Editing and organizing photos outside of iphoto

Apple Tech Support tells me that iphoto only works for photos imported via digital camera hookup. I have many photos on my hard drive that were input via CD or email .jpg files. I understand I cannot edit these photos using any software that comes with the Mac, and I have to organize and store them outside of iphoto. Is there any Apple-compatible software other than Adobe Photoshop that I might buy to have more flexibility in editing and organizing all my photos? I am currently using a Mac Mini with the Panther 10.3 OS.

I understand I cannot edit these photos using any software
that comes with the Mac, and I have to organize and store them
outside of iphoto.
The first part of this statement might be accurate if your mini did not come with GraphicConverter among the bundled applications, but whoever left you with the impression that iPhoto won't accept anything but camera-generated images is misinformed. Launch iPhoto and select iPhoto Help from the Help menu. Enter the phrase "importing photos" in the search window, and have a look.

Similar Messages

Accessing photos outside of iPhoto 08

I'm having trouble accessing my photos from anything except iPhoto. When I upload them from my camera using iPhoto, I let iPhoto determine the file structure. In the previous version, I could click in iPhoto Library through the finder and browse directly to the location of the photos. Now, I cannot open the iPhoto library through the finder. This means I can't do anything with my photos outside of iPhoto - I can't upload them or edit them with Photoshop or anything unless I make a copy, which is a total waste. Am I doing something wrong? Why can't I access my photos outside of iPhoto?

zchamu
Welcome to the Apple Discussions.
There are three ways (at least) to get files from the iPhoto Window.
1. Drag and Drop: Drag a photo from the iPhoto Window to the desktop, there iPhoto will make a full-sized copy of the pic. Also, many applications support drag and drop from the iPhoto Window - for instance Mail and AddressBook.
2. File -> Export: Select the files in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export. The dialogue will give you various options, including altering the format, naming the files and changing the size. Again, producing a copy.
3. Show File: Right- (or Control-) Click on a pic and in the resulting dialogue choose 'Show File'. A Finder window will pop open with the file already selected.
The change was made to the format of the iPhoto library because many users were inadvertently corrupting their library by browsing through it with other software or making changes in it themselves. If you're willing to risk database corruption, you can restore the older functionality simply by right clicking on the iPhoto Library and choosing 'Show Package Contents'. Then simply make an alias to the folders you require and put that alias on the desktop or where ever you want it. Be aware though, that this is a hack and not supported by Apple.
Finally, why not set Photoshop as an external editor in iPhoto. (Preferences -> General -> Edit Photo:...) That way when you click on a pic to edit it will open automatically in PS and when you save it in PS it will be returned automatically to iPhoto.
Regards
TD

How do I find my photos (outside of iPhoto)....?

I cannot locate my photos outside of iPhoto and therefore have 30 000 I desperately need to back up... Please help me before I go crazy with frustration

Most Simple Back Up:
Drag the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to another Disk. This will make a copy on that disk.
Slightly more complex: Use an app that will do incremental back ups. This is a very good way to work. The first time you run the back up the app will make a complete copy of the Library. Thereafter it will update the back up with the changes you have made. That makes subsequent back ups much faster. Many of these apps also have scheduling capabilities: So set it up and it will do the back up automatically.
Example of such apps: Chronosync - but there are many others. Search on MacUpdate or the App Store

I edit and rotate photos using MS Photo Editor. when open with Apple TV- photos still have 90 deg rotation. Why ?

I edit and rotate photos using MS Photo Editor.
When open with Apple TV- photos still have 90 deg rotation. Why ?

Does this have anything to do with iPhoto for the Mac? If so please descrive what and exaclty wha tryou are doing
LN

Lightroom 5.6 lost several days of editing and organizing without apparent reason..

All of a sudden, exclamation marks appeared on a great number of thumbnails of a batch of photo's that I have been working on for a couple of weeks. I can see that the reason for this, is that LR thinks they're in a different location: it forgot that I already created subfolders within the folder I'm working in. For the record: I did create these folders in LR. I never make changes to my folders and pictures without LR. (The photo's are not gone, they are still on an external HDD, in folders and subfolders as I have created them in LR.)
Worst part is, obviously, that once LR retrieves these photo's, all editing is gone. It simply 'forgot' a week of editing and organizing.
I use a Macbook Pro, Time Machine and I always have LR make back-ups when it asks me once a week. What happened? Could this be the corruption of the most recent catalog? Is there any way to retrieve this work?
I do hope that someone out there has been through the same ordeal AND was then able to save all the hard work anyway...

Like Ssprengel I'm not sure exactly how Time Machine works as I'm not a Mac user either but this does more and more sound like you've opened an older Catalog to me.
If it's not down to opening a Backup one then it does sound possibly like a Dropbox synch issue. I stopped putting anything other than temporary (and small) LR Catalogs in the Dropbox folder due to this very problem. Sometimes it just doesn't synch and comes up with an older file, though in my experience unless the file wasn't saved at all it does re-appear, usually with the name with a suffix that says something like "Conflicted copy". Are you actually using the Catalog on more than one computer during the time that this has occurred? If not then the Dropbox synch problem seems less likely to me (but not impossible).
Do you have a backup from the day you did the work to compare the one with the missing edits against?

Newbie Question: Importing (from PC) and Organizing Photos in iPhoto

Hi everyone,
I am currently a PC user and am contemplating buying an iMac, and I'm trying to determine if iPhoto will meet my needs for photo importing and organization.
I currently have around 20-30 gigs of digital photos and am using Windows Photo Gallery (for Windows Vista) to view/organize/import them.
The directories are organized by the photo date taken in the format "yyyy-mm-dd" .
Some of these directories are appended with an event name if applicable, i.e. "2011-12-25_Christmas Party" while others will only have the date, i.e. "2011-12-20"
My photos are named according to date/time taken so that a file listing will display the photos in chronologic order. Again, some of these will be appended with an event name or other descriptive label. So, many photos will look like this: "yyyy-mm-dd_hh-mm-ss" while others will look like this: "yyyy-mm-dd_hh-mm-ss_event name"
A possible complicating factor in all of this is that some of the photos were taken with a camera where the time/date was not set properly, or with cameras whose date/times were set for a different time zone. I adjusted this within Windows Photo Gallery, but I am not sure if it permanently changed the date/time in the photo file's properties... I've seen some evidence that it may not have. I did make sure that the file name was named according to the correct date/time in every case, however.
Now, here are my questions about using iPhoto:
1) When I initially import my photos into iPhoto, will iPhoto recognize (or is there a way to make it recognize) each separate directory as a separate event based on the directory in which it is found?
2) If I copy photos into iPhoto library, will it respect and preserve my directory structure wherein photos are separated by date taken? If not, then is it practical to still use iPhoto without copying the files into its library (by keeping them organized as subdirectories in a directory elsewhere and having iPhoto setup to automatically display photos in that directory)?
3) If I use iPhoto to import pictures from a digital camera, can I control how it sorts those pictures into directories by making it name the directories in yyyy-mm-dd format? This is what Windows does and I find that format very convenient for organizing and viewing photo files, especially those that I have not yet tagged.
4) Again, if I use iPhoto to import pictures from a digital camera, can I control the naming convention so that photos are named according to date&time taken (i.e. yyyy-mm-dd_hh-mm-ss ), or at least according to just date taken (i.e. yyyy-mm-dd) as well as appended with event names?
5) Will I be able to edit photo properties, such as date taken, within iPhoto if I discover that a photo is incorrectly organized?
Thanks in advance,
JB

Here's the thing: You've put a lot of time developing a system of managing files. iPhoto is all about Photos. So, frankly. forget your current system and use iPhoto. it has more powerful and more varied tools for managing your snaps.
There's a conceptual leap to be made with apps like iPhoto. The illustration I use is as follows: In my iTunes Library I have a file called 'Let_it_Be_The_Beatles.mp3'. So what is that, exactly? It's not the song. The Beatles never wrote an mp3. They wrote a tune and lyrics. They recorded it and a copy of that recording is stored in the mp3 file. So the file is just a container for the recording. That container is designed in a specific way attuned to the characteristics and requirements of the data. Hence, mp3.
Similarly, that Jpeg is not your photo, it's a container designed to hold that kind of data. iPhoto is all about the data and not about the container. So, regardless of where you choose to store the file, iPhoto will manage the photo, edit the photo, add metadata to the Photo but never touch the file. If you choose to export - unless you specifically choose to export the original - iPhoto will export the Photo into a new container - a new file containing the photo.
All of your queries are about files and filenames and file storage. They're all pretty much moot if you use iPhoto. If you use iPhoto it becomes the "go-to" app for all your photos. Everything you need to do with the photos can be done via iPhoto or with iPhoto.
When I initially import my photos into iPhoto, will iPhoto recognize (or is there a way to make it recognize) each separate directory as a separate event based on the directory in which it is found?
Yes, but... Events are organisation for those who can't really be bothered. They are automatic - based entirely on Date and Time the camera records the photos as taken. You can move photos between Events, you can Merge Events, you can Rename them and sort them in various ways except one: You cannot manually sort in an Event as Events are all automated.
Albums are a much more varied and powerful organising tool.
2) If I copy photos into iPhoto library, will it respect and preserve my directory structure wherein photos are separated by date taken?
Well forget about "directories", you're talking Events, Album and Folders now. But yes, you can define Events (or Albums) based on date. However, given that iPhoto can sort on date, can search on date and date ranges and can generate Smart Albums based on date (say, All the Photos from 2010, only the photos from June 2010 or just the photos fron June 10, 2010, or even the photos from May 12 2009 to July 11 2010) how the fies are organised on the disk is of little concern. You never access them via the HD anyway.
If not, then is it practical to still use iPhoto without copying the files into its library (by keeping them organized as subdirectories in a directory elsewhere and having iPhoto setup to automatically display photos in that directory)?
Yes you can do this. It's called a Referenced Library. I don't recommend it - especially for a new Mac user - and it adds nothing except complexity to the process. It has no extra capability. It's just dumb file storage. For more on this:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3062728?tstart=0
3) If I use iPhoto to import pictures from a digital camera, can I control how it sorts those pictures into directories by making it name the directories in yyyy-mm-dd format?
No.
This is what Windows does and I find that format very convenient for organizing and viewing photo files, especially those that I have not yet tagged.
There are various tools in iPhoto that will allow you to find photos that you have not yet tagged or organised.
Again, if I use iPhoto to import pictures from a digital camera, can I control the naming convention so that photos are named according to date&time taken (i.e. yyyy-mm-dd_hh-mm-ss ), or at least according to just date taken (i.e. yyyy-mm-dd) as well as appended with event names?
You can add titles to photos, yes. But as the date and time of the photo are already in the Exif, using those in the name of the photo is a bit redundant.
Will I be able to edit photo properties, such as date taken, within iPhoto if I discover that a photo is incorrectly organized?
Yes.
It's a bit to take in I know, and I always suggest to people that the best thing is to create a library on their Mac, import a couple of hndred pics and explore what it does (and doesn't), and see if it works for you.
iPhoto uses a lot of virtualisation. Photos are stored in the Library. (Events are just one of two possible views of the Library). Albums reference photos in the Library. So a shot can be in any number of albums and use no extra disk space. Keywording is also very powerful. Here’s a stock answer I use for folks when wondering what iPhoto can do:
I use Events simply as big buckets of Photos: Spring 08, July - Nov 06 are typical Events in my Library. I use keywords and Smart Albums extensively. I title the pics broadly.
I keyword on a
Who
What
Where basis (The When is in the photos's Exif metadata). I also rate the pics on a 1 - 5 star basis.
Using this system I can find pretty much find any pic in my 40k library in a couple of seconds.
So, for example, I have a batch of pics titled 'Seattle 08' and a typical keywording might include: John, Anne, Landscape, mountain, trees, snow. With a rating included it's so very easy to find the best pics we took at Mount Rainier.
File -> New Smart Album
set it to 'All"
title contains Seattle
keyword is mountain
keyword is snow
rating is 5 stars
Or, want a chronological album of John from birth to today?
New Smart Album
Keyword is John
Set the View options to Sort By Date Ascending
Want only the best pics?
add Rating is greater than 4 stars
The best thing about this system is that it's dynamic. If I add 50 more pics of John to the Library tomorrow, as I keyword and rate them they are added to the Smart Album.
In the end, organisation is about finding the pics. The point is to make locating that pic or batch of pics findable fast. This system works for me.
Finally, all of this can be exported from iPhoto should you decide to migrate to a different app or different OS in a year or two.
Regards
TD

Ending photos outside of iPhoto and Entourage

I'm having a helluva time email photos. I don't have a .mac account and don't want to pay for a premium hotmail account to use entourage. i hate to say this but when I had a pc, Picassa was much simpler. Even if I use my usual email account, Mac makes it very hard to "choose" the photos I want to email because of all the "original", "modified" and other folders that pop up. Also, there doesn't seem to be a way to compress a photo outside of entourage. Is anyone else facing this?

Hi Swerl, and welcome to Apple Discussions
It sounds to me like you are trying to find the photos in the Finder. There is an email button directly in your iPhoto browser. Select the photos you want to send in iPhoto, click the Mail button and then compress them to the desired amount in the "size" window that automatically opens.
Or, from iPhoto 6.0 Help
Sending photos as email attachments
You can use email to send one or more photos from your photo library or an album.
To send a photo in an email message:
Select a photo you want to mail by clicking on it. To select more than one photo, hold down the Command key (to the left of the space bar) as you click on each photo.
Note: You can send photos only from your photo library or an album, not photos from a slideshow, book, calendar, or card.
Choose Share > Email.
Choose a size in pixels for your emailed photos from the Size pop-up menu.
Choose whether to include titles and comments.
Click Compose.
iPhoto opens a New Message window in Mac OS X Mail with the photo or photos attached. (If you want to mail photos using Entourage, Eudora, or AOL, install the application on your computer, choose iPhoto > Preferences, click General at the top of the Preferences window, and then choose the application from the "Mail using" pop-up menu.)
Enter an address, a subject line, and the text of the message, then click Send.
Can I add one thing if I may: It wasn't much easier on your PC, it was just that you had learned what to do.
Matthew Whiting

I can't get photos outside of iPhoto!

Before this version I could navigate into the file folders of my photos. Is it possible with this version? They seems to have locked us out of the files but I am having difficulty organizing my pictures and if I could see into the file it sure would help. Can this be done?

You're posting in the iPhoto 6 forum but the question you mention is assocaited with later versions: 08 and 09. So I'm going to guess that you're in the wrong forum.
and if I could see into the file it sure would help.
No it wouldn't. If you're on 09 then how the files are arranged in the Finder has no necessary connection with how the are arranged in the iPhoto Window. The whole point of iPhoto is for you to organise your photos and let it manage the files.
What specific extra information do you think you will get looking at the files? Perhaps we can suggest another way of working.
Anyway:
With iPhoto 7 (iLife 08) the old iPhoto Library Folder is now a Package File. This is simply a folder that looks like a file in the Finder. The change was made to the format of the iPhoto library because many users were inadvertently corrupting their library by browsing through it with other software or making changes in it themselves.
Want to look inside: Go to your Pictures Folder and find the iPhoto Library there. Right (or Control-) Click on the icon and select 'Show Package Contents'. A finder window will open with the Library exposed.
Standard Warning: Don't change anything in the iPhoto Library Folder via the Finder or any other application. iPhoto depends on the structure as well as the contents of this folder. Moving things, renaming things or otherwise making changes will prevent iPhoto from working and could even cause you to damage or lose your photos.
There are many, many ways to access your files in iPhoto:
*For Users of 10.5 and later*
You can use any Open / Attach / Browse dialogue. On the left there's a Media heading, your pics can be accessed there. Command-Click for selecting multiple pics.
Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!
(Note the above illustration is not a Finder Window. It's the dialogue you get when you go File -> Open)
You can access the Library from the New Message Window in Mail:
Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!
*For users of 10.4 and later* ...
Many internet sites such as Flickr and SmugMug have plug-ins for accessing the iPhoto Library. If the site you want to use doesn’t then some, one or any of these will also work:
To upload to a site that does not have an iPhoto Export Plug-in the recommended way is to Select the Pic in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export and export the pic to the desktop, then upload from there. After the upload you can trash the pic on the desktop. It's only a copy and your original is safe in iPhoto.
This is also true for emailing with Web-based services. However, if you're using Gmail you can use iPhoto2GMail
If you use Apple's Mail, Entourage, AOL or Eudora you can email from within iPhoto.
If you use a Cocoa-based Browser such as Safari, you can drag the pics from the iPhoto Window to the Attach window in the browser.
*If you want to access the files with iPhoto not running*:
For users of 10.6 and later:
You can download a free Services component from MacOSXAutomation which will give you access to the iPhoto Library from your Services Menu. Using the Services Preference Pane you can even create a keyboard shortcut for it.
For Users of 10.4 and later:
Create a Media Browser using Automator (takes about 10 seconds) or use this free utility Karelia iMedia Browser
Other options include:
1. *Drag and Drop*: Drag a photo from the iPhoto Window to the desktop, there iPhoto will make a full-sized copy of the pic.
2. *File -> Export*: Select the files in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export. The dialogue will give you various options, including altering the format, naming the files and changing the size. Again, producing a copy.
3. *Show File*: Right- (or Control-) Click on a pic and in the resulting dialogue choose 'Show File'. A Finder window will pop open with the file already selected.
You can set Photoshop (or any image editor) as an external editor in iPhoto. (Preferences -> General -> Edit Photo: Choose from the Drop Down Menu.) This way, when you double click a pic to edit in iPhoto it will open automatically in Photoshop or your Image Editor, and when you save it it's sent back to iPhoto automatically. This is the only way that edits made in another application will be displayed in iPhoto.
Note that iPhoto sends a copy+ of the file to Photoshop, so when you save be sure to use the Save command, not Save As... If you use Save As then you're creating a new file and iPhoto has no way of knowing about this new file. iPhoto is preserving your original anyway.
Regards
TD

How To Burn Photos OUTSIDE of iPhoto?

Im tired of iPhoto, the whole program is just a mess. Every time i burn a disc from there it puts that whole mess of a puzzel of folders just to get to the photos. How do you burn discs outside of iphoto? I tried the burn folder, but it did nothing. every time i hit the burn button it told me to insert a disc (which I had already done, brand new, enough space, everything was fine about the disc) Why does apple make it so complicated to do such a normal task, almost want to go back to my PC. Same thing goes for DVDs, I cant burn a DVD for the life of me. Ive read the instructions on their support page, and follow them pecicly, and nothing. always just spaces out on me.

Hi adamphoto,
This is what you have been doing....
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=165523
this is what you want to do...
Creating a CD or DVD to be viewed in Windows or by a photo processing company
Can you explain again the exact steps you are going through to burn a CD/DVD.
What do you want to burn on the DVD?
this is what i am doing right now...
Create a burn folder. It should be listed in the left column of the finder window.
Drag the files/folders you want to burn on top of the burn folder in the left hand column.
Highlight the burn folder in the left hand column.
In the window on the right will be the folders/files you dragged into the burn folder. there will also be a burn button in that window.
Click the burn button.
You will be asked to insert a disc.
Insert a disc.
the little window will go away and another window will pop up and you will be asked to type in a name for the disc.
Type in a name.
Follow instructions from there and the burning will start

Finding photos OUTSIDE of iPhoto 8

With the older versions of IPhoto you could find photos stored in the library easily (without opening the application), and then open them in Photoshop, etc or email them. With this newer version - I cannot figure out how to do this - it is either the entire library you have to open, then edit in PhotoShop, then email it or whatever. This is VERY frustrating. Likewise I just edited some photos and I cannot find them in the iPhoto library, even though in the save menu I see what folder they are in, but this folder does not exist in the IPhoto library that I can see. Am I missing something?

Am I missing something?
Yes.
Quick background: With iPhoto 7 (iLife 08) the old iPhoto Library Folder is now a Unix Style Package File. The change was made to the format of the iPhoto library because many users were inadvertently corrupting their library by browsing through it with other software or making changes in it themselves.
It has never been the correct way to access files via the Finder. Period. This is true of all the previous versions of iPhoto. Any and every time you surf the Library with the Finder, Bridge, Photoshop, whatever, you risk damaging the Library.
For using Photoshop with iPhoto:
You can set Photoshop (or any image editor) as an external editor in iPhoto. (Preferences -> General -> Edit Photo: Choose from the Drop Down Menu.) This way, when you double click a pic to edit in iPhoto it will open automatically in Photoshop or your Image Editor, and when you save it it's sent back to iPhoto automatically. *This is the only way that edits made in another application will be displayed in iPhoto.*
If you use a 'Save As...' command in Photoshop you are creating a new File. Save the file to the desktop and then import it. iPhoto does not know about files saved into the iPhoto Library unles they are imported. If you're doing the 'Save As' to preserve the original version of the file, that's not necessary as iPhoto does that for you.
Other than that:
There are many, many ways to access your files in iPhoto:
For 10.5 users: You can use any Open / Attach / Browse dialogue. On the left there's a Media heading, your pics can be accessed there. Apple-Click for selecting multiple pics.
Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!
To upload to a site that does not have an iPhoto Export Plug-in the recommended way is to Select the Pic in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export and export the pic to the desktop, then upload from there. After the upload you can trash the pic on the desktop. It's only a copy and your original is safe in iPhoto.
This is also true for emailing with Web-based services. If you're using Gmail you can use THIS
If you use Apple's Mail, Entourage, AOL or Eudora you can email from within iPhoto. With 10.5 you can access the Library from the New Message Window in Mail:
Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!
If you use a Cocoa-based Browser such as Safari, you can drag the pics from the iPhoto Window to the Attach window in the browser.
Or, if you want to access the files with iPhoto not running, then create a Media Browser using Automator (takes about 10 seconds) or use THIS
Other options include:
1. *Drag and Drop*: Drag a photo from the iPhoto Window to the desktop, there iPhoto will make a full-sized copy of the pic.
2. *File -> Export*: Select the files in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export. The dialogue will give you various options, including altering the format, naming the files and changing the size. Again, producing a copy.
3. *Show File*: Right- (or Control-) Click on a pic and in the resulting dialogue choose 'Show File'. A Finder window will pop open with the file already selected.
All of these are 1. Faster and 2. Safer than rooting through the Library folder.
Regards
TD

Accessing photos outside of iphoto

I would like to be able to access photos in the iphoto library without having to export them or create a separate file.
Though I like how iphoto organizes and displays photos I tend to use my photos outside it- using the as part of artwork in photoshop or uploading them online. Should I just not use iphoto or is there a solution?
A couple weeks ago I attached photos to my gmail account. I pretty sure I just clicked on the iphoto library under the Pictures folder and it opened like a normal folder (such as documents) and I selected the photo I wanted to send. Now when I go to pictures iphoto library is an icon that opens directly to iphoto without displaying my photos as documents.
I can still get at them by right clicking iphoto library and select show package contents. Once there I can open data and find my photos, but I'm worried about messing with it. Also there are other functions like that where you can easily select a photo stored in iphoto- such as choosing a background in system preferences. Is there any way to set that up again.
Any advice? Thanks!

Lambsthewood
Welcomt to the Apple user discussion forums
There are MANY ways to access you photos without going into the iPhoto library directly (which risks corrupting your library)
for a detailed discussion see Terence Devlin's post in this thread - http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1628734&tstart=0
LN

Can I make and order photo books using iPhoto on my iPad?

I would like to make photo books for family and friends, but all I have is an iPad. Will it do the same thing?

No idea - this is the iPhoto for Mac forum - read the Apple info on iPhoto for the iPad and ask questions in the iPhoto for IOS forum - https://discussions.apple.com/community/app_store/iphoto_for_ios
LN

How do I get photos outside of iPhoto?

I recently had to restore my computer and the iOS was updated to mountain lion or something... Anyways, all my photos are inside iPhoto. However with the new version of iOS I can't open that version of iPhoto on that macbook. So I copied the iPhoto icon they were able to save onto the new macbook pro onto an external HD and put it on an older software computer but I couldn't open those photos because the computer I opened it on already has a ton of pictures in iPhoto so it only opens that specific computers iPhoto.
What I want to know is if there's a way to get the pictures out of iPhoto and onto the newly formatted macbook pro? How do I open it?
Also... in all this confusion, when I do try to open iPhoto on the newly formatted macbook pro, it gives me a box that asks me to choose the iPhoto library, however there are no options to choose from. Now what?
Thanks for any and all help.

I recently had to restore my computer and the iOS was updated to mountain lion or something... Anyways, all my photos are inside iPhoto.
If I understand you correctly, you had to restore the hard drive of your Computer and the Mac OS X was upgraded to Mountain Lion. Now your old iPhoto version cannot any longer run with the new Mac OS version?
So I copied the iPhoto icon they were able to save onto the new macbook pro onto an external HD and put it on an older software computer but I couldn't open those photos because the computer I opened it on already has a ton of pictures in iPhoto so it only opens that specific computers iPhoto.
Do you mean you copied your iPhoto Library from an external HD to an older computer with an older iPhoto version to view your photos there? But iPhoto does not open this library, because there is already another, older iPhoto Library? Or did you copy the iPhoto Application to this older Mac?
What version of iPhoto do you have on your older Mac? And what is the version of iPhoto that created your current iPhoto Library? And what is the MacOS X version on the older Machine? If the iPhoto version is iPhoto '06 or later, you should be able to switch to another iPhoto Library by double clicking the iPhoto Library icon in the Finder. Or by ctrl-clicking the iPhoto Library and by selecting "Open with" from the pop-up menu to open it in the correct iPhoto version.
What I want to know is if there's a way to get the pictures out of iPhoto and onto the newly formatted macbook pro? How do I open it?
Are you confusing the iPhoto application with your iPhoto Library? Your photos are inside a database package called something like "iPhoto Library.photolibrary" with an icon showing a fan of pictures. The iPhoto application does not contain the photos; you have to find the iPhoto library. Usually this library is in the Pictures folder in your home folder. Have your data in your home folder been restored, when your Mac has been restored? Or are all your data on the external drive that you mentioned?
Is there a newer iPhoto version on your newly installed Mac, compatible with Mt. Lion?
Also... in all this confusion, when I do try to open iPhoto on the newly formatted macbook pro, it gives me a box that asks me to choose the iPhoto library, however there are no options to choose from. Now what?
As I said above - find your iPhoto library. If it is on your external drive, then connect that disk to your Mac before you launch iPhoto. Then the photo library shoud be found.
Please post back with more information, so we can help you better.
Regards
Léonie

Can't see photos outside of iphoto

So I have quite a few photos uploaded to iphoto. I can see all of them in their separate events in iphoto. However, if I go to gmail or facebook to upload some of those photos, i can only see events older than about 3 months (and therefore, photos older than that). Is there some setting that i'm inadvertantly triggering which is only letting me see some of my events in other contexts?

There are many, many ways to access your files in iPhoto:
*For Users of 10.5 and later*
You can use any Open / Attach / Browse dialogue. On the left there's a Media heading, your pics can be accessed there. Command-Click for selecting multiple pics.
Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!
(Note the above illustration is not a Finder Window. It's the dialogue you get when you go File -> Open)
You can access the Library from the New Message Window in Mail:
Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!
*For users of 10.4 and later* ...
Many internet sites such as Flickr and SmugMug have plug-ins for accessing the iPhoto Library. If the site you want to use doesn’t then some, one or any of these will also work:
To upload to a site that does not have an iPhoto Export Plug-in the recommended way is to Select the Pic in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export and export the pic to the desktop, then upload from there. After the upload you can trash the pic on the desktop. It's only a copy and your original is safe in iPhoto.
This is also true for emailing with Web-based services. However, if you're using Gmail you can use iPhoto2GMail
If you use Apple's Mail, Entourage, AOL or Eudora you can email from within iPhoto.
If you use a Cocoa-based Browser such as Safari, you can drag the pics from the iPhoto Window to the Attach window in the browser.
*If you want to access the files with iPhoto not running*:
For users of 10.6 and later:
You can download a free Services component from MacOSXAutomation which will give you access to the iPhoto Library from your Services Menu. Using the Services Preference Pane you can even create a keyboard shortcut for it.
For Users of 10.4 and later:
Create a Media Browser using Automator (takes about 10 seconds) or use this free utility Karelia iMedia Browser
Other options include:
1. *Drag and Drop*: Drag a photo from the iPhoto Window to the desktop, there iPhoto will make a full-sized copy of the pic.
2. *File -> Export*: Select the files in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export. The dialogue will give you various options, including altering the format, naming the files and changing the size. Again, producing a copy.
3. *Show File*: Right- (or Control-) Click on a pic and in the resulting dialogue choose 'Show File'. A Finder window will pop open with the file already selected.
Regards
TD

Upgrading from PSE5 to PSE9 and Organizing Photos - Help Pls.

Hi everyone,
I've finally got an upgrade to Photoshop Elements - I'm currently using 5.0 and I was given version 9.0 for Christmas... so excited!
I wanted to see if anyone has any advice for upgrading - in some ways, I want to start over from scratch and re-import all of my photos to the organizer. Some photos are duplicated, and some are not showing up at all even though I know they're on the HD and also in the organizer files, but they don't show up in the actual photo thumbnails - very confusing.
I also don't like the chaos I used for tags when I first started taking and editing photos - so I'd like to restart that as well.
Has anyone else recently upgraded Photoshop Elements? Can you start clean, or does it import all of the tags and issues from the previous version you used?
Also - does anyone have any advice for how to actually organize the photos? I keep them on my HD, but I don't know if the volume of photos can or will cause problems. I also back up to an external HD for safekeeping. Any advice on how to store and organize photos would be very much appreciated.
Thanks!

Hi Julie
When you upgrade to PSE9 the program will automatically offer you the choice of upgrading an earlier catalog.
Simply reject this and you can then start over and import photos and tag them as you like.

Editing and organizing photos outside of iphoto

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