iPhoto - filenaming conventions

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
Hi,



I'm not sure I understand (and definitely don't like) the way iPhoto stores its images.



I took a a load of photographs over the weekend, imported them into iPhoto and renamed them for sending them to friends. However when i went to the finder to find the pictures from inside the iPhoto folder structure the images still had their original names (meaningless serial numbers that my camera applies, IMG001181.jpg, you know the type of thing).



Obviously this is stupid - how do i know which photographs to pull out and send to my friends without having to search through again (which i did in the end). I would have burned from inside iPhoto but it applies its rather odd year/month/day folder structure to burnt CDs too - what gives with this.



Why does the jpg's new name only apply inside iPhoto, this is completely counter-intuitive. I'm normally impresed with my powerbook and aplpe software but min this case i'm dissapointed!

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 9
    skyboltskybolt Posts: 111member
    You are best off to email photos from within iPhoto rather than the finder. Your titles etc, will be sent with the photo, just like you want. Same applies to burning onto CD - don't use the finder. The finder file is really just iPhoto's way of organizing and is best left alone.
  • Reply 2 of 9
    I don't have an answer for you, but I'm sympathetic. The iPhoto file structure and naming conventions have defied logic since inception. In addition to the problem you already mentioned, there's the lack of nested photo albums, and the use of bizarre naming conventions for photos uploaded via .Mac to Homepage.
  • Reply 3 of 9
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by david101

    Hi,



    I'm not sure I understand (and definitely don't like) the way iPhoto stores its images.



    I took a a load of photographs over the weekend, imported them into iPhoto and renamed them for sending them to friends. However when i went to the finder to find the pictures from inside the iPhoto folder structure the images still had their original names (meaningless serial numbers that my camera applies, IMG001181.jpg, you know the type of thing).



    Obviously this is stupid - how do i know which photographs to pull out and send to my friends without having to search through again (which i did in the end). I would have burned from inside iPhoto but it applies its rather odd year/month/day folder structure to burnt CDs too - what gives with this.



    Why does the jpg's new name only apply inside iPhoto, this is completely counter-intuitive. I'm normally impresed with my powerbook and aplpe software but min this case i'm dissapointed!




    iPhoto's organization is for photos. If you give a photo a name within iPhoto, that's only for within iPhoto.



    Finder is the organizational tool for files, and what you need to use to change the name of a file in the Finder.



    The two are distinct.



    The iApps have a peculiar approach to organization - "Hand it over to us, use this interface for working with it. And no, don't try and do an end run around us by working with the files in the Finder. If you move or rename things there, we may not be able to find them again." Some people find it really bothersome, I see it as training for metadata. It's much easier to go with the flow in most cases, and I suspect more and more of our UI experience will be heading this way. (FWIW, a lot of computer folks had the same gripe about the Finder in 1984. "What do you *MEAN* I can't fiddle bits directly? It *HIDES FILES*? What's all this resource crap?" It was a new level of abstraction. Now, it's considered a good thing to the majority.)



    So, you don't 'pull out' an image in the Finder. To email it, you have two options. Use the 'Email' button in iPhoto and let it handle the attachment, or File -> Export to make a fresh copy of the file where you want it.
  • Reply 4 of 9
    tchwojkotchwojko Posts: 139member
    Or drag the picture from iPhoto to your e-mail message.
  • Reply 5 of 9
    buonrottobuonrotto Posts: 6,368member
    Don't go dredging through the Finder to deal with photos in iPhoto. The whole point of iPhoto is to organize your images and make them accessible through that application. Importing stuff into iPhoto then going outside of it defeats the purpose of importing them in the first place. I think Apple should have made the iPhoto Library a bundle icon so people wouldn't be tested to wade through there with the Finder. (Same thing goes for iTunes IMO if you have the application automatically organize your music.)



    Anyway, here is the folder naming logic in the iPhoto library: Year / Month / Day of the images' creation (not the day you imported them). The file name is taken from whatever convention your camera is using to name and number them. It doesn't change the file names unless you do so in iPhoto.
  • Reply 6 of 9
    mac+mac+ Posts: 580member
    I would actually like to see iPhoto allow you to add photos that you don't import in one session from your camera to a related roll of film. For instance, if you receive some photos from a friend via email from an event you both went to, it is impossible to import those photos that your friend gave you into the same roll as the photos which you imported from your digital camera originally.



    Furthermore, I don't think it is possible to drag the order of the film rolls around, so they're close to each other. (your original download from your camera and then the import of you firend's photos!)



    Let me elboarate: the first batch of photos from, say a party, you download from your camera could be today - and then you do so more downloads of other events later on. Then about a week or so later, you receive other photos from that party (for example) but when you import those photos into iPhoto, that roll of film is unable to be moved closer to the "party" roll of film that you imported today. Follow?
  • Reply 7 of 9
    vox barbaravox barbara Posts: 2,021member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by tchwojko

    Or drag the picture from iPhoto to your e-mail message.



    or drag it onto the desktop and put the file where ever you want. don't forget renaming.



    OR:

    open the iphoto thumb with another photoapp (photoshop maybe save the file with a different name.



    but as mentioned above. don't touch that particular iphoto folder.
  • Reply 8 of 9
    skyboltskybolt Posts: 111member
    As far a organizing rolls - you can change the date of the roll so that it is closer to the date of the one you want it near. You can also, in iPhoto 4, drag photos from one roll to the other, so you CAN have the rolls from today contain the rolls from next week. Then, there is also exporting photos from several rolls to a folder on the desktop, then reimporting them and then deleting the original rolls. I did this to really organize my rolls and am very happy that I did. Good luck!
  • Reply 9 of 9
    mac+mac+ Posts: 580member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by skybolt

    As far a organizing rolls - you can change the date of the roll so that it is closer to the date of the one you want it near. You can also, in iPhoto 4, drag photos from one roll to the other, so you CAN have the rolls from today contain the rolls from next week. Then, there is also exporting photos from several rolls to a folder on the desktop, then reimporting them and then deleting the original rolls. I did this to really organize my rolls and am very happy that I did. Good luck!



    Excellent news! - Thanks skybolt!



    Man, I've gotta get out and buy iLife '04 - I so totally want to reorganise my photo rolls in a similar manner to what you describe! ... seriously, I do
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