Another _iphoto Question

[Sandrai]

Ok, so now I've got my pics and digi stuff all in iphoto, but how do you open them from there into PSE? Can't seem to "open with..." So, in this regard would it be better to use Bridge - cause I checked and you can "open with..." in bridge.

[Sandrai]

It's ok. I figured it out - should refer to help before asking.

 

Oh well, never mind. I found that you open Preferences and then under edit photo select open in other application. then select whatever app you want to use. Thank goodness it does that - after spending 5 hours today entering my keywords, I didn't want it to be for nothing if I ended up transfering all over to bridge.

[dinny]

glad you figured it out!

 

don't be afraid to ask here... sometimes it alot easier than those "help" files.

[ScrapBunny]

If you someday find time, could you write out exactly what you do, with commands, tags -- everything -- to store, catalog, and access your files and post it? Or do a PM to me and I'll send you my email address so you can send it directly to me if you don't think it will be of sufficient interest to other.

 

I tried using iPhoto when it first came out and I never have figured out where those photos went to. Thank goodness I make copies of the photos before putting them into iPhoto. I got snake-bit that first time and never bothered to try to work with the program again since what I was doing was already working so well for me. But that was before I began digital scrapbooking, when all I had to deal with were the pictures themselves. Every digital camera in our family (we have five altogether), every scanner we have (3), and every printer we have (4) comes with its own picture cataloging program. And that doesn't include the ones that come with third-party software solutions like the ones from Adobe and Microsoft. When you throw two different computer platforms in the mix, you get total and utter chaos. I can handle my photos all by myself, but I am overwhelmed by the digital scrapbooking supplies, tools, and embellishments. Even figuring out what main divisional tags and sub-division tags gives me a headache and makes me want a glass of pink grapefruit juice.

 

I turn to pink grapefruit juice to soothe my woes rather than the traditional orange or cranberry mimosas. I can't afford all that champagne and I don't want to be unable to drive every time I get frustrated. Pink grapefruit juice works nicely for me. It's also a signal to the rest of my family to leave me alone for a few minutes. If that doesn't work, I wear a pair of Spider Man underwear on my head. I love Spider Man and his underwear on my head let's my family know I am having a silent Spidey temper tantrum and may start shooting "Can't you see I'm working? Leave me alone while I'm trying to figure this out" spidey webs out of my mouth that contain a special tie-them-up-and-make-them-do-chores-around-the-house-that-I-would-normally-be-doing-if-I-weren't-having-a -silent-spidey-temper-tantrum-that-they-are-so-rudely-interrupting venom. Spider Man is my friend. When my members of my family see the Spider Man underwear on my head, or see me wrapped up in my Spider Man blanket, or using my Spider Man mousepad, they tend to stay out of my way. And if I get out my Spider Man potholder, everyone starts cleaning the kitchen or leaves the house -- depending on whether or not motorized transportation is available.

 

So you see, for the good of everyone, I would really like to know exactly how you are using iPhoto to store your digital stash. I will read up on iPhoto (I have a book), but since I haven't got an iPhoto mental map set up, I will need all the help I can get.

 

Thanks.

 

Bunny

[Zaz]

*shaking head* Oh, Bunny...

 

Maybe I'm just simple-minded, but the only way I've moved things from iPhoto to PSE or PSCS2 is by dragging them to the PSE or PSCS2 icons on my dock. It automatically loads the photos or whatever into the programs. I'm really a drag and drop kind of girl.

 

Now I'm wishing I had my own Spider Man underwear for my head. Would Backyardigans work? My family never seems to know when to leave me alone.

 

~Zaz

[ScrapBunny]

What can I say? I'm iPhoto challenged. Dragging and dropping is a good think. But how to you get the things into iPhoto in the first place and how to you decide on your tags and divisions and sub-divisions and stuff like that? I'm going to put my Spider Man underwear on my head, create a gallery and post it if you don't tell me. I know you all want to see me that way, but it will probably scare your computers so badly that they will stop working.

 

Bunny

[Zaz]

What can I say? I'm iPhoto challenged. Dragging and dropping is a good think. But how to you get the things into iPhoto in the first place and how to you decide on your tags and divisions and sub-divisions and stuff like that? I'm going to put my Spider Man underwear on my head, create a gallery and post it if you don't tell me. I know you all want to see me that way, but it will probably scare your computers so badly that they will stop working.

 

Bunny

 

 

My iMac is fearless. Bring it on!

 

~Zaz

[ScrapBunny]

My Powerbook G4 is also fearless. It's my initial inability to master iPhoto that is holding me back. I heard Hellen Reddy sing "I am Woman" the other day. I've been singing the "I am invincible" line over and over. I'll whup up on iPhoto before it's all over with.

 

Don't you be worryin' about me!

 

The Bunster

Scrap Bunny of the Universe

[Sandrai]

LOL! You guys.... Well I've figured it all out. I think. To get the photos into iphoto you can do it two ways. Either import them (From the file menu) or you can drag and drop in finder. Go to Finder - Pictures - iphotolibrary - originals. drop them in there. I have them categorised into their year and then within that folder the month. I set up a separate library for digital scraping using iphoto manager (download from apple - www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/imaging_3d/iphotolibrarymanager.html ). I'll get back to you on keywords that I used b/c ds wants to use the computer and I have dishes to do.

[Sandrai]

Ok, I'm back.

 

Keywords for iphoto digital scrapping

 

Aqua, Black, brown, blue, cream, gold, green, grey, orange, pink, purple, red, silver, white, yellow, stripes, patterns, grungy, pastels, bright.

 

Examples, alphabets, animals, arrows, baby, birthdays, bows, brads, butterflies, buttons, Christmas, doodles, dots, easter, envelopes, eyelets, fasteners, flowers, food, frames, kids, lace, measuring tape, numbers, oriental, other, overlays, papers, paper and tags, paper clips, photo corners, pins, quotes and words, ribbons, school, seasons summer, seasons autumn, seasons winter, seasons spring, slides, sports, staples, stars, stitching, templates curls, templates paper, templates page, templates photo, templates tears, templates pictures, transport, wedding.

 

And then I have keywords for individual designers and individual collections eg: Thao Cosgrove, Erica Hite, All about Marriage, Bookworm, etc.

 

 

HTH. I'd really recommend a separate library for scraping stuff. It took me 5 hours yesterday to assign keywords to all of my scrap stuff. But i know it'll be worth it as my collection gets bigger. Now I've just got to do my photos! UGH! I have heaps of duplicates too and annihilator doesn't seem to work that well - unless I'm doing something wrong.

 

Let us know how you go ScrapBunny.

[dinny]

always import/export/delete through iPhoto, not through the finder.

 

I know if you remove photos from the folders on the desktop, that messes up your iPhoto Library. I would think the reverse (adding photos to the desktop folders) would also be hard for the Library to keep track of.

[GPamela]

What can I say? I'm iPhoto challenged. Dragging and dropping is a good think. But how to you get the things into iPhoto in the first place and how to you decide on your tags and divisions and sub-divisions and stuff like that? I'm going to put my Spider Man underwear on my head, create a gallery and post it if you don't tell me. I know you all want to see me that way, but it will probably scare your computers so badly that they will stop working.

 

Bunny

 

This should help with Iphoto.

 

Iphoto

[ScrapBunny]

All I'm going to use iPhoto for is digital scrapbook supplies storage. My photo storage system is entrenched and now, to me, intuitive.

 

Thanks for help, all you Mac Girlie Girls!

 

Bunny

[Sandrai]

ScrapBunny, what do you use for your photo storage?

[Sandrai]

I think that you need to do a layout of yourself Bunny, with your spiderman gear on! LOL!

[ScrapBunny]

ScrapBunny, what do you use for your photo storage?

 

 

CDs. Photography is my passion. Here is a quote from a post I made about converting parts of a photograph into sepia tones. As you can see, this part has nothing to do with the original question, but this is the way I work.

 

"And resign yourself to becoming the queen of cd burning. When I burn a cd of photos, I always burn a cd of the photos as soon as they are downloaded from my camera. Later, I do a cd that contains the original files and all the different versions I ended up with. I have a notebook that contains the information about the CD: the name of the CD itself, the date it was burned, a brief description of the contents, and when it will need to be copied onto fresh media. I have another section in the notebook that contains just the name of the CD and the date on which it will need to be copied onto fresh media. One day a month I flip to the re-do section of the notebook and make a copy of all CDs scheduled for their five-year reburn for that month and burn them onto new CDs. I write in my original notebook by hand on an as-needed basis, but two or three times a year, I transfer the information in the notebook to a spreadsheet and print out several copies, keeping each one in a separate location. My mother has one copy and one copy is kept in my safety deposit box at the bank. I keep the other copy in my "archives" which consists of an archival quality three ring binder with the pages themselves sprayed with archival mist and placed in archival quality page holders. I know this seems like an obsessive/compulsive way to do things, but I can put my finger on any photograph I have taken since scanner technology and CD technology first became available and I will also be able to convert each individual file I want kept onto the next generation of storage media that makes its appearance. I keep my file formats updated so that I don't end up with a precious photo that I took 25 years ago and stored in a format that is no longer accessible. If you guys think I'm nuts, just look at the progression of 8-track tape to cassette tape to CDs to mini-CDs, MP3, and now other formats for music. And we've already gone through VHS, S-VHS, C-VHS, 8 mm, high 8 mm, mini-8 mm, mini-high 8mm, DVDs, cameras that record directly to DVD, and all the different formats of recordable DVD, to high definition DVD, and blue-ray DVD. And I left out the full-sized laser disk technology altogether."

 

I tried several methods of keeping up with stuff before I decided on this one. I got the idea from a book from a book on how to keep log digital video clips. Digital video is much more difficult to keep up with than any other digital media I have run into. The reason is that you can use the digital counter on your digital video camera, but the minute you turn your camera off, the digital counter returns to zero (or at least it did then). So if you're attending a digital scrapbooking conference that takes place over the course of three days, there is no way that you can keep your camera on the entire time. You have to change the battery if nothing else.

 

No matter what brand digital camera you use (I'm back to photography now), the files are all stored on the memory card in the same way. A new folder is created each time you turn on your camera and take some shots. My camera takes 10,000 pictures before returning the counter to zero. My memory cards are programmed by my camera to hold a maximum of 100 photos per folder. Each time a new 100 mark is reached, a new folder is created. So on my memory card you will find, if I have taken 250 shots without turning my camera off, a folder named something like 0-001-099, 1-100-199, 2-200-250. If I turn my camera off and then turn it back on, I might have several folders beginning with the same number: 1-100-145, 1-146-177, and 1-189-199. Rather than putting the photos into a program where I can view all of them at the same time, I simply move the folders directly into a folder on my hard drive. I then begin the process in quotes above.

 

I never, never, never attempt to edit pictures while they are still in my camera. I never, never, never delete a shot from my memory card while it is still in the camera. To my way of thinking, bad shots are even more valuable than good shots. They tell you what you are doing wrong and how to make things better.

 

I take a minimum of 10,000 photos a year, and sometimes as many as 18,000. With my system, I remember eery shot and know where every photo I have taken using this system is. It's much easier to put your photos into some cataloging program, but I've never been able to simply look at a contact sheet to find what I want because the views are too small. Also, I may have 10 shots of the same thing, all in a row, and they may all look alike to someone else. But to me, each one of those shots has a particular nuance. I've never found a photo cataloging program that gives me enough room to name the occasion, describe the shot, describe the nuance and give me a way to access them using a search feature. With my CDs burned the way I do them, I just flip through my CDs until I find the one I want. Since I'm always careful to put them back where I got them, I don't have any problems.

 

But I need a digital file system for all my digital scrapbooking supplies because I don't have a passion for them. To me, they are the tools I use to complement and display my photos to their best advantage. I love them and I feel lucky to have them and to have all the experts to help me solve any problems I run into when I use them and I really like being able to order them online and receive them almost immediately.

 

Thank you, Scrap Girls.

 

Bunny

[Sandrai]

Wow! I wish I was that organised! I'm planning on uploading photos onto some of those little USB drives and keeping a copy at home and at my parent's. I've heard that they will last longer than putting them onto CD. Is this true? I know that is a more expensive way of doing it, but I figure that it's still cheaper than paying for a roll of 35mm film to be developed - back in the dark ages! LOL!

[ScrapBunny]

I think the answer to what media you decide to store your pictures on depends on two things: how many pictures do you take and how much money to you have to spend on back-up. And by "little USB drive" to you mean a stand alone hard drive or do you mean the little bitty things that will fit on your keychain or in your pocket?

 

I have considered the little USB drives and I have several of them. I also have two or three stand alone hard drives. The reason I do my backups on CDs is that hard drives can get corrupted or destroyed by viruses, power surges, glasses of Kool-Aid, inquisitive children who just happen to hit the wrong buttons, being dropped -- well, we all know what can happen to hard drives.

 

The little USB drives can be corrupted by most of the things that can effect the stand alone hard drive. But they have two more frailties. It is very easy to break the USB connector by bumping it. Since it connects directly to your computer rather than using a cable, if someone hits it just right, or if something is pushed into it, you can find yourself with a broken USB connector -- which means you can't get to your data anymore. Additionally, it is very easy to lose the little cap that covers the USB connector and dust, crumbs, sticky stuff, and just crud will easily collect in the connector.

 

CDs or DVDs work for me. You must find what works best for your temperament and budget and then stick to it.

 

Bunny

[Zaz]

It's funny. I'm good at handling the "thumb drives" as my DH calls them, but I'm lousy with CDs. I can't seem to keep from dropping them or scratching them. All of my photos go to three different computers (and sometimes four). And they are all in iPhoto on each computer in their own little files. I can look at them all at once in the "Library" or click on a collection file on the left of my screen. They are not in sub-catagories and I don't have tags on them. I am not as organized as you, Bunny. I could never keep track of all the CDs. You must have a gift. Okay, so you have more than one. You make me smile on a regular basis, too.

 

~Zaz

[ScrapBunny]

Zaz, I'm not organized in my everyday life. It is something I struggle with. And the reason I use CDs is because I have so many pictures. Another reason is that people in my family eat and drink at the computer. I'm sure a lot of you eat and drink at your computer, but I'm also just as sure that when you finish, you take your dishes into the kitchen. My family tends to leave their dishes at the computer. That means if they didn't drink everything in their glass and it gets knocked over, the computer is in eminent danger. We also have a bichon who does the Bichon Blitz. That's when the bichon has been behaving very calmly and correctly but suddenly seems to just go nuts and start running through the house, jumping on furniture, and doing incredibly funny things as fast as the can. Once in a while, when our dog is blitzing, if someone tries to stop her she will do whatever it takes to get around that person. If the person just happens to be standing close to the table where the computer is, Holly the Jolly Bichon will take a running leap onto the chair, up onto the desk, and leap back down onto the floor so quickly it's like being passed by a race car. While she's not big enough to do any damage to the computer by knocking it over, she is certainly big enough to knock over a glass of milk or a cup of coffee or a can of soda.

 

My husband has fried the motherboard of two different laptops by spilling liquid on them. Both times it has been the fault of anything or anyone but him. There wasn't enough light for him to see where he was setting his glass; there was too much light and it blinded him so he couldn't see where he was setting his glass; there should not have been a coaster sitting there to keep water circles off the table because if you don't set your glass down in the middle of the coaster, your glass turns over; somebody left too many books and papers on his desk and that made his glass fall over; somebody moved his glass and when he reached for it, it wasn't in the place where it should be and it turned over. My older daughter is the same way. Three weeks ago I spent all day clearing off their work table. I did it be putting everything into a big box and then examining the items one-by-one to see if they needed to be thrown away, filed, or taken back to where they belong (dishes, lip glass, DVDs, books, candy wrappers, etc.). I noticed this morning that the table is again covered in layers of papers, books, and "stuff" -- none of it mine, mind you. I'm figuring I will be getting up way early in the morning, shoving everything into a big box, and emptying it the same way I did three weeks ago.

 

This cluttery family in which no one is responsible for any of the clutter that appears is another good reason to become a digital scrapbooker. I think the clutter bogies sneak into our house every night. I'm sure of it.

 

Bunny

[Sandrai]

Zaz, how do you organize your scrapping stuff? I kind of like iphoto, but still am not convinced. I think I need to get my brother around to give me a tutorial on it.... I am a drag and drop girl too, and iphoto just doesn't work like that.

[Zaz]

Well, I wouldn't be the one to talk to about organizing their scrap stuff. I've been using iPhoto for years for my photos (and we take thousands, too), but I never thought of using it for scrap stuff until this came up on the message board recently. So I dragged a few papers in there and put them in a folder. That's kind of nice! Then I dragged them to PSCS2 to see what would happen. They opened just like my photos. So now I might have to put everything in iPhoto sometime. Right now, I just have a Scrap Girls folder on my desktop and everything in it is organized by element - papers, embellishments, word art, etc - and then sorted inside there by collection. It's not the way most people do it, but I like to mix and match stuff. I recolor or alter most things (I'm just that way), so it didn't make sense for me to sort things by color. I just look at the design of things.

 

That was a long way of saying you probably wouldn't want to do things my way, but it works for me for now. And I've always loved iPhoto.

 

I gotta get back to scrapping. I'm so far behind on the July challenges. Now those are something I need organized!

 

~Zaz

[TracEy]

*shaking head* Oh, Bunny...

 

Maybe I'm just simple-minded, but the only way I've moved things from iPhoto to PSE or PSCS2 is by dragging them to the PSE or PSCS2 icons on my dock. It automatically loads the photos or whatever into the programs. I'm really a drag and drop kind of girl.

 

Now I'm wishing I had my own Spider Man underwear for my head. Would Backyardigans work? My family never seems to know when to leave me alone.

 

~Zaz

 

Hey Zaz...........Just checking in with ya on this.........How are those Chonies coming along on your head. Do the Backyardigans fit ok? Are they working out for you? Baahahhwwhwawawwawaw Boy did I miss that thread. LOL I figure better late than never.