. I can scan the events or the photos arranged chronologically in seconds, just using the slider. It doesn't matter to me what the hidden file name is. So I'm having difficulty understanding why that's important to you. Can you explain?</p>

[stevenseelig]

<p>I have to agree with Howard. Not sure what the real problem is. I have 10's of thousands of pictures all stored as referenced images in Aperture. I never change the master file name, but I have a simple convention for naming files that has endured over the years and I use key words in Aperture to attach fancy names to the files. I can't recall not being able to find an image over the past decade, unless I had deleted or destroyed it. Yes Aperture has lots of capabilities, but its archiving capabilities are astounding and you do NOT have to keep your images embedded in a proprietary architecture. </p>

[robert_hohlfelder]

<p>I was unimpressed by iPhoto when I began using iView Media Pro on my Mac in 2004. It was purchased by Microsoft & is now sold under the name "Microsoft Expression Media". It's a great tool for organizing, tagging & viewing photos, and it doesn't bury photos in hidden archives. It's a bit long-in-the-tooth (Microsoft hasn't done much with it- what a surprise!) and definitely doesn't have the workflow/editing abilities of Lightroom/Aperture- but it's very functional.</p>

[james_liu4]

<p>I really don't think overkill is a reason to stop using a program, unless the 99% of the program that you're not using is causing your computer to slow down. And if you're willing to swallow the $99 for the features you want, why not? Go on and use the 1% of Lightroom. What's wrong with that? Plenty of people use 1% of Microsoft Office just because it does one thing that nothing else does well - opening Word files without wrecking the formatting.</p>

<p>Don't let iPhoto partisans bully you into thinking that your way of organizing your files isn't the right way. If you've been doing it for years, and it works for you, then keep doing it. Change that only if it's worth it to you.</p>