Can iPhoto keep my photos folder organised?

Question

Hi All,
I'm new to Mac so apologies if I'm asking a really silly question here. I've had a brief look on the iPhoto support vids but can't find an obvious answer.
I want to know if I can use iPhoto to automatically organize my Photos folder; for example, putting images from specific events into folders named accordingly, in the same way that iTunes can do with tracks and albums etc.
Cheers,
Joe

Answer 1

Where are these folders? On the HD? No. In the iPhoto Window? Perhaps, depending on exactly what you are tryng to do.
iPhoto is designed for folsk who want to organise their Photos not their files. Import your pics to iPhoto and it copies the files to the Library. You do all your work in the iPhoto Window - and anything you need to do can be done via that window. And I do mean anything: edit in iPhoto, edit in another app, email, print, share to other applications, upload to Web sites and so on.
How the files are organised on the HD is of no matter as iPhoto tracks the relationship between what do in the iPhoto Window and the location of the files.
So, how do you access the files?
There are many, many ways to access your files in iPhoto:   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.
(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:
There's a similar option in Outlook and many, many other apps.  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 10.5 Create a Media Browser using Automator (takes about 10 seconds) or use this free utility Karelia iMedia Browser
Other options include:
Drag and Drop: Drag a photo from the iPhoto Window to the desktop, there iPhoto will make a full-sized copy of the pic.
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.
Show File:  a. On iPhoto 09 and earlier:  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.    3.b.
b: On iPhoto 11 and later: Select one of the affected photos in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Reveal in Finder -> Original. A Finder window will pop open with the file already selected.
I generally recommend to new users that the best thing to do is import 100 or 200 photos to iPhoto and explore. It's a very capable app, but there is a learnign curve and it may not be right for you.
Regards
TD